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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> My friends bike
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Message started by grapefruit on 12/16/05 at 15:55:49

Title: My friends bike
Post by grapefruit on 12/16/05 at 15:55:49

What do you think? Do you like this style?
http://www.bikepics.com/pics/pics/yamaha-virago535-93-bikepics-451650.jpg

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by torque on 12/16/05 at 17:07:12

thats a killer bike! gotta love that sissy bar.it's a 250 virago right?or is it a 750 ???

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by grapefruit on 12/16/05 at 17:10:59

This is a '93 virago 535 :)

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by sluggo on 12/16/05 at 17:31:07

you ask what i think and here it is. it ain't a savage. who cares what it looks like, ;D i'll never ride or think about it. i'm a thumper dude. 8) it's all i'll ever own.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by Savage_Rob on 12/16/05 at 19:59:33

Now don't go sugar-coatin' it Sluggo. Tell us how you really feel.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by kikuchiyo on 12/16/05 at 20:25:35

Hey! My first bike was Virago 535. SUPER BIKE! (except for small tank- 80 miles on the highway and the low gas light would go on). Also, I liked the shaft drive, no maintenance. Too bad I totalled the bike into some lady with no peripheral vision driving an old Chevy.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by kikuchiyo on 12/16/05 at 20:26:37

Sluggo is in the bad mood :)

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by sluggo on 12/16/05 at 20:36:05

kikuchiyo wrote:

Sluggo is in the bad mood :)

not at all in a bad mood, just a smart arse who loves thumpers.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by grapefruit on 12/17/05 at 02:17:52

I just wanted to know what do you think about those kind of bikes...that's all..Personally i don't like this style, it's a probably old school chopper look? In my opinion the stock virago looks much better. Simplicity is the attribute what i'm looking for and i found it in savage :)

Soon i'll give you a picture of my thumper in winter scenery, it's simply beautiful, i love it :)

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by PerrydaSavage on 12/17/05 at 05:33:42

Though I'm more partial to Bobbers as opposed to Choppers ... I've always liked the V-go 535's (great Bikes!) and that is a nice job of an Old Skool Chopped Virago!

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by Paladin on 12/17/05 at 05:40:39

grapefruit wrote:

What do you think? Do you like this style?
http://www.bikepics.com/pics/pics/yamaha-virago535-93-bikepics-451650.jpg

What do you mean by "style"? All my opinon:

The extended forks have the front end lifted, unlike the extended forks on the Savages of Hog Hunter or Jesse Ray. While I like the looks of the extended forks on those two Savages, on this Virago it looks as if he is constantly trying to wheelie and is silly looking. It also places the tank at a ridiculous angle.

Saddlebars on a 'chopper' are stupid. You chop to cut weight, bags are for adding weight. Not to mention that the cheap leather he has are saggy baggies giving him a saggy butt look. I have a saggy butt look off the bike, don't need it on the bike as well.

Looking all the way back, the plate in mounted above the taillight, like a flag or something. Would have been no effort to mount on the sissybar so it would not be sticking out.

If I had gotten a Virago the first thing I would have done is somehow lose that Virago Pod -- maybe put airhorns in to fill the resulting gap. Anything other than that chromed blob.

The biggest style flaw is the second cylinder -- looks as stylish as a two-headed mule.

About the only thing on that bike that is stylish are the laced wheels.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by grapefruit on 12/17/05 at 08:19:30

Thank you for your professional opinion Paladin.

You are right, my feelings are similar. I think this modification (extendet forks) needs a different frame geometry to keep the bike low as in savages you mentioned, that's the main thing.

About the plate - good idea, it will be done.

Stylish like two-headed mule? - that's good

:D

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by mmosel on 12/17/05 at 15:36:28

I've never really dug the extended fork thingy. I know, it's a true 'chopper', but I just don't like it. I had a bicycle with extended forks when I was a kid, and I hated riding that thing. I hated how it handled. I hated how it looked. I like a bike to be subtle in it's style and sweet in it's handling. Personally, I'd take a bobber a thousand times before I'd take a chopper.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by sluggo on 12/17/05 at 16:24:19

mmosel wrote:

actually, a bobber is a "true chopper", in the 60's extended forks came about because of the front wheel, they wanted a smaller one so they had to compensate by extending the forks.

the term chopper comes from the late fourties and early 50's. guys would "chop" off all the excess parts to make it lighter and faster.

so the only "chopper" is a bike that someone bobbs or such, you can not go buy a chopper, you can buy a "custom", not a chopper.

so o.c.c is a acutually orange county custom's. not choppers.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by torque on 12/17/05 at 18:22:28

i still would ride that over a savage anyday ;) the encyclopedia says a "chopper" is a customized motorcycle.a "bobber" is a motorcycle that has no unneeded crap,fenders,belt guards,sh!t like that.

but yeah i still love it,i just like that it has two cylinders,just like i have two nuts ;D

i like that its high off the ground,a real go anywhere crusier . not just anouther ground scraping p.o.s "custom"

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by mmosel on 12/17/05 at 19:58:18

sluggo wrote:

