What began as the ultimate American folk art movement, with a self-identified outsider status, has now been marketed and commercially exploited for generations by pop culture, television shows, and print media, while government agencies use choppers as symbols of crime and anarchy.ĭespite the fact that the chopper s real story is much more complex and thrilling than the stereotypes that surround it, it has never been told until now. Since the 1920s, an independent scene of riders and builders from around the world has continuously evolved the canon of the chopper. By the time the film Easy Rider was released, the chopper was firmly established as an icon of the American dream.Ĭhoppers are instantly recognizable the dangerously stretched forks, crazy paint jobs, and feet-forward riding position are an outrageous statement of freedom, which sprouted in California and spread like a weed to the rest of the world. With its own system of unspoken rules for both machine and rider, the chopper has a special status in the motorcycle world a position it earned despite being actively discouraged by the professional motorcycle industry for decades. Choppers have deep roots in the origins of American motorcycling, flourishing after the Second World War out of a heady mix of personal mobility, an identification with the legends of the Wild West, and an interracial cross-pollination simultaneous to the creation of rock n roll. The chopper is a quintessentially American invention, rivaling jazz and abstract expressionism as one of the country s most emblematic cultural exports of the twentieth century. CHOPPER - THE REAL STORY by Paul D’Orleans
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