I am looking to rake out my Dyna with a copper kit. I know some might say a real chopper can only be when th neck is cut but that I not something l am willing to do. Looking for some opinions on how much rake does a bike need to be considered a chopper?

 

I had a chopper in the 70s and mine wasn't raked but it did have a long front end...among other chopper stuff...tall sissy bad, hump seat, upsweep fishtails.

 

There have been many styles of choppers over time, so it depends on the look you want to achieve. That said, if your desire is to have people will look at your ride and see a chopper, you have to have long, narrow, raked forks. Some will say that rake will need to be 45 degrees or more.

 

http://www.chopperkitusa.com/

http://www.seegercycle.com/

 

I was looking at the ame kit with 9 degree of rake and 4 inch over tubes. That would bring me from 29 degrees to 38. I want a chopper but not soo much that it appears disproportionate with a Dyna frame. Is 38 degrees enough to classify it as a chopper? That is 4 degrees more rake than the wide glide and 3 more than the breakout.

 

The term "chopper" originated way back after WW II, when returning servicemen bought military surplus Harleys and "chopped" off anything they could to save weight. It had nothing to do with rake. What we now call a "bobber", a bike with the rear fender cut off right behind the seat, would be an example of a true "chopper."

http://www.choppers.com/history.asp

 

Looking for bragging rights are you ? Throwing on raked trees does not a chopper make .....

 

Degree of rake has nothing to do with being a chopper...

 

So if a Harley with a raked front end, sissy bar, 21 front wheel and ape hangers is not a chopper then what is? A Big Bear, orange County?

In response to twizted biker, I am not looking for bragging rights but to make my Dyna a chopper.

 

"So if a Harley with a raked front end, sissy bar, 21 front wheel and ape hangers is not a chopper then what is?"

Here's a '70 Triumph Bonneville in the first picture. With everything stripped in the second and third picture. Gas tank, oil tank, battery, wheels, all the electrics (lights, wiring harness, two coils, two sets of points, rectifier, zenor diode), seat, handlebars, swing arm, exhaust system, front and rear fenders, head and tail light, front fork lowers with external springs. All tabs cut off the frame.

Replaced with two gallon homemade coffin tank, Hallcraft front wheel with 5" brake and with 2.75" tire, three quart Santee octagon oil tank and bolt on hard tail, drag pipes, Sebring solid state power unit to run the lights, ARD magneto to run the motor, bobbed rear fender, hand rolled home made front fender, Cibie headlight and side mounted taillight/license plate holder, king and queen seat, six bend pullpack handle bars, homemade sissy bar/luggage rack. Electrical box (mounted on front down tube opposite the Sebring power unit) homemade from a pay phone coin box, House of Color Fucia over white pearl lacquer paint by yours truly. All parts including bolts and nuts sent to Ocala plating in Florida for chroming (now an EPA superfund cleanup site!) Eight inch over front Forks by Frank with internal springs on a stock neck created a "grass hopper" chopper. Front motormounts remade, extending out to mount highway pegs. Engine bored out .060, Amal carbs sleeved and calibrated.

The fourth picture is after I went to night school to learn how to weld, and my instructor cut 3/4" out of the top rail of the frame, heated, bent, and triangle-lized the frame neck, to level the bike because of the 8" over forks. Picture taken somewhere in New Mexico when I rode this from Minnesota to Mexico in 1974.

I also had a 5.00 x 16 rear wheel, but it would not clear in the hardtail. That wheel, 40 years later, is on my '75 Trident.

If you look at the second picture, upper left, you'll see a Peter Fonda Captain America chopper print hanging on my garage wall. Yeah, we all wanted to be Easy Rider back in the day!