# Buiding a Chopper Bicycle for our kids this summer...



## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

This Chopper Bike was originally built by me a long time ago.
It went from Nebraska to Iowa for several years to Gingers Cousins house
for her kids to ride. 
Now that both of them are in College they returned it last 4th of July. It has been buried in mess
in our garage & dug it out while Spring Cleaning.

Now it is time to rebuild it for our Kids to enjoy this summer.

It got painted and dirty over the years so, the first step was to clean it
all up with SOS soapy pads and Comet real good like. 

A total dismantalization & strip job...Let's do this! 
(well I am doing it, not you) LOL



Me smiling. 



Homer says Shinney...Doh White wall tires Rule!!











I messed around with this bike all day and into the dark night.

More pics...


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Here is the frame and front fork rake now (see below)...not good 



I'm taking this to work with me Monday to cut and weld the front end
to get the rake right. 

This will make the bike a lot more fun to drive. 





more pics...


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

*Ride to Live, Live to Ride...*

Everything cleaned up Very Nicely with cleaner and Elbow Grease.



Here is my 80s Red Line that needs a bath, a Green Machine that got
picked up for a song & a dance (it needed a new tube and tightened everything up) & last years Goodwill pedal cart find. (needs seat moved back / will have to make custom brackets)



Chemical spray on paint remover & a wire brush with a scrapper got all 
the paint off. It was starting to get dark outside. Finished up before 
the Wolves got me...Wheeeeew. 



In the morning I will start cleaning the rear tire and rim along with the rest of what is left to clean.

Will show more pictures as this moves along. It is going pretty well so far.

I took a break and went to "We'll Smoke U BBQ" tonight. The owner and workers all ride Motorcycles & told them of this build. In a month they will be having their Car/Bike show in the parking lot again & they told me to bring my bike. 

Bob...founder of Sarpy County Choppers...zilla


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## Bubba 123 (Sep 10, 2010)

more pics...[/QUOTE]

neat Bob!!!
I had a gold Sears Spyder "Tiger" print banana-seat job w/ I was a kid..
got the aftermarket pound-on front fork extensions 4 it...
it had a problem, keeping the front wheel from "Wheele-ing-Up) though.:freak:

Bubba 123 :wave:


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Bubba 123 said:


> more pics..
> 
> neat Bob!!!
> I had a gold Sears Spyder "Tiger" print banana-seat job w/ I was a kid..
> ...


Yeah my friends older brother Wayne from across the street did the pound on front forks bike build and I thought that was just WAY COOL!!

My Dad fixed up a couple real nice bikes for me as a kid. One was Red, White & Blue with upside down 10 speed handle bars and the other was a Tiger Bike he painted up School Bus Yellow and black with a Tiger seat.
My Dad put on a fluffy Tiger tail out the back which, got ripped off by some dopey kid right away...doh. 

The Tiger bike was geared to pedal hard starting out so, I didn't ride it much. Had a cool slick in the rear though
& thought the bike was very neat LOOKING...not very rideable. Dang It...

Wayne asked my Dad a few questions while taking apart and putting his Chopper back together.

I remember he was so excited to tell my Dad he was painting it Fire Engine Red...Yeah I loved the 70s....Tons of fun & good times!

BMX took over for me as I got older. Evil Knievel was my hero.
I regret that I only had two legs to break...only broke my right leg but, did it twice. Different times...not at the same time. LOL

Bob...Now an Easy Rider...zilla


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## honda27 (Apr 17, 2008)

*red line*

u can send me that red line bike here. so like I told bubba all u guys need to return to chat its so boaring in there same 3 guys every night me ko racing and 68cuda.


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

I was the middle kid between my older & younger brother. Those 2 got brand new bikes TWICE!!! I never got a new one. I got my older bro's "like new" bikes & I tore them to pieces. So my little brother got 2 new bikes because I was not smarter than my father....


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## Jisp (Oct 19, 2008)

Bob........ looking forward to seeing how the Chopper turns out. Way over the pond, here in Australia, they were very popular in their various styles through the late 70s and early 80s. I never owned one as I was 'all' BMX but my mate had one quite unlike any other I had ever seen.

It had a steel frame and weighed an absolute heap. What I most recall was that it had a three speed gear shifter on the cross bar in front of the seat..... perfectly positioned so as to catch you between the legs should you come to an abrupt halt. Abrupt halts were unfortunately frequent. The gear arrangement on the bike was the only one of it's kind that I have ever seen. I have no idea how it worked but the gears were housed within the rear hub as opposed to the more traditional external gears/shifter. I remember that the end of the gear shift cable had what I can only describe as a mini chain that somehow interacted with the hub internals in order to change gears. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Does anyone know what the system was called or how it worked? As I said, it was the only one of it's type that I have ever seen.

Oh and btw, the Red Line was pretty much the Holy Grail of BMXs where I lived as a kid. Those and the chrome Mongoose. Whatever Honda offers I'll up it 20,LOL. Great trip down memory lane.... thank you.

