What is a Vintage Chopper?

How can it be called a chopper yet be vintage at the same time?  Have you heard the term "Old School" chopper ? Well.... We'd like to see choppers get back to where they really should be.... To what they used to be!

A true "Old School" chopper is not an assemblage of custom & aftermarket parts...

In reality,  that's what we would call a "kit bike" ... Those kit bikes could be customized, they could be real beauties, they could be built by well known fabricators, they could be very fine machines. But in reality,  they are still just custom kit bikes.  What most of today's chopper builders in this country are doing is assembling (and customizing) aftermarket motorcycle components...  These machines are made up almost entirely of aftermarket parts.  In essence, they are building and selling customized kit bikes.  And in my opinion, regardless of their cost and beauty - these are NOT true choppers.  They are beasts of a recent birth and have no true history behind them.

A true chopper, often called an old school chopper, is actually an existing older motorcycle (Harley, BSA, Triumph, Honda, whatever) that has been dramatically modified... Usually made lighter, faster, sleeker - almost always much more dramatic than its stock counterpart... But the key to it being an "Old School" chopper is its basic foundation or source...  For example... If it's a 1943 Harley Flathead and chopped, it will still be registered as a 1943 Harley... Yes it's customized, but this old school iron still incorporates the original major components (engine, tranny, even parts of the frame, etc.) of the original motorcycle - along with its dated title.