Explain to a squid... why on earth would you want...

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onlinesmurf · Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:03 am

Misplaced rant initally.

Raked out bikes have good stability at those lower speeds. Custom choppers are mostly style bikes, but alot of hardcore bikers will ride them lots of miles.
The handlebars and crazy stuff like suicide shifters (notice the term) are just for style and the 'badass' look. Being original is badass to me, and there are to many bandana wearing wannabes for that look to be badass anymore IMO. Basically its a matter of the look over the actual ride.

Ofcourse these hardcore bikers also ride in tanktops and sneakers with no helmet so I wouldn't be surprised if they mounted a seat under the kickstand if it looked 'cool'.

Aggroton · #12 Unread post by **Aggroton** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:33 pm

yeah but rakes are sometimes useful...it just gets outrageous becauese of human nature...or i should say american nature.

Heimdall Einherjar · Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:24 pm

So a long wheelbase is NOT more stable at highway speeds?

Aggroton · #14 Unread post by **Aggroton** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:31 pm

scan · #15 Unread post by **scan** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:41 pm

Aggroton wrote:is.

Yeah, I'd agree that it would be more stable at speed and horribly unstable slow. Going around a sharp corner could be a handful.

Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:40 pm

what high speed??????

Gummiente · Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:53 pm

scanevalexec wrote:Yeah, I'd agree that it would be more stable at speed and horribly unstable slow. Going around a sharp corner could be a handful.

Exactly - at low speeds the front end has a tendency to "flop" over very quickly, making u-turns an interesting challenge.

Gummiente · Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:01 am

onlinesmurf wrote:The handlebars and crazy stuff like suicide shifters (notice the term) are just for style and the 'badass' look.

When choppers became mainstream, they lost a lot of their individuality that's for sure. But the original idea behind choppers and things like suicide shifters was to eliminate any and all items they thought as useless by "chopping" them off to make a bare-bones bike. Older model Harleys had a foot operated clutch and a tank mounted hand shifter; chopper riders would remove the entire shift linkage except for the lever poking out of the transmission case. They would screw a knob onto it and shift by using the foot clutch and blindly groping behind their left leg for the shifter, hence the term "suicide shift". Those apehanger handlebars evolved from... are you ready for this... shopping carts. Bikers in the 60's used to take the entire bottom frame of the cart, cut off the metal grid, bend the ends back a bit and then bolt them on.

And btw, it's very common to see sportbike riders zipping around in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals - "hardcore bikers" aren't the only ones who don't dress properly for riding.

scan · #19 Unread post by **scan** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:25 am

Gummiente wrote:And btw, it's very common to see sportbike riders zipping around in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals - "hardcore bikers" aren't the only ones who don't dress properly for riding.

Roger that. In the biking world there are just as many types of idiots as there is types of bikes.

#20 Unread post by **Sev** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:06 am

Agreed 100%

Just because you ride one type of bike it does not make you any smarter (or stupider).