building a chopper?

P

pitslayer

Guest
hi im looking for some advice, im looking into building a bike well a chopper, looking for mostly and old skool look, low seat big rear tyre long front and obviously a V twin. but the catch, i dont have to much money, so i cant afford to buy a brand new frame, or highly unlikely a harley frame to customise cheap. so need some info on wether i could go out by like a speedster style bike for pennies and customise it, ive got a mate whos been doing stuff like this for quite a while, and can give me a hand modding the frame, but im just looking for advice at the moment and how to go about doing it, what bike to start which i can most probably drag out of a scrappy for a few quid and go from there?
thanks alot
 
Re: building a chopper?

do a Jap bike. Thousands cheaper - and a lovely one can look fantastic.

Back Street Heroes will give you all the inspiration you need

*don't* scrimp on a frame. That is dangerous.

There is no such thing as a cheap Harley. chopper or not. A ?2000 price for a midwinter Ironhead will have you chasing parts all over and the bill will double, then treble.
 
Re: building a chopper?

kiwidave said:
do a Jap bike. Thousands cheaper - and a lovely one can look fantastic.

Back Street Heroes will give you all the inspiration you need

*don't* scrimp on a frame. That is dangerous.

There is no such thing as a cheap Harley. chopper or not. A ?2000 price for a midwinter Ironhead will have you chasing parts all over and the bill will double, then treble.
Click to expand...

Spot on, top advice ;)

Big_john Spain ;)
 
Re: building a chopper?

in no way am i going to skimp on doing the frame, getting that done by a mate whos does bikes, obviously dont want to be riding down the road on a frame ive moded and it snaps :eek: i know my welding isnt that good for such a thing. hence why im getting my mate to do it, dont know how well known he is but he owns a fouqette gorgeous bike, guy called rod williams from wales area.
so what type of frame should i be going for, i was thinking i was going to have to go jap bike, but to be perfectly honest i know nothing about bikes apart from how to make them stop go and corner, im a car man myself.
so all help will be greatly appreciated
so this are the questions ive got to ask so far i can think off
what bike frame to start with or a rough idea
can a V twin be put into it with obviously custom mounts made up
can it be belt driven
are suicide shifters really hard to use for a complete beginer
the more important ones
im 18 so what kind of bike liscence can i get to ride a chopper with sufficent power to use on motorways but not ridiculously fast, want a cruiser
insurance where to`s the best place to go for something like this

thanks alot for any help:)
 
Re: building a chopper?

18? New rider? Starting out with a custom-built chopper?:eek:

Better step back and think about this.:cool:
 
Re: building a chopper?

Building a safe chopper is not easy or recomended unless you realy do know what you are up to.There are various chopper building sites on the net that may be able to help.but procede with care.With motorcycling as with most things you first have to start with small steps...be safe..
 
Re: building a chopper?

mmmm sound advice here.....just to add my bit, I think you might find actually insuring a Harley, let alone a chop at your age might be a problem. Especially if money is a bit tight.

Have you considered just getting a sporty and customising it as time and money permit?

Best of luck, and look forward to seeing you out there!

Cyber
 
Re: building a chopper?

i looked into getting a harley when i was 18, and even an 883 sporty was real stupid money to insure. im 27 now and have 3 years no claims and im still paying ?350 fully comp. i would imagine a chop would be more to insure as its not standard.
you can get lots of good parts to sort a sporty, including frames, front ends, back ends, tanks, etc, that can transform a sporty into a wild looking custom.
probably best to go this route for now, and when you have a few years experience then look at building one.
if you go the jap route, look in BSH, etc for old chops in the sales section, get the details and try a few insurance places for quotes. it may not be that bad, but i think it wont be low!
just for interest i know you can get a new hardtail frame for about ?750 from a place in birmingham(cant remember the name) because i looked into chopping my old vmax a while back. thats the lowest price i found for a new frame.
dan
 
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Re: building a chopper?

