Friday, June 16, 2006

The Sportster chopper lives!



A little history for this one. A few years back (About 8 or 9 if memory serves), I bought my fist Harley. I wanted one ever since I was a little kid. I remember looking at old Easyriders magazines and parts catalogs like the "Jammers Handbook" and thinking how cool choppers looked. Truly motorcycle as art.
I couldn't afford what I wanted, but I have owned different motorcycles most of my adult life. I've owned dirt bikes, sportbikes and cruisers. The Harley had to wait.
One day I found a 1979 Sportster that was priced in my range and I bought it. The reason I could afford it was that the 1979 Sportster was a really odd year and it was really tough to find parts that would fit it. I rode it for a couple of years and with the urging of my buddy Bryce, we decided to tear it down to the ground and build the chopper from scratch.
New frame, new wheels, new almost everything. We welded, bent and hammered everything into place. It was a great experience in problem solving!
We got it together and it was a lot of fun to ride. Everywhere we took it, we got a lot of nice comments about our homemade bike.
The plan was to tear it down and change a couple of things, do a nice paint job and put it back together. Add a few more years and Bryce has taken it upon himself to get it rolling again. It's still not quite finished, but it's getting close and looks great. I know I can't wait to give it a test run!

Low and lean

The first build

The Sportster as I bought it. The best part was the paint!