There were a few dealers that tried that....until Harley caught them and told them to quit...

 

Lots of good points in this discussion. A chopper by definition is a stock bike that has had the neck cut off, and replaced with a significantly greater raked out tree. That's really the only true definition of a chopper. Everything else is just each persons personal take on "what is a chopper." Personally, Harley Davidson is consistently behind the times by 4 or 5 years. Motorcycles are a luxury, and people buy them for recreation. Things involving recreation change often, and what I'm specifically referring to is what is considered "cool" or the "in" thing. I'm 31 and I've loved the Harley's I've owned, but am a chopper fan at heart. Every bike I've owned (including 4 choppers over the last 10 years), I've tried to put a chopper spin on it. In my extremely humble opinion, Harley has failed to keep up with what is defined as "cool" which despite many people's opinion, is extremely important when selling a recreational item such as a motorcycle. They missed the chopper fad, and came into the game late with the Rocker. They have done a somewhat better job with the Breakout, but still far from the looks and feel of a chopper. I'm 31 and am one of the youngest people around town that rides a HD. I bullshit with the guys at the dealership all the time about how young folks aren't into HD because first, the price is steep, and second, HD style tends to appeal to the older generation who have the $$ to spend. No offense fellas, but chrome stopped being "cool" in 1995. HD still puts a ton of chrome on motorcycles. So people like myself have to spends tons and tons just to dechrome a regular bike. Anyways...I think I got off topic. Long story short, you have my vote for a HD "chopper" that embodies the West Coast Choppers style of bike. You can make a softail chopper that still is factory and has all the HD creature comforts. More of a rough ride, but it's worth it, trust me.

Again, all this is in my extremely humble youngster opinion.

 

To the OP
Save yourself time and money. Go to the bikes for sale section here and buy "Chump Change" if it is still for sale.

 

I don't think the moco could come up with something that didn't look lame and cookie cutter.
When it comes to a chopper, I think they did pretty good job on the Easy Rider bikes.
To me, they fairly well represent what choppers of the 60's were at the time.
As far as the moco goes, someone else mentioned the wideglide.
I had a friend with a stripped down eglide, he took a 60's dresser, and stripped it all down, added the wide front end with extended forks and skinny
front tire, with the ducktail rear fender and the obligatory S&S air cleaner cover.
That was pretty much what I wanted, but wanted one that didn't fall apart every time I rode it like my buddies bike did. haha
That's when I bought my 83 Wideglide, I think that's as close as the moco ever came to a factory chop.

Pic from the net, but this was the exact bike I had, but of course had to dump the factory air cleaner for the teardrop S&S
I need to dig out my old photos soon.

 

Personally I think you definition of chopper is off. Yeah some of the later early guys raked the neck but the originals simply extended the forks so they could get more ground clearance. The old timers before my time simply stripped off the crap a piece or 2 at a time until the bike wouldn't go then put that piece back on. I owned HDs in the late 60s. Guys during my time cut frames tho many times we simply like lifted front end. We used the call the raked and extended framed bike "Swedish choppers". Personally I favor the bobbers.

 

Weld on hardtail and 6" over tubes, put brutal miles on that bike hence that fat seat.

 

I have always wondered why Harley has never brought back the Knucklehead, Panhead, and Shovelhead engines with today's technology after all they invented them. They are highly sought after worldwide. S&S picked up on this and offers them for $10,000.00 a copy.

 

An old timer told me years ago that people always use "chopper" and "bobber" interchangeably, which is incorrect. His definition of a chopper was a bike with a "chopped" neck that was replaced with a more raked out neck. A "bobber" was a bike that had been stripped down, but no change in the neck rake. Again, I'm a youngster, and I got this information from old timers who are still cruising around on Shovels and Pans.

 

Reminds me of one of my old Harley mentors, he always said "if it don't make it go fast or stop, don't need it."

Here's the last one he built, rode it half way across the country every summer, even when he was about dead from the cancer...RIP bro.

 

Rake and streach on the neck to keep the ride level with the longer front ends. Cut up original springers or ford radius rods and hammered them on the fork legs to extend 'em. When money wasn't cheap you had to use your head to build'em. Now days get a couple catalogs dump some cash on parts and maybe they will put you on a tv show. Most built'em to ride, not bar hoppers or show/garage queens. When I was comming of age in the late 60's you built your first bike.