If you pick up the latest issue of Jesse James’ Garage magazine, a pretty neat publication, there’s an insert specifically directed at West Coast Choppers and all of their products. They are coming out with a new frame, the CFL2, constructed by bending steel into a sort of monocoque chassis instead of the usual tube construction, something I’ll take a look at soon. But the interesting lead to that story is the quote by Jesse James, “Let’s face it, the chopper industry is dead.” Now didn’t someone predict that a couple of years ago? Hmm …, now who was that?
Highly skilled and creative motorcycle builders will keep doing fine work and we’ve pointed out quite a few on The Kneeslider, but the wide tire, stretched out, semi-functional chopper, … may it rest in peace.
Trey says
Wow, Jesse has spoken…
Trey
Sean says
RIP.
Jeff says
Maybe the cafe racer will be the next big fad ?
kneeslider says
Anything can happen. Yes, even the cafe racer can become a fad if everyone jumps on it at once. Board track style bikes are rising fast at the moment.
If builders focus on bikes that actually work, any style can work. Somehow, as soon as something takes off it gets taken to extremes and the whole point of why it was cool in the first place is lost.
Look at cars for a moment, low profile tires made for better handling by reducing sidewall flex so bigger wheels were used. Then profiles got so low they almost looked like a rubber coating on the rim and wheels grew and grew. Ever see a donk? They don’t know when to stop. That will die fast but it’s the principle that shows up everywhere.
Same thing with bikes, forget choppers, how about really long swingarms and super wide tires on sport bikes? It will end before long. Anytime you forget the reason it began you have no reason to limit what you do. When choppers began getting so long you needed a three point turn to make a U turn, something was not right.
These days, news of any development gets spread so wide and so fast everyone jumps in and it gets old and extreme, fast. If bike building, in whatever style you like, is done to really high standards of craftsmanship and the actual function of the bike remains, you can build in your own direction no matter what the crowds are doing. If you try to chase a trend with a “me too” bike, it will get lost in the crowd. Too many choppers are “me too” bikes, too few break new ground.
If you really like something then it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, but if you get swept up in a trend, you like it because the crowd likes it, you run the risk of forever chasing the hot bike of the moment. There’s a shake out going on with choppers right now but some builders will remain. After a while they’ll come back, but right now that wave has crashed on the rocks. The crowd is moving elsewhere, we’ll have to see where it shows up.
Jeff says
I can see it now . Some big biker dude riding down the street with a boardtracker style bike stuck between their cheeks ! 🙂
sweetLemonaid says
“Let’s face it, the chopper industry is dead.†The current chopper industry is like the bear in the wild; it is going into hibernation. The chopper industry was the king of the motorcycle industry that grew fat and slow, and it is time for it to hibernate, and let the other motorcycle industrues play. “Chopper” prices last year were outrageous! Bottom price for a bolted together chopper was $31,000. Regular modified choppers were about $45,000, and we all know that personalized choppers were $60,000 to $100,000.
Look at the top AMD winners; not a chopper to be found. Boardtrackers and speedbowl racers are the new vogue. Wide tires are fading away. All these points were forecasted by the Kneeslider. Simply stated, the chopper industry will learn to adapt, and produce what the public wants.
hoyt says
baggers and clean standards (a bench seat bike with a better frame, rear suspension and a 180 rear tire)…and hopefully my favorite, big twin sport bikes
Diesel says
LOL – Jeff, that’s me… I’m 6’5 and close to 400 lbs. There are many standard bike whose foot controls shove my knees into my chest, but I love small bikes, I had a CB350 Cafe that everyone thought I looked ridiculous on, I’m just glad nobody’s around to watch me ride my trail 50 on my backyard trails.
Clive M Sanders says
I would welcome paradigm shift. I want a bobber somethin FIERCE and if choppers lose steam in the market, maybe ill be able to afford one.
On the other hand, i also badly want a cafe racer style bike. Even 70s CBs which a couple years ago were cheap as dirt have skyrocketed. Forget about nortons, bsas and triumphs which were relatively cheap before too.
todd says
If something is good to begin with how can too much of it be a bad thing? Can good design be taken to extremes?
Just look at Kneeslider’s other post on VD Classic Cafe Racers. I’d say these are taking the classic cafe racer theme to the exteme and they are beautiful bikes. Basically if it looks bad and is useless it’s a bad design.