You will need some one to build you a frame, rigid is best, you will have to supply them with an engine, forks, front and rear wheel. if you are going jap YAM tr1 is a good choice for a V. talk to the frame guy abou the amount of rake you want on the forks if you are going over stock and make sure you understand "Rake and trail", if this is wrong it will handle crap @low speeds but a good fame builder should be able to advise on this,
then comes the bits, keep it simple first time standard controls will work fine but if you are going to use forward controls then let the frame guy know hell be able to put the brackets on for you, also the battery /electrics box should be designed, keep thinking keep it simple, lighting and wiring isnt as hard as it may seem My chops had a wiring harness's of 4or5 wires but a TR1 has electronic engine management so may be a little more difficult, you can buy universal rectifier / regulator modules which are simple to install as are lights.
Spend time thinking about what you want and how to do it. I built my first chop in the living room so had lots of input from friends also it a good way to get it polished, buy a case of beer some autosol and have a polishing party :D Take your time build it dry first (no paint) and keep it simple and it should take you about 12 mnths to DIY from scratch. one point to remember you are going to want to sell it one day so build it so it will fit other people but is still comfy for you ;) hope I havnt put you off ;) ;) :D :eek:
 
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Re: building a chopper?

another thing..Registration what I did was use the original frame number and stamped it on the new frame and used the original reg plate completley destroy the the old frame afterwards, alternativley you can go q plate the laws may have got more complicated in this area recently tho, get some advice
 
Re: building a chopper?

well thats certainly food for thought, thought it would of been simpler. was going to go the route of by a bike strip it, get the frame modded properly for hard tail, and go from there, making it look astheticly pleasing isnt to bad, im a spray painter and starting to do my own panel beating, so i can always change it if i sell it, but i might just keep it. but definatlly thanks for all the advice gunna start really reading up on this :D :D
cheers
 
Re: building a chopper?

From your earlier posts I notice that you don't appear to have a bike licence yet. To get a machine that will be able to hold its own on the motorway you'll be looking at something like a 500cc ( although any thing with a capacity greater than 125 can go on the M way ), I'm a bit out of touch with the current licence restictions in the UK, but I thought that you had to be over 21 to do a direct access else you are on a limited power machine for a number of years if thats the case you may want to consider a standard machine & build up your no claims and licence allaowance etc before going down the chop route.

Any one with a hard tail will tell you that pissing blood after a long run isn't much fun!:rolleyes:

R

Simon:cool:
 
Re: building a chopper?

Not long moved into this area - Stratford not bikes- and I need to find someone who can hardtail my '89 sporty frame. Anyone with any ideas? I'd like it to be in the Stratford/Gloucester area if possible. I want to get it running for the Sportster anniversary meet in 2007 so I need to know now in order to complete the build. If anyone has a 4 speed gearbox and/or primary it would be helpfull as well. Cheers
 
Re: building a chopper?

there are a few frame builders in the midlands, a good one in brum i think called dave the frame?
i know custom chrome or zodiac do a weld on hardtail for a sporty. looks quite nice when its done too.
dan
 
Re: building a chopper?

for frame mods try sooty at sooty's customs in milton keynes

his work is excellent but like most talented people he is neither quick nor cheap

building a cheap chopper buy the book how to build a cheap chopper isbn# 1-929133-17-0 its avilable from amazon

or save yourself the ?15 on the book price and buy a 5 speed evo sportster as the basis for your project
 
Re: building a chopper?

Thanks for the advice on the frames guys. My problem is that I have a '98 Sporty that's been off the road for a while following an accident that wasn't my fault (but I lost the case anyway) and it's basically rotting in the garage as I use my Nightrain, or the sst250 that I have, and with next year being the year of the sporty n all I thought that I might get the time to build a bit of a rat sporty chop as I've never owned a rat bike. I think that Milton Keynes is a bit too far from where I live to realy be of use but I'll try and find the frame guy in Brum as that's only about 40 miles. After you suggesting that book form amazon I got to thinking and dug out some of my old copies of BSH coz I remembered some simple wiring diagrammes in one of them. Anyway couldn't find it so gave up and went to town for something to do - guess what? in WHS I saw a diagramme in 100% Biker! now that I call fate.
Gonna ring the insurance people on Monday and find out when I can get my Nightrain back - who knows it might just be waiting for me to collect:cool:
 
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