A bobber, originally called a 'bob-job' from the 1930s through 1990s, is a style of custom motorcycle. The typical construction includes stripping excess bodywork from a motorcycle; removing the front fender, and shortening the rear fender, which is "bobbed" (as in bob-tail), and all superfluous parts removed to reduce weight. [1] [2]
The bob-job evolved from an earlier type of American custom motorcycle, the 'Cut Down', which appeared in the late 1920s, and which was based on the Harley-Davidson 'J' series v-twin. The cut-down was created to modernize the appearance and improve the performance of the aging J-series Harley-Davidson. By removing the front fender, shortening the rear, and removing all excess accessories, the motorcycle was significantly lightened. The cut-down was also characterized by a modified frame, in which the seat tube was lowered and the wheelbase shortened, resulting in a lower, shorter machine, with a sweeping diagonal line between the steering head and rear axle.
In 1933 the AMA introduced Class C racing, which stipulated only catalogued racing motorcycles could be used in sanctioned competition, with points gained towards the National Championship. Class C racers such as the Indian Daytona Scout [3] and Harley-Davidson WLDR and WR [4] were the inspiration of the 'bob-job'; these stripped-down racers had no front fender, an abbreviated rear, and no excess weight. Road riders directly copied the look of the racers for better performance and a measure of style. The first bob-jobs appeared in the mid-1930s, and tended to reflect their somber competition origins, with plain paint jobs and no extra chrome or decoration.
Immediately after World War II, bob-jobs, in parallel with hot rods, were subject to increasingly decorative modifications, including extra chrome plating, metal flake paint jobs, pin striping, and colored upholstery. As early as 1946, Kenneth Howard ('Von Dutch') began modifying his Indian Scout bob-job with wild paint jobs, a smaller gas tank, raised handlebars, and exhaust pipes which turned upwards at the rear. [5] Such modifications became the standard for bob-jobs, which grew in popularity, whether as show bikes [6] or ordinary road bikes. The bob-job evolved through the 1950s and 60s in several directions; some were strictly for the popular motorcycle and hot rod show circuit, some had a distinctive 'club bike' style, some reflected drag racing practice, and some were simply a continuation of the original Class C inspiration.
Bob-jobs reflected the aesthetic tastes of their owners, and were home-built, there being no commercially produced road-going bob-job available until the late 1990s. [7] The style has also influenced motorcycle manufacturers, such as Harley-Davidson [8] [9] and Honda. [10]
In the late 1990s, the term bob-job became shortened in popular parlance to 'bobber', and the style saw a resurgence in popularity in the custom motorcycle scene. The bobber continues to be favored today; although hybrid styles have emerged, such as the "bobber chopper", and "retro-bobber". [11] Such bobbers exemplify the continuing evolution of the style, and its enduring popularity. [12]
The term 'chopper' did not appear in print until the mid-1960s, over 30 years after the bob-job was invented. The chopper is a more stylistically and technically extreme evolution of the bob-job, which emerged after the highly elaborate, heavily chromed bob-jobs which appeared in the late 1940s and 1950s. Bobbers are typically built around unmodified frames, while choppers use either highly modified or custom-made frames. [13] Chopper frames are often cut and welded into shape. A bobber is a motorcycle that has undergone a ‘bob-job’ (hence the moniker 'Bobber'), that is, had extraneous parts removed for simplicity and weight-reduction. Thus, bobbers are fairly easy to create from stock motorcycles, as it is an exercise in subtraction for the sake of performance.
Choppers, on the other hand, often sport features that actually decrease the safety, handling, and braking ability of the machine. Choppers are more about overall style than overall performance. The driving force of a traditional bobber's style is the original form of the bike. Some parts could be swapped, such as turning around a stock Harley FL front fender and running it on the rear of the motorcycle, but in general stock parts were modified (trimming a fender shorter) or removed.
Instead of the large diameter front wheels of Choppers, [14] Bobbers [15] usually come with a size similar to the rear rim. Builders mostly use spring saddles, which isn´t a must on choppers with their long extended sissy-bars. Springer forks are popular on both bikes, but often mounted with a higher rake in the Chopper´s triple-tree, to move the front wheel forward. Instead of glossy flake-paintings and chrome parts used for many Choppers, a Bobber more often comes as a Ratbike in flat paint and/or some rusty parts, though this is more of a modern trend as motorcycles are built to resemble vintage motorcycles that had received a 'bob-job'.
