Growing up as a teenage in the 1960's I fell in love with the classic post WW II bobbers that eventually evolved into the early choppers prior to 1970. The "style" foundation for these bobbers was really the WW II WLA Harley's that were sold in great numbers at war surplus prices after the end of the war. As many probably know the WLA was a rigid frame, mono-seat (sprung) with a springer fork. This was also close in design the the pre-WW II Indians that were generally the same with a girder fork. The WLA's were a 45 cid (737cc) flathead with less than 30 bhp.


By the "golden age" of the 1960's many brands of motorcyles were "bobbed" (i.e. stripped down) including 650cc Triumphs, 650 BSA's, Honda 450's, and of course Harley's where the early Sportsters from the late 1950's were my personal favorite. In 1969 the Honda 750-4 was introduced and it made an awesome chopper (my older brother built 18 Honda 750 rigid frame choppers starting in 1969). Generally speaking the bobber and chopper were any motorcycle of any size but most common were the 500cc to 1000cc motorcycles of the era.


When Harley announced the introduction of the Street 500 and Street 750 they just screamed "old school custom bobbers and choppers" to me. Yes, they're water-cooled and there were no water-cooled bobbers or choppers in the 1960's but that's only because there were not water-cooled street motorcycles in the 1960's. If we would have had them we would have made bobbers and choppers out of them.


Little more did I think about this until my brother passed away late last year. As I mentioned he built the first rigid frame 750cc Honda choppers I'm aware of and I thought, how cool, I'll build a custon rigid frame 750cc Harley chopper as a tribute to him. What I've learned since then is that the Harley Street 500 and Street 750 offer perhaps the best possible platform for an old school Harley bobber and chopper. The low initial cost resulted in a relatively low budget for my build of about $20,000.


Yes, I have to prototype and build a brand new rigid frame, drag pipes, forward foot control and dozens of other parts from scratch but I'm qualified to do all of that. Even the girder fork that I'm choosing to use has to be custom built for me. With all of that said my budget is about $10,000 less than the starting price of building a larger new Harley rigid frame custom chopper that wouldn't actually represent the typical engine sizes of the 1960's.


I'm of the opinion that the new Street 500 and Street 750 are the perfect platform for building old school choppers and bobbers. Except for the different rake between a bobber (32 degrees) and chopper (36 degrees), and the longer front forks for a chopper (typically between a 8" to 12" extension for a true late 1960's chopper) with a 1/4" extra triple-tree offset they are basically the same.


On my build I'm keeping it simple (the bobbers and choppers of the late 1960's were basically simple) but I did decide to use copper plating as oppose to chrome (my wife's idea) and will use the classic paint color of "powder blue" (turquoise) and white that was introduced in the mid-1950's on the classic Belair and the turquoise continued to be until 1969 on Mopar engines. It is a classic paint scheme that matches the era.


This is a project I love to talk about and I wanted to share it. The Street 500's and 750's are new without many owners yet but they're growing in popularity. To my knowledge I'm one of the first to really address a full-blown custom chopper build using one. It's going to be an awesome chopper when complete.

 

There are certainly challenges with this project. For example I addressed the inability to obtain custom throttle and brake cables for it. It's too new and no one makes them or has the hardware necessary.

Another challenge is making wire spoke wheels. The belt sprocket on the rear wheel is unique to the wheel and can't be used on anything else. It's an 80-tooth sprocket and no one makes an 80-tooth sprocket that I can use on a wire spoke wheel. I've settled on a 70-tooth that will increase my final drive ratio but even that's on back order at J&P Cycles. Of course changing the final drive ratio requires a programmable speedometer so I'm going with Dakota Digital (because they're the best).

I'll be using a 12" extended girder fork that is going have to be custom made but at least I have good source for that. I need custom mini-ape hangers made but have a source for those as well. Dime City offers mini ape hangers that would fit but they're made in Taiwan and of relatively poor quality.

There are two rules on my build that my wife insisted upon.
1) Buy Made in the USA
2) If in doubt see Rule 1.

 

Looking forward to following your build.

 

yeah i want to see how this turns out , not because i'd ever want one , but because it's different and a cool tribute to your brother .

 

It's a very exciting build project that has two goals.


First is to have the chopper done for Sturgis because Dakota Digital, that I've formed a close relationship with, wants to put the chopper in their display. Long story short is that I'm using copper plating instead of chrome and Dakota Digital has done me favors in producing a copper plated speedometer and I owe them a favor in return. This is actually a secondary goal but it come up first calendar-wise.

More important is that the primary goal of the build is to win the Progressive International Motorcycle Show custom build competition. That goal is in honor of my lbrother that built show cars and motorcycles and won numerous 1st Place trophies and he also manufactured the first Honda CB750 based custom rigid frame choppers in 1969-70. Below is the only known photograph of my brother next to his prototype 750 chopper and unfortunately I don't have any side views but I remember it very well. I could identify one on sight because of some unique characteristics of the frame. He only built 18 but later thousands of other Honda CB750 choppers were made. The Honda 750cc 4-cylinder engine was awesome for choppers in the 1970's.

 

A quick additional note. Along with Sturgis and the Progressive show in Seattle next year I will be taking the chopper on a national tour to events from one end of the country to the other. I'll hit as many as I can afford because I want to share this creation with others. It will be that awesome when complete. My "partner-in-crime" on this is a nationally known builder and between us we hold a common belief that "perfect is good enough" when it comes to the build.

I hope that everyone on this forum living in the US will have an opportunity to see the motorcycle and that I get the opportunity to meet them. Half of the reason I love being a biker is the people I meet (riding being the other half LOL).

 

For custom wheel lacing, you might want to give buchanon spoke a call. They can create the look you want, likely.

www.buchananspoke.com

Smart to go copper plate as chromium is overdone.

Had an attorney friend of mine use gold plating on his bike and it stood out from the rest.

 

This 1977 bobber is almost done. One more leak...lol

 

I am new to the site and learning to navigate.