So you want to build a practice chopper? I do too, so the first question I asked myself, is where do I start. Should I make a firm plan, a schedule, a financial statement, or should I just buy my wife some flowers and blindly proceed? I guess I should do all of the above but not necessarily in that order.
I will start by trying to construe this buy and or endeavor, to do this I will make a list of my reasons for building a Chopper. 1) I want to ride a practice chopper, a totally cool stretched out, fire breathing, gas eating, pavement pounding, old lady scaring, 2 wheel monster. 2) I want to be able to say "I built that" when someone asks me where I got that totally sick bike. 3) I want to be able to customize the bike beyond the acceptable add on parts I can get for my current bike a Harley Davidson Fatboy. 4) I want to be able to make this dream come true, meaning I need to be able to pay for it. A ,000 chopper is out of my current budget. 5) I have been talking about this for 5 years so why don't I get to it and stop doing all the talking and start doing some building.
Road Bike Frames
Now I have a few reasons on paper a will look at my options, then make a plan, a schedule, and find some extra money.
Let's start with a my build options, and plan on a slow and steady approach. I comprehend I will need to do a lot of research before I start. I have 4 basic options, a kit bike, a rolling chassis, a start from zero build, or an extreme makeover of a current motorcycle.
Option 1) If I start with a bicycle kit I maybe the farthest ahead from a mechanical perspective, and farthest behind from a financial point of view. What do I mean by this, well a kit bike has all the parts it just needs paint, labor, gas, oil and some love. The qoute a unblemished kit bike will cost me ,000 dollars right up front. This is a bit out of my spend a ton of money now then not be able to ride a bike for a year or two thinking. If I get a kit, I maybe able to get it together faster, as I will be motivated and have all the parts ready to go. As a first bike I think this is a very good option, when you think all the high-priced mistakes I may make along that way. One drawback to this option is the amount of customization I can do to the bike as it is put together. Because all the parts are in the kit, I may resist the urge to get new bars or different sheet metal, or other parts.
Option 2) Start with a Rolling chassis, this is the middle of the road option, spend a lump sum of money, about 1/2 of what the widespread bike will cost and get a basic setup that all works together.
A Rolling chassis kit consists of a Frame, 2 wheels, the forks, and triple clamps and bars, all build and configured to work together. Add a motor and a transmission and all the major workings of the bike are in place. This setup helps avoid some of the major work needed to mix match and fit these items together. This option also allows for a ton of customization in the parts that citizen see and the parts that give a bike it's personality. For me this is a very serious option to consider. I would only have 1/2 the cost and 1/2 the parts sitting around and conferrence dust until I get time to get it together.
Option 3) Find each and every part one at a time and build a wholly practice motorcycle. I know I could do this, but I also know I will encounter more unexpected and perhaps high-priced issues with this type of build. This option would give me a bike that no one would ever duplicate. This could be very good or this could be very bad. What if some possible aggregate of frame, motor, forks, or wheels didn't work together? It would not be discovered until the bicycle was all together. I think this option is best left to the serious professional who build bike all night long, as the are working on other peoples bikes, and running businesses while the day. I may think this for my second practice chopper.
Option 4) Take an existing bike and start cutting and changing it. This is maybe as complex as chopping and re-welding the frame to generate a new rake and angles. Or it could mean just getting a new frame and using the engine, transmission, and varied other part to build a new machine. I like this idea, and I think it would be a lower cost alternative to all new practice parts. With this option you are also able to keep the current registration and title if the frame is not replaced. This is also a lower cost option because a lot of the miscellaneous parts can be reused.
I know that in one page all the possible combinations of practice Chopper build can't be wholly explained, I just hope this information give you something to start with and build on. It has help steer me in the direction of a rolling chassis, so I best get shopping.
building A convention Chopper Motorcycle, Where Do You Start?