PROGRESS PICS OF MY "MAD MOTORSICKLE PROJECT"! + TECH QUESTION...

If form following function is the recipe, then I guess we should get you to raise the bike back up to factory height. We should probably get rid of the rake in the frame while you're at it and put some big fat blinkers on the thing.

Gimme a break. Form following function is a disease to ANY custom be it auto or bike. Does a guy chop his street cruiser so it can fit under bridges better?? Function was never considered. It just looks cool. What about peanut tanks and bobbed rear fenders. Bikers probably implemented those modifications because it's fun to stop every 50 miles for fuel and talk about the grime collection on their backs compliments of the back tire. Not. It just looks cool. Function was never considered.

So just do what you think is cool, try not to get too threatened by other's success(because THAT is gay), and you'll be fine.

 

I think this is an interesting discussion. Cole has a point with form following function, and I too prefer the look of bike with nothing but the necessities on it. However, the other approach to building bikes (especially here on the HAMB) is tradition, building a bike the way they did it in the chopper's heyday. I got some old Choppers magazines and not all builders back then seemed to adhere to the "form follows function" filosophy, quite a few nick-nacks to be found here and there. I guess what I don't like is the bikes that fall in between those categories, either it's stripped down or it's a over-the-top-psychadelic chopper.

 

Talk about kicking a guy when he's down. I'll join in by saying that the spike sucks too, the rest of it rules.
I have to disagree with cole about Billy Lane being a gimic master, well sure he does have gimics, but then again I enjoy frivolity in my artifacts.
When I look over his bikes they're full of uneccessary doo-hickery, but that's what his bikes are about, and I don't think he claims otherwise. We can't compare what our flatland brother is doing with what comes out of the Choppers Inc shop.
My very favorite builders on the planet right now are Zero Engineering and Chica cycles, both of those shops put out bikes with useless crap on them too.
Very few things are completetly unfrivolous, an Eames chair maybe, but to me sometimes when in the character of the item a doo dad thrown in can be cool.
Take a look at Young's Pan Chopper, who in the day would've thought to use a dropped axle for a front frame leg and Buick/Ford rear wheel brake combo?
Should we dismiss Hank's bike as silly? I think not.

For me though, the bikes that really do it for me are the ones that are lean and mean with a maximum air of mystery. No names, no markings, no nothing.

PS, is it true that ChopperDave's judging The Horse Chopper show at Bike Week?

 

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My very favorite builders on the planet right now are Zero Engineering and Chica cycles, both of those shops put out bikes with useless crap on them too.

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what Zero bike has useless crap on it? I actually think it's amazing the amount of crap that's on these bikes yet never sticks out like a sore thumb.(I think they all need 4 blinkers and all sorts of other stuff to make 'em road legaletc.)

 

"what Zero bike has useless crap on it? I actually think it's amazing the amount of crap that's on these bikes yet never sticks out like a sore thumb"

None, some of the best bikes built with no gimmicks.

Dutchman - your bike rocks. I dream of someday having money to build one..if anyone knows of a bike for no more than $50. let men know ha,ha

 

REALLY BITCHIN! Cool bike, artfully done.

I don't think you need to be concerned about the rear wheel offset.
Check out www.dbbp.com for more info. He could probably help you with more technical stuff. He is also in your part of the world!

 

junkboy, I think you have your finger on part of the equation for building something...

Custom cars and choppers have one thing in common... they are built to please the eye... although choppers bend that to new heights and prey on the "Barney Bad-Ass" in us all...

But if you look at a true hot rod... or bike that is built in the spirit of hot rodding (i.e. bobber or drag bike) their form DOES follow function... for instance, the poor example of a peanut tank that you gave is actually a hold over from flat track and drag motorcycles... only enough fuel to make it through the race... yet the look caught on and people began doing it on street bikes... same for the rear bobbed fender... had to have a fender on your bike... so damnit, I'm gonna make it as small as possible to keep Johnny law off my back and/or to meet the requirements of the flat track racing association...

The Dutchman's bike is a blend of the two... he has elements that are minimalist and purely there for function, which end up lending to the form of the bike and then there are items like the Z-bars and that spike that say "hey, here's a little something to tingle your eye"... for people who believe in the form follow's function mantra, that stuff is superfluous (look it up).

Sam!

