Random inspirational bikes

I really dig on this XS650.
I believe this guys name is E. A. Hatch.
He built the bike and took most of the pics himself.
Two different bar and tank combos are pictured here.
Slighty higher mid pegs are a subtle but nice touch, and the right side jockey shift with a hand clutch is probably much more logical than I have ever given it credit before.
And it is most certainly a thousand percent better than the stupid hand clutch mounted on the hand shift lever setup I see nowadays.
And as I have said before: personally I won't run a springer anymore, and will always go for the best working,lightest, and nicest hydraulic forks I can afford and find.
BUT... if I had the choice between a Girder and a Springer? It would be the Girder every time.
(I was acutally holding on to a Girder INDENTICAL to this one for a XS chopper project for years... finally sold it last year.)
And the word on the web is that this guy pours the miles on this tastefull chopper.
And thats what I really want to hear anyway.

(Oh, and just a quick question that has always plauged me: So, when you run front brakes on a Girder, you acutally have divorced braking forces on your suspension and you are able to slam on the brakes with ZERO suspension dive in the corners... so how come I never see anyone take advantage of this?
Man, I see more spool hubs on girders... dude... I would be rockin the biggest, gnarliest radial mounted twin rotors with 6 piston calipers that I could find if I ran a Girder.)

ANYWAY... Rant over.
LIGHT, FAST, SKINNY, HANDLES GOOD, GROUND CLEARANCE, high pipes, mid pegs, jockey shift

Random inspirational bike

Excellent knucklehead from Japan. I guess the peace sign is the new Anarchy symbol?
Dig those punk rock green handlebars.
LIGHT, FAST, SKINNY, HANDLES GOOD, GROUND CLEARANCE, stops good?, Jockey shift,high mid pegs

Random Inspirational bikes

Rad Knucklehead from Japan.
LIGHT, SKINNY, FAST, HANDLES GOOD, GROUND CLEARANCE, mid pegs, jockey shift

Random Inspirational bikes

Interseting Frisco chopper from Japan.
LGHT, SKINNY, FAST, HANDLES GOOD, ground clearance?,jockey shift, Frisco pegs...er sort of... one side has a frisco peg and the other side has a high forward? Weird. but you know.. whatever.

Random Inspirational bikes

Cool Attack chopper from Japan.
LIGHT, SKINNY, FAST, GROUND CLEARANCE, STOPS GOOD, HANDLES GOOD, high pipes, mid pegs, jockey shift

Update on old random inspirational bike: EDR XS650

Updated pics and a little bit of info on this one:
http://attackchoppers.blogspot.com/2009/05/random-inspirational-bikes_8672.html

Thats a yamaha R1 front end on there and a 450 Honda 4-Stroke motocross thumper rear wheel and brake setup. Too bad he didnt run the front brakes off either on those bikes, huh? And as it turns out it's running a jockey shift that I missed when I poseted it the first time.

Random Inspirational bikes

Nice Shovelhead Attack chopper shot by my freind MotoYan in Tokyo.
LIGHT, FAST, SKINNY, GROUND CLEARANCE, HANDLES GOOD, STOPS GOOD, mid pegs, jockey shift

Random inspirational bikes

Cool tight Flathead. LIGHT, SKINNY, FAST, HANDLES GOOD, STOPS GOOD, mid pegs, jockey shift, does dirt?

Key elements of perfromance: Good handling:

Missed this photo of Jasin Phares in the Max and Jasin post below.
See? Choppers CAN lean without scraping hard parts!
Sweet shot by Adam Wright.
Swiped off of the Church of Choppers Blog.

A word about Jockey shifts and Spool hubs

Look, I know that many of you may be wondering why I am pushing performance for rigid framed bikes and yet I keep posting pics of Jockey shift and spool hubbed bikes.
Aren't they mutually exclusive?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, they are in the sense that no matter what you do, you still are limiting your stopping performance with no front brake, and yes you are making it harder to ride a bike fast, and keep yourself alive if you run a Jockey shift.
Doubly so if you run both.

No, in the sense that there are TONS of attack choppers out there than meet ALL of the criteria EXCEPT for the the stopping performance.
And historically there was tons of skinny attack choppers built in the beginning that were set up like this.

And I will admit to being biased.
I ran a Jockey for 5 years on an XS650 Attack chopper, and I loved every second of it.
I love the mystique, the fun, the sensation and having to hone another entire skill set to run a jockey set up.
I also loved that most people at the time had never seen one before and it scared the hell out of them.
I loved knowing that most people could never ride my bike.

And lets be honest here: A little bit of danger is very sexy.
A LOT of danger is even sexier.
Not that I want to build a bike that is going to get me killed just for the sex appeal.
But there is something to all of that.

And I also will admit that I have a very emotional attachment to both spool hubs and Jockey shifts. I love Frisco choppers and NYC choppers. Both were very famous for running these set ups. That has been pounded into my brain for years and years. Before all the feel good "jockey shifts are really not that dangerous you can to it to sonny!" nonsense that I read in certain magazines these days, Jockey shifts were for the elite.
I knew that when I saw another Jockey shift rider (only 3 in my town) I knew that we were part of an elite chopper force that was taking our life into out hands for something that we really loved.
And I was treated differently from those guys because noone else was running a jockey.
And I also know that everyone and their dog is running a jockey shift now, and that is acutally kind of ok with me. I like to look at bikes running jockey shifts and I like the idea that more people are learning to ride that way... but I will probably not run that setup again on any of my bikes.
I just like more control and sliding. So the hand clutch is the way to go for that.
Plus, I really do want to survive to fight another day.
But I will never get tired of looking at them.
And I will always respect the guys running that set up on their attack choppers. Because I can totally understand why they do it.
All due respect to the people out there still running em.
And after all... nothing is lighter than a spool... and I can't argue with that!

Random inspirational bikes

Very cool skinny Evo attack chopper. Very NYC style. LIGHT, FAST, SKINNY, GROUND CLEARANCE, mid pegs, high pipes, jockey shift, open belt, kick only. I am TOTALLY into this one even though it needs brakes. Sometimes even I get caught up in the asthetics...

Random inspirational bikes

The Damn vandal.
This is his first build, punk rock magneto powered jockey shift shovel that gets beat hard on a regular basis.
LIGHT, FAST, GROUND CLEARANCE, STOPS GOOD, mid pegs, jockey shift, magneto, kick only (duh), Light wheels? (not sure.)

Key Inspirational bikes: Paul Cox's Tempting Fate

This one is pretty new, but has been driving me crazy since the day I first saw it. Paul Cox from NYC built this one. LIGHT, FAST, SKINNY, HANDLES GOOD, ground clearance? great suspension, high pipes, mid pegs, jockey shift

Random inspirational bikes

Nice Panhead from Japan: The Black Dallas. LIGHT, SKINNY, FAST, GROUND CLEARANCE, HANDLES GOOD, mid pegs, Jockey shift, needs brakeS