Chopper (motorcycle)

For other uses, see Chopper (disambiguation).

A chopper is a type of custom motorcycle which emerged in California in the late 1950s. A chopper employs modified steering angles and lengthened forks for a stretched-out appearance. It can be built from an original motorcycle which is modified ("chopped") or built from scratch. Some of the characteristic features of choppers are long front ends with extended forks often coupled with an increased rake angle, hardtail frames (frames without rear suspension), very tall "ape hanger" or very short "drag" handlebars, lengthened or stretched frames, and larger than stock front wheel. To be considered a chopper a motorcycle frame must be cut and welded at some point, hence the name. The "sissy bar," a set of tubes that connect the rear fender with the frame, is a signature feature on choppers when extended several feet high.

Two famous examples of the chopper are customised Harley-Davidsons, the "Captain America" and "Billy Bike," built by Benjamin F.Hardy and seen in the 1969 film Easy Rider.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.