In The Shop: Used Choppers

We’re all familiar with the old saying; “looks can be deceiving”.

Often is the case with older Choppers from the era of Orange County Choppers and other TV shows that featured the likes of Indian Larry, Billy Lane & the imfamous Jessie James. Watching these choppers take form and come to life on prime time television was, simply put, really cool. Around this time, there were builders with manufacturing licenses pumping out hundreds of these big ground pounding motorcycles all across our country.

A problem with the majority of these choppers is that they are not all tried and true. Although these bikes are often built with high quality parts and and are usually assembled by talented, master mechanics; these combinations of assembled parts are not rigorously and repeatedly tested prior to the bikes completion for sale or delivery. Also, these motorcycles were typically not warrantied like a mass produced Harley Davidson. For this reason, many of these bikes did not get very far down the street without issues quickly arising. Fast forward nearly two decades, and in some cases two or three owners; many of these bikes can now be a real “bag of snakes”. Don’t get me wrong, they still look cool, but it takes a lot of money in parts and labor to actually be able to safely ride some these bikes down the street again.

We frequently have one of these big bikes strapped down to our longest lift. The most recent was written up and taken in for belt replacement (pic #1 & 3) and a possible no charging condition (pic #2) (both, per customer request). Five minutes into our multi point inspection and we could see that belt & charging system replacement would only be scratching the surface. In order to make this bike road worthy and safe, it would take a considerable amount of more parts and labor.

Expected parts & labor:
•Complete, Cycle Electric, charging system installation.
•BDL drive belt installation.

Added parts and labor:
•Complete transmission rebuild.
Including ALL bearings & inner primary bearing. (Pics 4 & 8)
•Rear tire replacement (pic 6)
•Rear wheel bearings
•Starter rebuild
•Heli-Coil primary bolt threads @ crankcase.
•Service clutches
•Shock bushings

We wanted to shed some light on what many riders run into when purchasing a used chopper. Here is an overview of some things to look for as well as things that should be avoided or used to negotiate a lower purchase price.

COMMON ISSUES:
•Cost of tires
Tires are expensive. Large rear tires are extremely expensive. Especially when you are replacing something like a 280 or 300/35/18
•Matching replacement pulley & rotors to original rim design.
A drive belt should always be replaced with front and rear pulleys.
In many cases a matching replacement pulley will be obsolete.
In this case, a replacement pulley will no longer match the rim design.
The same issue will come up when needing replacement brake rotors.
Bikes with sproters can have even more challenges.
A solution is to purchase a new set of wheels with rotor & pulleys. Extremely expensive!!
•Front end/fork rebuilds:
There are large chopper forks that may need to be “sent out” for rebuild.
Meaning; only the manufacturer will have the proper tooling (and know how) to disassemble and reassemble these forks.
If the manufacturer is no longer in business, servicing the forks will not be the only problem. Finding replacement parts or seals will also be difficult.
•Obsolte lighting & function modules.
When these modules fail, different aftermarket modules and relays can be used but this usually requires a considerable amount of rewiring to incorporate the new modules. Rewiring can be labor intensive if an owner can not handle the wiring themselves.
•Oil in frame?
There are choppers that retain motor oil in the motorcycle frame rather than using an oil tank. Over time, we have seen these frames rust internally. This is an issue that can not be remedied without a frame replacement. If the issue is not addressed; chunks of rust will inevitably be cycled throughout the motor. Damage to the engine will be slow but imminent.

LOOK FOR:
•S&S, & Harley Davidson engines.
•Baker, Jims, & Harley Davidson transmissions. Also, Andrew’s gearsets.
•BDL and Rivera/PRIMO primary drives.. Also, Harley Davidson Evolution primary drive assemblies.
•Performance Machine controls. GMA and Acutronix are also decent.
•S&S, Mikuni or Edelbrock carburetors.
•Progressive or Legends, suspension. Also, Paughco Springer front ends.
•P&M, HHI, Brembo brake calipers
•Barnett Scorpion clutches
•Headwinds lighting
•Dakota Digital gauges
*There are a lot more reputable American companies for Harley Davidsons & Choppers.
We are only mentioning some of the more commonly seen manufacturers for parts & components.*

AVOID:
•Ultima
There is a reason why Ultima motors, transmissions, primary drives, & etc are so much cheaper than S&S, Baker, Jims, Performance Machine, & etc. Ultima parts are Chinese garbage. We don’t care if anyone disagrees. We have seen enough catastrophes to know what’s up.

BEWARE OF:
•Revtech
We would never say that Revtech produces anything as poorly as Ultima but Revtech motors and transmissions have common issues and failures that are very uncommon for S&S, Baker, Harley, etc.

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