Alright, you called me out. I really don't know crap about the honest to goodness real terminology. But I still don't like long forks! I saw this bike on OCC, and the dad said it took a 12 point turn to turn it around. Rediculous.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by sluggo on 12/17/05 at 20:08:18

torque wrote:

so the encyclopedia got it wrong. :o
that happens. but then again our language is a fluid form of communication. so givin' todays language it has come to mean chopper.

i stand by the statement you cant' buy a chopper you must make it out of an exsisting m/c though. ;D

i guess thats the difference between "book learning" i.e "you looked it up in the encyclopeda", and "real world experience" i.e i grew up with "hard core" bikers. and ran away for hame at the tender age of 17 to escape that life. joined the navy and saw the world.
that's where my love of singles blossomed.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by SavagePielk on 12/18/05 at 01:08:35

I think I found what would make it less weird... it looks like the exhausts are swapped, like the upper pipe should be the lower pipe. It should make a big difference swapping the pipes (you should have to weld them again)

I think it's useless arguing about what a chopper of bobber is, because it's a personal thing, everybody has a different opinion on what a chopper or a bobber is. Even if it's in the dictionary, it's a word that has a different meaning in every different part of the country.

This bike looks like it has been put together with parts from different bikes, as if everything is a 'not exactly perfect fit'. Still I think it has great potential, it shouldn't be a lot of work making this a really cool bike.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by Paladin on 12/18/05 at 04:49:47

Words mean things, people get things wrong, the dictionaries record the mistakes.

A 'Muscle car" originally meant an American Intermediate with a big block V8. Wendy's Camaro is not a muscle car on two counts, not an intermediate, has a 350 LT1 smallblock. The old LTD had a big block and it would shame late model IROC Camaros. But it was a full size sedan and thus not a muscle car. "Muscle Car Review" magazine, in order to please advertisers, redefined "Muscle Car" to be anything that could do a 16-second standing start quarter mile. A hopped up Pinto qualifies. Wendy canceled her subscription. The truth is that a muscle car is a big-block intermediate and claiming anything else to be a muscle car simply shows ignorance of what a muscle car really is.

Back in the late '40's early '50's the riders of American motorcycles were losing races with the lightweight British bikes, especially the big singles. To compete they lightened their bikes by chopping off excess weight. The term Chopper rightly refers to a motorcycle that has been lightened by removing excess parts and replacing heavy parts with lighter versions. You can no more have a factory chopper than you can have a factory car that has been chopped, channeled, or sectioned (three different methods of lowering a car.) Thus, as with a muscle car, the truth is that a chopper is a motorcycle that has been lightened by removing excess parts and claiming anything else to be a chopper simply shows ignorance of what a chopper really is. That the vast majority of people are ignorant of the origins and true meanings and misuse the terms muscle car and/or chopper does not matter to a purist who knows better.

You also cannot have a mass produced custom vehicle. A small builder putting out dozens of the same vehicle is not building custom vehicles no matter what anyone claims.

We fight our losing battles and tend to make people cringe and slowly back away from the crazy person.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by torque on 12/18/05 at 06:33:34

all old shcool "choppers" have extended forks,high sissy bars,and a a$$ load of chrome.they chopped them to personolize there bikes,not to save weight.

when the old indians had those huge fenders,most people took them off or cut(bobbed) them so they where much lighter,hence the term "bobbed fenders". :)

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by sluggo on 12/18/05 at 06:34:35

mmosel wrote:

But I still don't like long forks! .

and on this point we are in total agreement. :D

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by (RG) on 12/18/05 at 11:36:36

Okay, I know he was asking for everyone's opinions, but I say to each his own. They make thumpers for guys who like thumpers, v twins for guys who like v twins, in-line fours for guys who like in-line fours, and "choppers" for guys with way too much money who need to compensate for some apparent lack in their lives . . .

But seriously, overall, I like the look of the bike. I agree that it looks funny with the front end raised like that, but I think it was done so he didn't have to chop the frame. While that would be nice and add to the look, some of just don't know how to weld and can't afford to have it done. But I guess in that case you should just leave it stock. It looks like longer stock metal was just put in place of the stock metal (in other words, the entire forks weren't replaced). If you wanted to shorten it to stock, all you'd have to do is cut them to the right length. I agree that he should get rid of the bags and remount the plate. I also think the light bar should go, and maybe a new tank that doesn't look quite so separate from the rest of the bike. I've always liked the Virago, but the pipes look a little whimpy.

In spite of all this, I like the look of the bike. There's obviously things that could be done to make it look better, but there always are. And no two people will ever agree about all those things. So I say have your friend do whatever wants to make the bike look like he wants it. Or maybe he loves it how it is, which I say is fine.

Title: Re: My friends bike
Post by Dynobob on 12/18/05 at 22:16:47

I like this bike. It's old school like the homebuilt choppers of the 70s (yes choppers 8) ;D - they were called that back then). Extending the forks without changing the rake was done alot back in the day. The Honda 750/4 was a popular platform to do this to.

Paint the tank and sidecovers black (that tan color is not cool here), get rid of that ugly Japanese air filter, and mount the license plate to the sissy bar and you'd have a sweet ride. I don't mind the saddlebags but the lightbar is a bit much. I could live with it as it's a nice safety feature.