SuzukiSavage.com - My friends bike

mmosel

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2005 No Login

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My bike is
officially THUMPING
now.

Posts: 415
NW Oregon
Gender: male

Re: My friends bike
Reply #15 - 12/17/05 at 19:58:18

sluggo wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12:

actually, a bobber is a "true chopper", in the 60's extended forks came about because of the front wheel, they wanted a smaller one so they had to compensate by extending the forks.

the term chopper comes from the late fourties and early 50's. guys would "chop" off all the excess parts to make it lighter and faster.

so the only "chopper" is a bike that someone bobbs or such, you can not go buy a chopper, you can buy a "custom", not a chopper.

so o.c.c is a acutually orange county custom's. not choppers.

Alright, you called me out. I really don't know crap about the honest to goodness real terminology. But I still don't like long forks! I saw this bike on OCC, and the dad said it took a 12 point turn to turn it around. Rediculous.

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sluggo

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big singles lead,
twins follow the
pack

Posts: 4744
moses lake washington
Gender: male

Re: My friends bike
Reply #16 - 12/17/05 at 20:08:18

torque wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12:

i still would ride that over a savage anyday Wink

the encyclopedia says a "chopper" is a customized motorcycle.a "bobber" is a motorcycle that has no unneeded crap,fenders,belt guards,sh!t like that.

but yeah i still love it,i just like that it has two cylinders,just like i have two nuts Grin

i like that its high off the ground,a real go anywhere crusier . not just anouther ground scraping p.o.s "custom"

so the encyclopedia got it wrong. Shocked

that happens. but then again our language is a fluid form of communication. so givin' todays language it has come to mean chopper.

i stand by the statement you cant' buy a chopper you must make it out of an exsisting m/c though. Grin

i guess thats the difference between "book learning" i.e "you looked it up in the encyclopeda", and "real world experience" i.e i grew up with "hard core" bikers. and ran away for hame at the tender age of 17 to escape that life. joined the navy and saw the world.
that's where my love of singles blossomed.

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SINGLES RULE, HARLEYS DROOL

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SavagePielk

Ex Member

Re: My friends bike
Reply #17 - 12/18/05 at 01:08:35

I think I found what would make it less weird... it looks like the exhausts are swapped, like the upper pipe should be the lower pipe. It should make a big difference swapping the pipes (you should have to weld them again)

I think it's useless arguing about what a chopper of bobber is, because it's a personal thing, everybody has a different opinion on what a chopper or a bobber is. Even if it's in the dictionary, it's a word that has a different meaning in every different part of the country.

This bike looks like it has been put together with parts from different bikes, as if everything is a 'not exactly perfect fit'. Still I think it has great potential, it shouldn't be a lot of work making this a really cool bike.

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Paladin.

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Hamster

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Sunny Southern California
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Re: My friends bike
Reply #18 - 12/18/05 at 04:49:47

Words mean things, people get things wrong, the dictionaries record the mistakes.

A 'Muscle car" originally meant an American Intermediate with a big block V8. Wendy's Camaro is not a muscle car on two counts, not an intermediate, has a 350 LT1 smallblock. The old LTD had a big block and it would shame late model IROC Camaros. But it was a full size sedan and thus not a muscle car. "Muscle Car Review" magazine, in order to please advertisers, redefined "Muscle Car" to be anything that could do a 16-second standing start quarter mile. A hopped up Pinto qualifies. Wendy canceled her subscription. The truth is that a muscle car is a big-block intermediate and claiming anything else to be a muscle car simply shows ignorance of what a muscle car really is.

Back in the late '40's early '50's the riders of American motorcycles were losing races with the lightweight British bikes, especially the big singles. To compete they lightened their bikes by chopping off excess weight. The term Chopper rightly refers to a motorcycle that has been lightened by removing excess parts and replacing heavy parts with lighter versions. You can no more have a factory chopper than you can have a factory car that has been chopped, channeled, or sectioned (three different methods of lowering a car.) Thus, as with a muscle car, the truth is that a chopper is a motorcycle that has been lightened by removing excess parts and claiming anything else to be a chopper simply shows ignorance of what a chopper really is. That the vast majority of people are ignorant of the origins and true meanings and misuse the terms muscle car and/or chopper does not matter to a purist who knows better.

You also cannot have a mass produced custom vehicle. A small builder putting out dozens of the same vehicle is not building custom vehicles no matter what anyone claims.

We fight our losing battles and tend to make people cringe and slowly back away from the crazy person.

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torque Serious Thumper 2005 No Login Offline 2008 nightster,flat od green and black Posts: 748 rock hill,S.C. Gender:	Re: My friends bike Reply #19 - 12/18/05 at 06:33:34 all old shcool "choppers" have extended forks,high sissy bars,and a a$$ load of chrome.they chopped them to personolize there bikes,not to save weight. when the old indians had those huge fenders,most people took them off or cut(bobbed) them so they where much lighter,hence the term "bobbed fenders".
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sluggo Serious Thumper ModSquad Offline big singles lead, twins follow the pack Posts: 4744 moses lake washington Gender:	Re: My friends bike Reply #20 - 12/18/05 at 06:34:35 mmosel wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12: But I still don't like long forks! . and on this point we are in total agreement.
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(RG)

Guest

Re: My friends bike
Reply #21 - 12/18/05 at 11:36:36

Okay, I know he was asking for everyone's opinions, but I say to each his own. They make thumpers for guys who like thumpers, v twins for guys who like v twins, in-line fours for guys who like in-line fours, and "choppers" for guys with way too much money who need to compensate for some apparent lack in their lives . . .

But seriously, overall, I like the look of the bike. I agree that it looks funny with the front end raised like that, but I think it was done so he didn't have to chop the frame. While that would be nice and add to the look, some of just don't know how to weld and can't afford to have it done. But I guess in that case you should just leave it stock. It looks like longer stock metal was just put in place of the stock metal (in other words, the entire forks weren't replaced). If you wanted to shorten it to stock, all you'd have to do is cut them to the right length. I agree that he should get rid of the bags and remount the plate. I also think the light bar should go, and maybe a new tank that doesn't look quite so separate from the rest of the bike. I've always liked the Virago, but the pipes look a little whimpy.

In spite of all this, I like the look of the bike. There's obviously things that could be done to make it look better, but there always are. And no two people will ever agree about all those things. So I say have your friend do whatever wants to make the bike look like he wants it. Or maybe he loves it how it is, which I say is fine.

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Dynobob

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2003 LS650 (with
Supertrapp)

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Northern Virginia
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Re: My friends bike
Reply #22 - 12/18/05 at 22:16:47

I like this bike. It's old school like the homebuilt choppers of the 70s (yes choppers 8) Grin

- they were called that back then). Extending the forks without changing the rake was done alot back in the day. The Honda 750/4 was a popular platform to do this to.

Paint the tank and sidecovers black (that tan color is not cool here), get rid of that ugly Japanese air filter, and mount the license plate to the sissy bar and you'd have a sweet ride. I don't mind the saddlebags but the lightbar is a bit much. I could live with it as it's a nice safety feature.

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