"Chopper" bicycles
 

A couple of times lately I have seen something that looks very much
like a miniature Harley-Davidson motorcycle tooling around the streets.
Get a little closer, and they prove to be bicycles, with raised
handlebars, chopped forks, and massive tires that look like you'd have to
buy replacements from a motorcycle shop.
It looks to me like these things must be horribly slow and inefficient,
but I think it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually
ridden one. Do they have any advantages, other than being "kewl?"


Bill


-----------------------------------------------------
| When the power of love overcomes the love of power |
| the world will know peace. |
| -- Jimi Hendrix |
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wrote in message
...
A couple of times lately I have seen something that looks very much
like a miniature Harley-Davidson motorcycle tooling around the streets.
Get a little closer, and they prove to be bicycles, with raised
handlebars, chopped forks, and massive tires that look like you'd have to
buy replacements from a motorcycle shop.
It looks to me like these things must be horribly slow and inefficient,
but I think it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually
ridden one. Do they have any advantages, other than being "kewl?"

They're just "kewl". Not meant to go fast or handle very well. I rode one as
a kid---and I was very happy when it finally died so I could have a BMX.
They're not good as a kid's only bike, but I would imagine riding with
buddies who have the same bike would be fun.

In article ,
writes:
A couple of times lately I have seen something that looks very much
like a miniature Harley-Davidson motorcycle tooling around the streets.
Get a little closer, and they prove to be bicycles, with raised
handlebars, chopped forks, and massive tires that look like you'd have to
buy replacements from a motorcycle shop.
It looks to me like these things must be horribly slow and inefficient,
but I think it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually
ridden one. Do they have any advantages, other than being "kewl?"

They used to be artistic expressions of uniqueness and other
expressable stuff.

Now there are "stock", commercially manufactured chopperz available.
And I see more people riding those things, than real Works of Art.
The whole deal has been culturally appropriated, for crass
commercial gain.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- "Is that a Sears poncho or a real poncho?" -- Frank Zappa
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"Tom Keats" wrote in message
...
In article ,
writes:
A couple of times lately I have seen something that looks very much
like a miniature Harley-Davidson motorcycle tooling around the streets.
Get a little closer, and they prove to be bicycles, with raised
handlebars, chopped forks, and massive tires that look like you'd have to
buy replacements from a motorcycle shop.
It looks to me like these things must be horribly slow and
inefficient,
but I think it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually
ridden one. Do they have any advantages, other than being "kewl?"

They used to be artistic expressions of uniqueness and other
expressable stuff.

Now there are "stock", commercially manufactured chopperz available.
And I see more people riding those things, than real Works of Art.
The whole deal has been culturally appropriated, for crass
commercial gain.

But, Tom, I rode one in the late 70s, and it was bought at Sears. Cycling
trends are cyclical, I guess.

On Sat, 6 Aug 2005 17:26:01 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

A couple of times lately I have seen something that looks very much
like a miniature Harley-Davidson motorcycle tooling around the streets.
Get a little closer, and they prove to be bicycles, with raised
handlebars, chopped forks, and massive tires that look like you'd have to
buy replacements from a motorcycle shop.
It looks to me like these things must be horribly slow and inefficient,
but I think it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually
ridden one. Do they have any advantages, other than being "kewl?"

These are the extreme form of the very low-slung bikes that seem to be
trendy among early teens at the moment. Sometimes I feel like giving
them a lecture about what they're doing to their knees, but what's the
point? They probably smoke, too. I vaguely remember being indestructible
at that age :-)

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

In article ,
"Gooserider" writes:

They used to be artistic expressions of uniqueness and other
expressable stuff.

Now there are "stock", commercially manufactured chopperz available.
And I see more people riding those things, than real Works of Art.
The whole deal has been culturally appropriated, for crass
commercial gain.

But, Tom, I rode one in the late 70s, and it was bought at Sears.

But I'd bet it wasn't much like nowadays' Nirve Switchblade
production bike, which aspires (or pretends) to be something
like from he
http://www.dclxvi.org/chunk/what/index.html

Cycling
trends are cyclical, I guess.

I figure it's all just down to fashion, and the mainstream
catching up to the avante garde, as per usual.

Personally I'm not really all that much into choppers, but I do
appreciate how they contribute toward expanding cycling beyond
the realm of mere sport & recreation; in this case, as Art.
I figure riding 'em might be as as much Art as building 'em.
Anyhow I like how cycling is so multi-faceted, encompassing art,
science, sport, lifestyle ... all kinds o' stuff. Real choppers
celebrate that. Factory choppers cash in on it.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

On Sat, 6 Aug 2005 17:26:01 +0000 (UTC) in rec.bicycles.misc,
wrote:

It looks to me like these things must be horribly slow and inefficient,
but I think it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually
ridden one. Do they have any advantages, other than being "kewl?"

when i was out garage saling last weekend, a kid at one sale had
one. it weighed a TON. it's a real motorcycle wheel & tire on
the rear, and that weighs more than my bike all by itself.

"Tom Keats" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Gooserider" writes:

They used to be artistic expressions of uniqueness and other
expressable stuff.

Now there are "stock", commercially manufactured chopperz available.
And I see more people riding those things, than real Works of Art.
The whole deal has been culturally appropriated, for crass
commercial gain.

But, Tom, I rode one in the late 70s, and it was bought at Sears.

But I'd bet it wasn't much like nowadays' Nirve Switchblade
production bike, which aspires (or pretends) to be something
like from he
http://www.dclxvi.org/chunk/what/index.html

I remember it had a looong fork, sissy bar, slick wide rear tire, and a
plastic faux tank. It was similar to the Jesse James chopper bike. It really
was a useless machine.

wrote in message
...
Do they have any advantages, other than being "kewl?"


Bill

Not that I can think of. And of course, it depends on your definition of
'kewl' as to whether or not they actually are 'kewl' ;-)

According to my teenage son, this *is* seriously kewl...

http://www.cervelo.com/bikes/2005/P3-Carbon.html

Cheers, helen s

"Bonehenge" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 6 Aug 2005 17:26:01 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

It looks to me like these things must be horribly slow and inefficient,
but I think it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has actually
ridden one. Do they have any advantages, other than being "kewl?"


Those are simply "fun" bikes.

Giant, Schwinn, and all the big-box cheapie brands make them.



For varying degrees of 'fun' obviously ;-)

Cheers, helen s