To me there is the classic chopper that was built in the ’60s and ’70s and there are the modern “cartoon” choppers. Two totally different balls of wax. There are some people building them right and there are some people who screw it all up in order to be different. How else are they going to be noticed when every one and his brother is doing the same thing? The one that is built right (like the original) will always have a place in motorcycling. Cartoon TV bikes have come and they are leaving.
-todd
OTTOMAN says
WELL CHOPPERS ARE DEAD . SO WHAT IT,S ALL A MATTER OF TASTE AND PREFERRANCE. I WILL STILL HAVE MY 63 XLH CHOPPER, AND MY NEW BIG DOG. SIMPLY THATS WHAT I LIKE. MY POINT IS OWN WHAT YOU ENJOY AND IF OTHERS LIKE IT GREAT, AND IF THEY DON,T GREAT BE YOUR SELF . I CAN,T WAIT TILL TRIKES ARE BACK IN SHOW ROOMS . AND YOU MAY NOT IT,S ALL A MATTER OF TASTE.
keith says
I think the discovery channel realy helped bring this chopper fad to its’ climax , but what goes up must come down .
EW1(SW/AW) says
Keith has it right we can thank the discovery channel for the chopper demise. I’ll admit I have never been a big fan of the wide tires and the wheelbase as long as a logging truck. It’s time for something new, maybe the V-twin sport bike will catch on. I’m holding out for a Yamaha MT-01 if the tuning forks ever decide to start importing them.
Keith says
EW1 we think alike , even though big tires and rake look cool as a show bike im realy a big fan of a simple back yard mechanic custom with a 150 tire,heat wraped exaust and a bobber style softtail with a simple plain paint job , just a cool pratical daily beater . Sometimes people forget how cool a simple chop looks and get caught up on a flashy custom that you can’t even ride . If any custom bike builder that could build a ride built to ride , INDIAN LARRY still lives on .
sweetLemonaid says
1.) American Chopper, Biker Build-Off, Metric Revolution, and Build or Bust–all lead to over saturation of the “experience.” 2.) 1 million dollars, reportedly, to get the American Chopper gang to do a theme bike build. $5,200 for a fork and $500 air cleaner are the cost from Roger Goldammer. $900 was the estimate to add three inches to a GT380 swingarm. Pricing has gone way out of control. 3.) 11, 12, 13, and 14 feet long choppers with 360 tires, coupled with a hardtail, produces “choppers that are dangerous, but this is after the fact once the customer who wants to experience a “chopper” ride has been convinced that bigger is better. 4.) Now after the customer has been convinced to buy into the “chopper experience,” let them go get INSURANCE for a chopper, and get PLATES!
Can not imagine why the chopper is dying?
todd says
I once took a custom cafe bike I built to the CHP (Ca. Highway Patrol) to have it verified for road registration since it was no longer “in the system”. I made sure I had everything up to the appropriate DOT and CARB/EPA standards: stock pipes, fenders, lights, signals, horn, mirrors, new tires, etc. The cop really looked my bike over to be sure it was OK.
When I was waiting for some paperwork a couple guys on freshly built choppers rode up. One even had a super charger. No mirrors, no turn signals, no horn, the handle bars were well above shoulder height, straight thru pipes… The cop obviously knew who they were (builders from SIMS in Hayward) and promptly ok’d their bikes.
I guess it isn’t too hard to register and plate (or insure?) a chopper, they know that you probably only ride it in parades or on sunny days or never at all.
-todd
Earl says
I’ve read orgasmic magazine reviews on bikes that had no forward visibilty unless the rider stuck his head to one side…. all that, and a jockey shift.
Point is, that I can dig the workmanship and design that goes into a chopper, but they are not bikes that are gonna be day to day rides. It’s just a different idea.
Having said that, I do have a mate who rides a softail, with a long wideglide front end, to work each day. And more power to him! He never breaks the speed limit -with tattoo sleeves and waist-length dreadlocks, you wouldn’t, obviously…
What I’d love to see is some of the artistic/mechanical vision we see applied to choppers, bobbers, etc, applied to a perimeter frame, mid-size V-twin. A day to day practical bike, that’ll take you to work every day, that’ll give you a blast on the twisties outa town, that’ll handle a 600 mile daytrip.
Make it practical, make it affordable. And the motorbiking world will beat a path to your door.
FXRocket says
I think the next thing will be riding, and it will be less about the bikes and more about where you can go.