- Choppers:
Heavy Metal Art - When a motorcycle has been built from
the ground up, stripped of anything not needed for speed,
power, and striking looks, and draped in rich colors and chrome,
it has been transformed into a chopper. What was once considered
an outlaw ride has now become a luxury item and a mainstream
obsession. In Choppers: Heavy Metal Art, author and biker
Mike Seate explores the many styles of choppers and bobbers
and the builders behind them. The book is divided into several
sections based on style or type of chopper, with each section
devoted to the builders who follow a similar style and philosophy.
Some builders are established names in their field, while
others are up-and-comers rocking the chopper world with their
far-out ideas and new spins on a classic style. Photographer
Michael Lichter, who has photographed choppers for Easyriders
and several other magazines for nearly three decades, provides
stunning studio images of the featured machines as well as
portraits of their creators.
- Harley
Davidson Sportster - In 1957 Harley-Davidson bowed to
customer pressure and grafted an overhead-valve top end unto
the four-cam bottom end of its floundering KL series of middleweight
motorcycles. The resulting motorcycle, the Sportster,
earned the distinction of being the most iconoclastic motorcycle
model ever produced. In continuous production for 44 years
and counting, the Sportster long-ago abdicated its original
title as the king of high performance motorcycles, yet it
remains one of the world's most popular motorcycles, despite
using antiquated technology. The elegant simplicity of the
Sportster embodies what Robert Persig calls "the a priori
motorcycle." That is, when most people close their eyes
and conjure up the image of a motorcycle, it is something
very similar to a Sportster that immediately springs to mind.
It is this raw, essential nature that propels the Sportster
to mythic status.
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