My google fu is lacking tonight, I may have acquired a BMC notorious chopper for pennies, like sub 5K in perfect shape. Never ridden a wide tire chopper ion my life what am I getting myself into.
I just want something to screw around with not going to flip it, want to do a flake paint job, tear the motor down and learn a bit more about how the evo motors were assembled.
They don't turn well.
As you lean the bike that wide tire shifts the CG sideways and fights the turn.
Ick.
Square setup ftw!
jfryjfry said:Square setup ftw!
I'd love to see a chopper on a 250 front tire!
Keep thinking wide front tire now thanks to you guys. Deal did not work out did a standard pawn deal for the guy and he will pay me back.
but now I am looking at cheap choppers. Tons of stuff out there with big dollar builds going for 20% of the build cost. They have hideous paint jobs and more chrome then you could ever want but man they look easy to convert to something old school adjacent for not a lot of cash.
if I find one with a factory Harley or S&S motor for cheap I may pull the trigger.
Reason why they sell for 20% of the build cost. They're horrible to ride, great as garage art.
In reply to wearymicrobe :
Ultima,Tp,S&S or Merch motors. Stay away from revtech. And I wouldn't do anything but a softail frame. Ridgid frame bike suck with tires that big. I have 4 choppers with anywhere from 250 to 330 rear tires. They really don't ride that bad with a 250 rear tire. All depends on the front forks/rake. And I live in the mountains with curvy roads. They were never meant to be sport bikes. If I can be of any help just ask.
I have a sport bike I am not expecting my Ducati in the turns or the comfort of my softail.
I got to ride a 250 with a right side chain drive that seemed to be ok as it balanced out the weight of the primary. I have the space for more bikes and like my car collection I am trying to find something that does one thing fantastic even if it has faults everywhere else been looking at a 80 big twin softail locally that meets some of the requirements.
something masochistic about me wants a garbage early 2000s hardtail chopper with a late revision revtech and all the crap that entails because that sort of era just appeals to me for cruising down the coast of socal. But I am weird about that.
I broke all the rules. Very low miles, built in 2008, lots and lots of chrome and good parts except the motor is a base 100 revtech. Spend most of a chunk of its life in a bar. Smoke so thick on the wheels and other parts that I thought it was tarnished beyond repair. Cleaned up nice though but took some elbow grease
Swapped all the fluids, it had new tires on it when I got it Set the tire pressure based on what I read online that I liked. Rode it about 40 miles and had a absolute blast. Its stupid fun, feels like racing about in my old model A but with actual brakes and power.
Not 100% sold on the bar position I set it up with yet, and the pegs are slippery because they were made to look cool. So going to play around with that tomorrow and angle grind on the pegs to give them more bit until I find something I like online.
Semi cleaned up and with fresh fluids in the garage. Just look at the rear wheel, it was almost black when I got it. Needs a good bit for spit and polish, then after I get it shaken down I am going to pull the tins and paint them.
That's a cool-looking bike!
Nice score. As far as revtech, my understanding is they are fine for regular use, but lacking if you're going to run it HARD, like drag bike hard. Then at that point a better built S&S or similar would be better.
Back when my family was in the tire business every so often a Harley chopper guy would come in wanting a Michelin automobile tire for the rear wheel. My dad would sell it to them but told them up front he would not mount the tire. Dad told them its because the motorcycle won't turn well anymore, that leaning would be a big problem, because automobile tires have the wrong cross section profile for motorcycles.
degyhy said:Go to google or youtube to see for yourself. It is quite dangerous.
Weird canoe thread revival?
I missed the canoe. Booo.
About 2k miles on the big bike and I killed the coil about two weeks ago when I got stuck in the rain. All fixed now and slightly better ignition. So crane digital ignition and bike starts and runs much better then the crappy one I had in there. Ended up dropping the max rpm down slightly from what I had before and played with the ignition timing.
still having stupid fun with the bike but it gets me in all sorts of weird situations. I am a decently big guy and add in all my gear and my airbag vest and according to my wife I look like I am there to kick in teeth. People don't see choppers in the road anymore and 99% of the comments are positive with the occasional dude who wants to be a badass and berkeley with me.
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