Harley-Davidson, Inc. is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with its historical rival, Indian Motorcycles. The company has survived numerous ownership arrangements, subsidiary arrangements, periods of poor economic health and product quality, and intense global competition to become one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following. There are owner clubs and events worldwide, as well as a company-sponsored, brand-focused museum.
Orange County Choppers (OCC) is an American motorcycle manufacturer and lifestyle brand company based in the town of Newburgh, located in Orange County, New York, that was founded in 1999 by Paul Teutul Sr. The company was featured on American Chopper, a reality TV show that debuted in September 2002 on the Discovery Channel. The series moved to Discovery Channel's sister channel TLC in 2007. Following cancellation of the Discovery series, the company was also featured on Orange County Choppers on the CMT network in 2013. Orange County Choppers returned to Discovery Channel in March 2018.
A chopper is a type of custom motorcycle which emerged in the US state of California in the late 1950s. A chopper employs modified steering angles and lengthened forks for a stretched-out appearance. They can be built from an original motorcycle which is modified ("chopped") or built from scratch. Some of the characteristic features of choppers are long front ends with extended forks often coupled with an increased rake angle, hardtail frames, very tall "ape hanger" or very short "drag" handlebars, lengthened or stretched frames, and larger than stock front wheel. To be considered a chopper a motorcycle frame must be cut and welded at some point. I.e. the name chopper. The "sissy bar", a set of tubes that connect the rear fender with the frame, and which are often extended several feet high, is a signature feature on many choppers.
A custom motorcycle is a motorcycle with stylistic and/or structural changes to the 'standard' mass-produced machine offered by major manufacturers. Custom motorcycles might be unique, or built in limited quantities. While individual motorcyclists have altered the appearance of their machines since the very first days of motorcycling, the first individualized motorcycles specifically labeled 'Custom' appeared in the late 1950s, around the same time as the term was applied to custom cars.
A softail motorcycle intentionally looks like vintage motorcycles with a rigid hard-tail frame that has a triangle of steel tubes at the rear axle, like on a bicycle frame, but on a Softail these tubes are actually a triangular swingarm, with the shock absorber(s) hidden, as opposed to clearly visible regular twin shocks on both sides of the rear wheel on standard bikes. Since the introduction of the Harley-Davidson FXST Softail in 1983 as a registered trademark of the Motor Company, softail has become a genericized trademark for other models of cruiser motorcycles with rear suspensions hidden for retro style reasons. This was done even though the rear wheel was often hidden behind bags or exhaust pipes.
David Mann was a California graphic artist whose paintings celebrated biker culture, and choppers. Called "the biker world's artist-in-residence," his images are ubiquitous in biker clubhouses and garages, on motorcycle gas tanks, tattoos, and on T-shirts and other memorabilia associated with biker culture. Choppers have been built based on the bikes first imagined in a David Mann painting.
A streetfighter, muscle bike, or super naked is a motorcycle of high displacement and horsepower. It is typically a super bike with the fairings and windscreen removed. Beyond simply removing fairings, specific changes that exemplify the streetfighter look are a pair of large, round headlights, tall, upright handlebars such as those on a motocross bike, and short, loud, lightweight mufflers, and changes in the sprockets to increase torque and acceleration at lower speeds. Streetfighters is also the name of a UK motorcycle magazine.
The six main types of motorcycles are generally recognized as standard, cruiser, touring, sports, off-road, and dual-purpose. Sport touring is sometimes recognized as a seventh category or integrated with the touring category.
The Harley-Davidson Sportster is a line of motorcycles produced continuously since 1957 by Harley-Davidson. Sportster models are designated in Harley-Davidson's product code by beginning with "XL". In 1952, the predecessors to the Sportster, the Model K Sport and Sport Solo motorcycles, were introduced. These models K, KK, KH, and KHK of 1952 to 1956 had a sidevalve engine, whereas the later XL Sportster models use an overhead valve engine. The first Sportster in 1957 had many of the same details of the KH including the frame, fenders, large gas tank and front suspension.