 

actually, form following function isn't coles idea, it was frank llyod wright's. we at salinas boys pay close attention to those who came before us and made big buildings and got in magazines. the usual state of affairs at our shop falls into walter gropius's pre nazi acadamia, bauhaus. design and art should play equal parts in the conception of the subjective negro. theres a formula we follow not to stay within guidlines as much as to pay homage to those who died in concentration camps and others who hide out in south africa. it takes a long time to understand, and buy listening to those who came before and paid endless dues we begin to see clearer our own paths. billy lane follows the WWF school of wrestling, and for so many thats the homage, i would wrather die in a concentration camp than have the japanese invade my sacred homage any more than they already have, Pearl was the first attempt, then Levi's, #4 the fittest shall survive yet the unfit may live #5 we must repeat. The school of Salinas Boys is Calling You to Arms.

 

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actually, form following function isn't coles idea, it was frank llyod wright's. we at salinas boys pay close attention to those who came before us and made big buildings and got in magazines. the usual state of affairs at our shop falls into walter gropius's pre nazi acadamia, bauhaus. design and art should play equal parts in the conception of the subjective negro. theres a formula we follow not to stay within guidlines as much as to pay homage to those who died in concentration camps and others who hide out in south africa. it takes a long time to understand, and buy listening to those who came before and paid endless dues we begin to see clearer our own paths. billy lane follows the WWF school of wrestling, and for so many thats the homage, i would wrather die in a concentration camp than have the japanese invade my sacred homage any more than they already have, Pearl was the first attempt, then Levi's, #4 the fittest shall survive yet the unfit may live #5 we must repeat. The school of Salinas Boys is Calling You to Arms.

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...and then the schoolgirls yelled "heeeey-yea, who's yer- daddy, who's-yer daddy!!"

Sam!

 

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walter gropius's pre nazi acadamia, bauhaus. design and art should play equal parts in the conception of the subjective negro

[/ QUOTE ] I thought all that was played out in the 80`s with the modrian hair products packageing I say we revive the Bay Area Funk Art movement of the early 70`s Robert Arnison style then you could find some funkshun for that Spike & Ike style fence topper I like the idea of useing it as OCC satire and Arnison was the master of satire

 

Sam. Of course the peanut tanks had purpose for the track. I'm not that fogged. My point was that they don't on the street. Of course chopping the top of a car had a purpose on the salt flats (resistance)...just not on the street. I'll just say that lots of things people do now are more show than go. A blend is almost impossible to avoid. The spike? Does it hurt the show? Does it hurt the go? I could take it or leave it. I just think it should be the builder's decision.

Life is the lively co-existence of opposite values. Good and bad. Right and wrong. Dark and light. Spike and no spike. It's nice to see the energy is still runnin' wild.

 

Glad to hear you're not that fogged, junkboy.

In fact, I like the whimsical touch to a four or two wheeled creation... it's just that it sometimes gets out of hand... before it was expected, (15-20 years ago) theme's were seldome found in cars and bikes... but now it's almost expected... anymore, seeing a theme such as "guns and ammo" or "knives and brass knuckles" carried throughout a motorcycle is passe... passe to the point where it is now considered lame by a few people... me included.

Now I'm not apposed to filling a hole in a Trimph frame with a shot gun shell... but every fucking unused hole, pistols for pedals, a cylinder for a jocky shift knob and 30-30 rifles for a sissy bar is a bit much.

The only question I have now is... is the dutchman going to remove the spike or leave it?

Sam!

 

Germ minus (chronic+bourbon) equals Harvester.

 

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Germ minus (chronic+bourbon) equals Harvester.

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he wishes, at least now I get what Germ aspires to with his posts

 

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The only question I have now is... is the dutchman going to remove the spike or leave it?


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He's probably gonna remove half so we'd ALL stop whining.

 

My Goodness Sam, you said something worthwhile and (lookitup) poignant. Really, good point!

 

harvester of bondo, may I call you HOB for short? Or is that too close to House Of Blues?
Are you for real about your comment about the Japanese?
In your perfect world perhaps Chica and Zero ought not to exist.
C'mon bro' it's a small world. Why in the world should the Japanese making the prices of Levis (Mr.Strauss was a Jew) sky high have anything to do with letting them not build bad ass choppers?
Didn't HD sell the Japanese the tooling and the licenses to build Rukios?
Weren't early Toyotas clones of Austin Sevens?
Doesn't a Datsun 2000 roadster head interchange with one off of an MG?
I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from!
I do applaud you for having knowledge of Gropius and Wright though.
I guess it goes to prove that not all gearheads are ignorant, misguided maybe, but not ignorant.

Oh yeah in my book beautifully bent copper oil lines are frivolous when plain old rubber ones will do.

 

don't touch it,if you like it,fuck em,leave it!and don't worry to much about the stagger,should be fine.....