ALT-2 Buyers Guide to Custom Motorcycles and Choppers
When you are buying a motorcycle that has been customized, it is a completely different animal than going into a show room and picking a motorcycle off the floor. Yes, any time you are buying a vehicle, you can more or less expect to get “ripped off”. This is why “car salesman” has become synonymous with someone who will make a shady deal. When you are purchasing a bike that has been built by a private owner, the situation is completely different.
The first thing that you almost always hear when you are purchasing a vehicle is to do your homework. This is true in this case as well. The second thing is to find out what the market value of the vehicle is. This is most often done with a Kellys Blue Book or similar publication. With modified bikes, you can throw this advice out the window. The reason for these types of books (in this situation) is almost completely useless, both to you and to the seller/builder.
These books will show you what the value of a certain vehicle in a certain condition is worth at market value. They don’t take into effect the amount of custom work that has been done to a modified motorcycle. The hours spend building the bike, the creation of a “labor of love”. Market value will list it as an import motorcycle with 100,000 miles and ask you to asses the condition of the motorcycle, that is it. It won’t take into account the fact that the motor has been rebuilt, the forks raked out, the suspension modified or all the extras that make it custom.
The problem with choppers and custom motorcycles is you (as a seller) will almost never get out what you put into the bike. As a buyer, you are going to pay the price for buying the heart and soul of the builder. This of course, pertains to a true custom built bike. Not an “assembly line” chopper that every other person on the block owns, just in a different color.
True choppers and custom motorcycles (bobbers, rat rods, cafe racers etc.) are a breed of motorcycles all their own. While they may get lumped into the same group (custom), they are all unique to their own category. Even inside that category each bike is different, that is why they are called custom bikes.
If you are planning on buying one of these, you have 2 major options. You can go to a dealership and get a cookie cutter “custom” or, you can find a bike that someone has built themselves. Both have pros and cons.
If you go to the dealership, you can ride out with a beautiful bike (and a hefty payment) and have no problems with it. The down side is there is a very real chance that you will pull up next to the same bike at a stop light. Sure it may be a different color or have different rims but it is the same motorcycle.
If you buy a custom bike from an independent seller, you are truly getting a custom bike. There may not be another like it in the world. If you don’t know how to work on bikes, you may want to do this. Will you pay more than it is worth? More than likely. Most builders don’t really want to sell their work of art. They are probably selling it to start a new project.
The chances that you will find a custom bike that is really you is very slim. If you really want to have a custom bike, the only way to go about doing it is to buy a running bike and begin the rebuilding process to your specifications.
If you know what you want, a chopper for instance, you can buy a frame that already has the forks raked out to the angle you are looking for. If you want instant enjoyment, buy one that already runs. If you do this, you can still ride while you are customizing it into a creature of your own.
Little things will set it apart from other bikes. The sky is literally the limit on what you can do. You want to keep it legal and more importantly, you want it safe. Little things like changing the blinkers or putting a seat that suits you better are good places to start.
You can change the wheel size and the style of handle bars. By the time you are done you have created a motorcycle that is truly custom.
To put it bluntly, if you want a chopper or custom motorcycle and don’t want to go completely bankrupt, find a bike that more or less fits what you want it to become. Even if the original bike is just plain ugly, the things you do to it will make it beautiful (especially to you).
If you want to purchase a custom motorcycle, don’t buy someone else’s vision. Buy a motorcycle and build it yourself. You can get manuals and use the Internet to find out how to do the work yourself.
You can spend a fortune on someone else’s dream motorcycle and hope that you like it enough that you can fool yourself into believing that it is what you really wanted. The other option is to spend a lot less money on a bike that runs but is in need of work. In the process of fixing it, you add your personal touches. Before you know it, you have a true custom motorcycle that is exactly what you envisioned yourself riding.
The added bonus of this is since you built it in the first place, if something happens to go wrong, you can fix it. You won’t have to pay someone else massive amounts of money to fix it. You can get your hands dirty and fix it yourself (and more often than not, make yet another change to it),
What is the true benefit of all of this work? Simple pride. When you pull up next to the mentioned “cookie cutter custom” you can smile to yourself knowing that you are riding a one of a kind bike. You built it yourself and can fix any problems yourself.
Buying a custom bike boils down to this: buy an older bike and get the tool box out. Whether you spend all winter rebuilding or do it a day at a time, the finished product is only part of it. The pride and joy of the work you put in it makes it a true custom motorcycle. In the long run you will have spent less money (but much more time) but you will have a motorcycle that you are proud of and it truly states you.
There is very few things in the world more exhilarating than opening up the throttle on a custom bike that you have built. The looks you get from other riders makes all the hours you put in it makes it all worth it. Pride may be a sin, but it is worth it in this case. That is a true chopper or custom bike. One you built, not one that you bought off the the sales floor. That is how you purchase a true chopper or any other kind of custom motorcycle.
In the past few years dozens of shows have gained popularity that have to do with building choppers and custom bikes. They call them “reality” shows. In reality, a motorcycle builder doesn't have a support staff of dozens and millions of dollars worth of equipment. In the real world, zip ties are a builders best friend (as well as a good friend and a 6 pack).
The entire reason that choppers and custom motorcycles exist is because riders wanted to have a bike that is uniquely them. You can’t buy this. You can buy the basics, the motor, the frame, the transmission. The rest is up to you. You do what you want to it, you change what you think should be changed. You alter the seat, the suspension, the paint. When you have done this, you have made a custom bike.
How do you buy a custom motorcycle or a chopper? If you really want a custom bike, you don’t buy one. You buy an older wreck of a bike and build it. That is how you aquire a chopper or custom bike. Buying one is not the same thing. All you are doing is buying another persons dream (usually so they can start another project).
Do your homework. It is almost a guarantee that this project is going to take more time and money than you first think. Be prepared for that and take a giant pill of patience. The pay off is well worth the effort.
That is how you get a custom motorcycle, you don’t buy it, you build it. Get dirty, get greasy, it washes off, the same may not be said for the permanent grin you have when you get to ride the motorcycle you built.