Cheers,
Michael. :thumbsup:


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## FOSTBITTEN (Aug 1, 2013)

Jisp, I remember hearing about those gear shifter bikes too. From what I remember too the bike had a steering in place of the handlebars! Supposedly some kid had it but, I never saw it. It also was supposed to have a squared off slick rear tire. That bike just sounds safe I wonder why they never caught on???:freak:


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## kriket (Feb 15, 2013)

Jisp said:


> Bob........ looking forward to seeing how the Chopper turns out. Way over the pond, here in Australia, they were very popular in their various styles through the late 70s and early 80s. I never owned one as I was 'all' BMX but my mate had one quite unlike any other I had ever seen.
> 
> It had a steel frame and weighed an absolute heap. What I most recall was that it had a three speed gear shifter on the cross bar in front of the seat..... perfectly positioned so as to catch you between the legs should you come to an abrupt halt. Abrupt halts were unfortunately frequent. The gear arrangement on the bike was the only one of it's kind that I have ever seen. I have no idea how it worked but the gears were housed within the rear hub as opposed to the more traditional external gears/shifter. I remember that the end of the gear shift cable had what I can only describe as a mini chain that somehow interacted with the hub internals in order to change gears. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Does anyone know what the system was called or how it worked? As I said, it was the only one of it's type that I have ever seen.
> 
> ...


 I had a few bicycles with the 3 speed hub when i was a kid ,they were pretty common here back in the day. I think they still make them. My mother had a large 3 wheel with the big basket on the back and it was also a hub style 3 speed. there is a long pin that the lever with the small chain would push the pin in and would slide the internal sprockets some how, i took one apart and there where a bunch of them inside and i could not figure out how to reassemble it.. unfortunately the one i took apart was my mothers bike and she grounded me...lol


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## kriket (Feb 15, 2013)

bobhch said:


> Here is the frame and front fork rake now (see below)...not good
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is going to be an awsome chooper bike, i remember making one back in the 70's....


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## Jisp (Oct 19, 2008)

kriket said:


> I had a few bicycles with the 3 speed hub when i was a kid ,they were pretty common here back in the day. I think they still make them. My mother had a large 3 wheel with the big basket on the back and it was also a hub style 3 speed. there is a long pin that the lever with the small chain would push the pin in and would slide the internal sprockets some how, i took one apart and there where a bunch of them inside and i could not figure out how to reassemble it.. unfortunately the one i took apart was my mothers bike and she grounded me...lol


A little hunting around makes me think the hub I mentioned is a Sturney Archer hub. Kriket, full servicing instructions can be found here http://sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer/aw.html although I suspect it's a little too late for that. :freak: Note that the "Driver" in step 5 could probably be modded for use as an AFX wheel.

Here's a diagram of the hub internal organs.


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

lol, I have that same shirt Bob


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## kriket (Feb 15, 2013)

Jisp said:


> A little hunting around makes me think the hub I mentioned is a Sturney Archer hub. Kriket, full servicing instructions can be found here http://sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer/aw.html although I suspect it's a little too late for that. :freak: Note that the "Driver" in step 5 could probably be modded for use as an AFX wheel.
> 
> Here's a diagram of the hub internal organs.


Yeah about 42 years too late...lol


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## Bubba 123 (Sep 10, 2010)

bobhch said:


> Yeah my friends older brother Wayne from across the street did the pound on front forks bike build and I thought that was just WAY COOL!!
> 
> My Dad fixed up a couple real nice bikes for me as a kid. One was Red, White & Blue with upside down 10 speed handle bars and the other was a Tiger Bike he painted up School Bus Yellow and black with a Tiger seat.
> My Dad put on a fluffy Tiger tail out the back which, got ripped off by some dopey kid right away...doh.
> ...


yeah, that hard 2 peddle w/ slick, w/ a Sears like I had...
the $$ of being "Kool"... had "Tiger" print seat 2 & was a tiger-gold/orange color....
Pop's had a light gold Columbia English-racer type... 3 speed inside the rear wheel hub & TWIST THE RIGHT HANDLE BAR grip (sry, hit caps lock, ment 2 hit shift :-/....

Bubba 123 :freak:


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## Gareth (Mar 8, 2011)

Loving the build Bob and that Redline is an absolute beauty. I remember when I was 16, my mate asked me to go with him to view a rusty chrome frame BMX which I think was a Redline. I had to pretend to be a BMX expert to get a good price. We did it up and it was a sweet ride after that.

I also had a Raleigh Chopper which some of the others mentioned. I've got a pretty embarrassing photo of me and the bike from the 80s when I was about 6 or 7. Will have to find it for your amusement! It was a fun bike though.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Oh man, Bob!! This is a cool project!! I always wanted a chopper when I was a kid... I was lucky just having a decent banana seat regular bike. There's a drummer dude who rides a slightly larger scale (adult sized) newer chopper bike here in town. My lower back prevents me from riding (makes my legs feel like rubber for hours after pedaling a block or two), but if I got the surgery on my lower back, I'd be thinking about it. Slickerster 5? :lol:


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## vansmack2 (Feb 9, 2012)

This brings back memories. I had a light blue Schwinn Stingray back in the early 70s. I found a hollow front fork and cut the forks off of it. I pounded those forks onto the front of my Schwinn. The Schwinn also had a banana seat with a sissy bar that went about 1 1/2 to 2 feet above the seat. That made for some great cruising.


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