girder forks for bobbers

[Luke Nosewalker]

Triumphs are not bobbers...A stripped down Triumph would be a chopper. Chopping off unecessary bullshit...hence the word chop...

For me the 60's Triumph telescopic forks are like a sore dick...Ya can't beat it. They look cool shortened, you can run chrome mcm covers, you can run fork boots, or you can run them with exposed springs. Lots of options. And they just plainly look cool. And they're easily recognizable as a Triumph fork.

Originally Posted by Larry T

Ok, to stir the coals on an old fire, a bobber is a stripped down stocker. Since Triumphs never came stock with springers and they did come stock with girders, I think that if I were gonna build a Triumph "bobber" and didn't want a glide style front end I'd try to go with a girder. Donnie Smith still makes them and you can find used ones every once in a while.

[ChopperMark]

I think if you take a pre-unit rigid Triumph, take off the extra BS and cut the rear fender shorter, you indeed have a bobber. Go early enough and you could even have a girder front-end.

[Dragon]

Here we go again...

Leaving off stock parts, as in "bobbing" the hinged tail off a HD fender, makes for a "bobjob", or bobber.

Chopping "off" the neck, to rake and stretch it, voila, "hence the word chopper".

Removing a bolted-on rear frame loop and swingarm and bolting on a hardtail, on a Triumph with stock rake, does Not a "chopper" make. If anything, especially with a short hardtail, this is the most legitimate "modern" Triumph "bobber" because it now resembles the early factory rigid frame.

And hence looks equally appropriate with a short girder or Brit tele forks.

.

[ChopperMark]

Dragon,

If you cut the back end off a Japanese bike and add a hardtail, is that bike a bobber or a chopper?

Doing a bolt-on hardtail usually involves fabricating mounts for the seat, oil tank, fender, fender stays, brake stay, etc. For some that just means tabs, but for me it means machining a bunch of threaded bosses and brazing them into the frame. That is an awful lot of work to disregard by calling the bike a "bobber". It's way more work than raking a neck.

I am asking these questions with respect for your opinions and I am not trying to start an arguement, just encourage a discussion.

[Dragon]

Originally Posted by ChopperMark

If you cut the back end off a Japanese bike and add a hardtail, is that bike a bobber or a chopper?

no problem here, man... it's all semantics, but a hefty dose of common sense in the mix goes along way too..

I'd call that example a custom rigid, namely because there were no rigid-framed japs in the 40's & 50's that I know of, to be 'emulating'...

If you went to the next level, after hardtailing, and raked &/or stretched the neck of the stock frame, then yes it would be a jap chopper....

Similarly, if it's a new or a vintage driveline in a off-the-shelf aftermarket x-Up/x-Out frame, it's a custom....

Purest form of the chopper is when you use the "blue wrench" on the neck yourself, and sculpt and create the Steering and overall geometry from there.

.

[Dragon]

Ahhhh...hahahahahahahaaahaaaaa......


from the "destroyer" thread... Ed nailed it...

Originally Posted by Ed

hd started to build it about ten years ago. about half-way through their production cycle (7+ years) they found out someone else used the word “chopper”. resources were diverted to legal team. must…sue... person\persons... that... mumble...“chopper”. this continued for two years until an up and coming hd manager (lawyer) determined that the chopper reference pertained to grass cutting. the poor lawn mower company won in court and had some idiots in upstate ny build them a bike. the rest is history.

.

[big_al]

On the girder/bobber thing.....read this thread....Imean look at the PICS!!!

http://www.jockeyjournal.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=3860

[Luke Nosewalker]

"modern" Triumph "bobber"
Haven't heard that one yet.

So a raked frame constitutes a chopper???

Originally Posted by Dragon

Here we go again...

Leaving off stock parts, as in "bobbing" the hinged tail off a HD fender, makes for a "bobjob", or bobber.

Chopping "off" the neck, to rake and stretch it, voila, "hence the word chopper".

Removing a bolted-on rear frame loop and swingarm and bolting on a hardtail, on a Triumph with stock rake, does Not a "chopper" make. If anything, especially with a short hardtail, this is the most legitimate "modern" Triumph "bobber" because it now resembles the early factory rigid frame.

And hence looks equally appropriate with a short girder or Brit tele forks.

.

[Larry T]

[quote=Luke Nosewalker

So a raked frame constitutes a chopper???[/quote]

I usually try to stay out of "opinion" posts, but..............here's my take on choppers and that other thing-I HATE the word bobber. An opinion that started forming in the 60's and yes they were having this discussion about "what's a chopper" back then too.

