Chopper originally meant to take a stock bike and delete EVERY bit that wasn't used for flat out speed. Look at a 1920s board track race bike, they are the original and purest form of the chopping art. No fenders, no brakes, no clutch, no starter, no tranny. Push to start direct drive. Pure, simple, elegant.

Chopper than became a spindly framed, geometrically unstable, poor handling, poor riding long bike, see early Easyriders and related magazines. Eye candy in many cases. Very few were usable as motorcycles.

Chopper now? A spindly framed, geometrically flawed, over-priced, over-decorated, garage/trailer queen.

Bobber used to mean you kept the brakes, tossed the front fender in the garbage, shortened the rear fender, and had a headlight and maybe a tail-light. Modern Bobber? See modern chopper.

Cafe-racer: a really nice short range custom. You lay over the tank to reach the clip on micro handlebars, while trying to peer through a black plastic flyscreen/quarter fairing. I like 'em. Modern cafe racer? Ever heard of naked bikes? Take a crotch rocket, throw away the cheesy plastic bodywork, and ride it. Pure power, like the original cafe bikes.

How to classify a Savage? Some say chopper, some say bobber. Some say cruiser, some say bar-hopper (which is a cafe racer with higher bars). What do I call it? A RIDER!

People ask me all the time when it's getting painted, where did the chrome go, how come there is no saddlebags, wheres the radio (?), etc. I give them all the same answer: " I didn't buy it to look at it, I bought it to ride until it falls apart".

What's your definition?
-WD

I don't much care what the machine is called, as long as it is called mine or working, or preferably both.  
-WD