The terms suicide clutch, and suicide shifter or jockey shifter, refer to some motorcycles' foot-operated clutch and hand shifter to change gears. Foot clutches (rocker-clutches) and hand shifters (tank-shifts) were found on early motorcycle designs from around the turn of the 20th century to the 1940s or 50s, and reappearing on modern retro styled custom motorcycles and choppers. Modern motorcycles do not require removing a hand from the handlebars to shift gears, using only the fingers for the clutch and the toes of one foot to select gears. In contrast, the fanciful slang "suicide" was applied to designs where the rider removes one hand to change gears, or cannot put both feet on the ground while using a foot clutch to disengage the transmission. Sometimes the shifter is referred to as a "jockey shifter" while the foot clutch is called a "suicide clutch".
A touring motorcycle is a type of motorcycle designed for touring. Although almost any motorcycle can be used for this purpose, manufacturers have developed specific models designed to address the particular needs of these riders. Touring motorcycles commonly have large displacement fairings and windshields that offer a high degree of weather and wind protection, large-capacity fuel tanks for long ranges between fill-ups, engines with a great deal of low-end horsepower, and a more relaxed, upright seating position than sport bikes.
A cruiser motorcycle is a motorcycle in the style of American machines from the 1930s to the early 1960s, including those made by Harley-Davidson, Indian, Excelsior and Henderson.
Harley-Davidson FL is a model designation used for Harley-Davidson motorcycles since 1941, when F referred to the new large capacity 74 cui (1200cc) variant of the V-2 Overhead valve engine (″Knucklehead″) that was introduced in 1936 as Model E with 61 cui (1000cc). The presence of an additional letter L indicated higher compression, offering more power but requiring higher octane gasoline. In 1950s, the low compression version was discontinued, and in 1952 also the low capacity EL, making FL the standard engine and model designation for decades to come.
The Harley-Davidson Super Glide also known as the Street Bob was a motorcycle made by the Harley-Davidson. Reputed to be the first factory custom motorcycle, it originated Harley-Davidson's FX series of motorcycles by mating Sportster components, most notably the front end, with the chassis of their larger big twin motorcycles. Super Glide models from 1991 to 2018 were based on the Dyna Glide chassis which has a wider variety of front ends and trim levels, and for a time filled the intermediate niche between the smallest and largest Harley-Davidson models; the Dyna platform has since been discontinued for the 2018 model year in favor of the new Softail frame, with some models from the Dyna nameplate being carried over to the Softail line.
Big Dog Motorcycles is a manufacturer of semi-custom, mid-priced motorcycles, based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. The company was founded in 1994, shut down in 2011, and recently reopened as Big Dog Is Back.
Orange County Choppers bikes are motorcycles featured on the television series American Chopper built by Orange County Choppers (OCC) for a specific corporate or celebrity customer. Theme bikes are motorcycles in which the theme of the motorcycle takes priority over everything else, influencing the frame dimensions, paint scheme, and overall 'feel' of the motorcycle. The function of motorcycle usually takes a backseat to the presentation of the theme, and these motorcycles attract attention solely on the premise of the theme itself. Customer bikes are built for and generally to the specifications of a particular customer. Although the customers typically give OCC creative freedom to do what they will, some clients have a specific idea in mind and expect OCC to reproduce their mental picture literally.
Benjamin F. Hardy (1921-1994) was an African-American custom motorcycle builder who made the Captain America and Billy choppers for the 1969 Peter Fonda road movie Easy Rider.
The following outline is provided as an overview of motorcycles and motorcycling:
The Harley-Davidson Model W, also known as the Sport Twin, is a motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson from 1919 to 1923. Unusually for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the Model W had a flat-twin engine and a trailing link fork. The Model W set speed records on runs from New York City to Chicago and from the Canada–United States border to the Mexico–United States border. Slow home market sales led to the end of production after four years.
The Harley-Davidson XLCR was an American café racer motorcycle manufactured by Harley-Davidson between 1977 and 1979.
The bobber is, far and away, the coolest style of custom motorcycle on the planet.
The new bike, styled like a classic post-World War II bobber, has apehangers, a springer front end, a cut-down rear fender, a tractor saddle and tough, aggressive styling. It's another indication of Harley-Davidson emphasizing its history while at the same time reaching out to new, younger consumers.
Honda Shadow Spirit 750... A spinoff of the ACE 750 retro-wagon with cut-down fenders, chopped suspension and a shotgun exhaust. Simple, sweet and, at $5999, cheap, just like the bobbers of the Forties and Fifties.
Essentially, the XV is a production bobber: a simple, relatively sporty cruiser, designed to be easily customised using a variety of factory-made accessories.