Things that fit on Choppers-modified stock or custom frames, custom or different gas tanks, any frontend. It doesn't have to be a hardtail.
I know if you take this word for word about any modified bike (even cafe racers) fits, but you gotta take things in context.

Things that fit on Fat Bobs or _______, stock frame, stock gas tank/tanks, stock frontend (maybe slightly extended).

That's about it and it leaves a lot of room in the grey areas. But to me a lot of the Triumphs that are built and called bobbers are chopped, but not all of them. Same goes for Harleys, jap bikes, whatever.

And I don't have a clue where bolt on hardtails fit in.

While we're on the subject, who brought the term "Bobber" back into the front in the 90's? Was it magazines, television, internet, Jesse James, Hank Young? Inquiring minds want to know.

Off for coffee.

[big_al]

Originally Posted by Larry T

While we're on the subject, who brought the term "Bobber" back into the front in the 90's? Was it magazines, television, internet, Jesse James, Hank Young? Inquiring minds want to know.

Off for coffee.

Lee Marvin did it, blame him......

Oh right that WAS in the 50's

[Larry T]

Did he call it a bobber, looks like a fat bob to me? I know the term was used in the 40's and 50's, I NEVER heard it used from the 60's up until a few years ago. Just wondering who can take the credit for the rebirth of the term.

[browder]

Originally Posted by Larry T

Did he call it a bobber, looks like a fat bob to me? I know the term was used in the 40's and 50's, I NEVER heard it used from the 60's up until a few years ago. Just wondering who can take the credit for the rebirth of the term.

i'm with ya on this --if it weren't stock in the 70's it was chopped

[ChopperMark]

I think the word "bobber" came back in and got applied the way it did because the ridiculous day-glo abortion show bikes are referred to as choppers (show bike is the more accurate description) so in order to differentiate *old school* style bikes started to be referred to as bobbers, even through a bobber is only a stock bike with a few bits taken off.

[RidingHood]

Originally Posted by Dragon

Here we go again...

Leaving off stock parts, as in "bobbing" the hinged tail off a HD fender, makes for a "bobjob", or bobber.

Chopping "off" the neck, to rake and stretch it, voila, "hence the word chopper".

Removing a bolted-on rear frame loop and swingarm and bolting on a hardtail, on a Triumph with stock rake, does Not a "chopper" make. If anything, especially with a short hardtail, this is the most legitimate "modern" Triumph "bobber" because it now resembles the early factory rigid frame.

And hence looks equally appropriate with a short girder or Brit tele forks.

.

A modified bike they all are.
I'm no language expert ,but I've always been facinated by the fact that to "bob" something and to "chop" something aren't too dissimilar in meaning.
It is interesting to read the motorcycle press from the sixties.Some of the eastcoast USA mags would refer to a bike with a modified neck as "rakers" and some of westcoast publications were very happy to describe a stock framed HD kitted out with peanut tank and ribbed rear fender as a "chopper"along side bikes with rake and stretch.
My guess is that regional descriptions for things became nationally accepted terms,much in the sameway the term "hot rod "is now widespread in the automotive world as opposed to "Gow job".
The term "bobber" has been bastardised to the point where it means different things within the motorcycle world, you have to know all the different definitions so you can talk to someone and be on the same wavelength.
Just remember a "Fanny"in the USA = ass (and thats ass as in bottom ,not donkey).In Australia "Fanny"=snatch (snatch as in female reproductive equipment ,not as in to take quickly).Language is regional and matters.

[fouraceswes]

I kinda like, and use quite often, the term "bobber-style" bike. I also like "neo-custom" or "neo-bobber." I get lots of guys calling and asking about parts for their bobber Triumph. "True" triumph bobbers would be pre-unit, 1945 to 1954 bikes with lots of the stock stuff removed (by various means, cut, break, bash, etc.). The unit "neo-bobbers" or neo-retro customs are immulating the pre-unit rigid framed bikes. I would argue few Triumphs after 1950 were real bobbers, because of the changes that occurred in the motorcycle aftermarket industry, especially for triumphs during this time period. Lots of guys were actually ADDING stuff to their bikes due to the booming aftermarket industry, tanks, fenders, fender lights, etc. The guys who rode Bobbers actually were taking stuff off, not adding doo-dads.