Updated 6/27/09

I've always been a sucker for bobbers and until just recently if you saw a bobber, nine chances out of ten it was a Harley... I don't have anything against Harleys, in fact I have some Harley parts on MY bobber  (they make great "donor" bikes! (wink)... I focus on "alternative" (Japanese) bobbers because while the Harley market has exploded with anything and everything chrome plated or made of billet aluminum, building a Japanese bobber still requires some thought and ingenuity to plan and build. The metric cruiser market is definitely taking off, but in my opinion a bobber (and even a chopper) should be less about bolting on shiny bits and pieces and more about making things "work". NEW! Now Including pix of RATS and STREETFIGHTERS, too!

(As told to me by old bikers now gone)... In the old days, back when the air was still fresh and gas was less then thirty cents per gallon, any bike sporting all of the factory goodies such as fenders, spotlights, saddlebags and all of the associated yee yaa was considered a "Garbage Wagon" by those who participated in flat-track, enduro, or street racing. To increase speed and performance, riders would remove, or "bob" parts from their bikes which weren't absolutely necessary for its operation. Fenders, saddlebags, spotlights and the assorted chrome goodies were removed leaving essentially an engine, two wheels and a frame... THIS is a "Bobber". Contrasting the bobber is the "chopper", a movement which began as a bobber (with bits and pieces "chopped" off) but over time experienced a metamorphosis from a more practical racing machine to a less practical (and poorer performing) embodiment of a motorcycle more bent on making a statement than winning a race (Apes and extended forks make diving into a corner at speed just a little bit more hairy) = ). Both choppers and bobbers owe their history to those first riders who knew that big engines and less weight equaled BIG smiles.

Updated: I just read a very informative article from one of the "Grandfathers" of custom motorcycle building, "Sugarbear", in which he defines what a bobber should and shouldn't be about. If YOUR version of a bobber is different from mine, I suggest reading his article (at bottom) and see how it lines up with his idea of a bobber.

 
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Bobbers (Pork Fried Rice Style!) 

 

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Hogs! (good ol' American iron!)

 

 

 

 
 
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Limey Bobbers (Trumpets 'n such!)

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Wings 'n Things (FLAT is where it's at!)

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Streetfighters (No replacement for displacement!)

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Rats (Aging like a fine wine...or moldy piece of cheese)

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 Sugar Bear Choppers - Chops And Bobbers - Busted Knuckles

By Sugar Bear

     A short bike with a Sportster tank and a flat fender is not a "bobber," it's just a short chop. About 99% of the bikes that are called bobbers...well, you get the picture. I've been involved in conversations with youngsters (born after 1960) who claim that what they build are Bobbers. I'm not even sure most of them have ever seen one.

     In the '50s, in my area, we were riding chops, bobbers, and garbage wagons (full dressers or baggers, as they are known now) and each had a distinct style! Chops had cut-down tanks (this is before Sportster tanks were made), cut-down fenders, no floorboards, cut-up bars or apes, usually upsweeps with fishtails (normally no mufflers), sidemount taillight, etc. Bobbers had small fatbobs, floorboards, bobbed rear stock fender (usually cut at the rear fender hinge), the stock exhaust (2-into-1), stock bars, basically a cut-down (bobbed) stock bike. Of course we know what a garbage wagon (eh, bagger) looked like. Anyway, you guys are building short chops, not bobbers. This is a cycle that repeats itself time after time. People start building chops, then they build long chops because that's always been considered what a chop should look like. Then after awhile, they begin to realize that the long chops they built are hard to handle and you need gorilla arms to keep it straight and to turn. Of course, these people flunked geometry and physics because they unknowingly set up their bikes wrong. So to be able to get back to riding, they shortened up the bikes but didn't want them to be called chops (because that might seem to infer they don't handle) so they called them bobbers, custom bikes, etc.

     I've seen this cycle so many times in my riding history that it's ridiculous. I remember people snickering at me in the early '90s because I was riding long chops and still building them. "That looks cool, but I wouldn't ride one of those." "How does that thing handle in the curves (snicker)." It's very easy to tell who the uninformed are. If you don't know how to set up a long bike so you can ride it with one hand and be comfy, buy a stocker, put some chrome and handlebars on it, and stop ruining the reputation of choppers. If you want a chop and don't know how to set up a long one, do a short one. A long chop is a thing of beauty; there's nothing like it. If set up right, you'll ride it forever and smile away every mile. If in doubt, ask anyone who has ridden a Sugar Bear chop. Remember, a short bike with a Sportster tank and a flat fender is not a bobber-it's just a short chop.


Sugar Bear Choppers
(310) 768-4158
www.sugarbearchoppers.com