The Corporate Chopper Challenge

Real Choppers
(or the slightly less corporate chopper challenge)
While the Fury broke new ground for a big motorcycle manufacturer, it was old hat for the third-tier manufacturers commonly known as American V-Twin makers. Choppers from mild to outrageous have been around for over a decade, built on a production line and available with a two-year factory warranty.

"And they call us clones!" quipped Big Dog's John Nasi when I brought up the Fury to him a few months ago. So we put together a plan to do a brief test of Big Dog's K-9 chopper to test head-to-head with Honda's new wunderkind. As it turned out, we scored a Big Bear Choppers Athena to go with it thanks to Triple Threat Choppers.

Read my column this issue if you want to know why I might view all new extreme production choppers with suspicion, but I got the surprise of my life. Both of these bikes, from the looks of them, should be all looks and attitude, at the expense of handling, but it simply wasn't true. For the light duty we did on them, through the freeways and streets of Orange County and out into the canyons, they were able companions, while throwing down serious rumble and attitude.

The K-9 is touted by Big Dog as America's #1 Chopper. It's a chopper so big that its 21-inch front wheel looks a bit puny out there, like one of those 70s bicycle-style front wheels. Other than that, it shares a strong family resemblance with the other Big Dog models and is fairly standard blingy chopper.

The original Athena was actually built for the infamous Biker Build-Off show (which it won), and was made into a production bike afterwards, so you are getting a true productionized award-winning showbike with this one. Its got a "floating" rear fender (like the Rocker), and a super-dropped seat.

The differences between the Fury that tagged along and the "real choppers" was striking. For one thing there is no mistaking the Fury's diminutive nature (for a chopper) when parked next to these to behemoths. Both claim dry weights of about 700 lbs, but I'd guess both are lying. These things are huge and feel it. In fact, that might be the downfall of them both, or at least the challenge they both face. Though the handling, and ergonomics on the two bikes were very different (more on that later), in many ways they were similar.

Both used their massive air-cooled S&S V-Twins to their advantage, with the 117ci K-9 engine besting the more sedate 100ci Athena mill. Both shook like mad at high rpm (the K-9 more than the Athena), but both were more than able to pull hard in the lower rpm range. The S&S Electronic Fuel Injection performed flawlessly, warming without issue and carbureting well in all ranges.

Suspension action from both was superb, very controlled within the travel range, but if you overwhelm either one of them, look out. There are fairly short travel systems sporting a lot of unspurng weight in gigantic 18x10.5" rear wheels and 300mm tires. That said, mid-corner bumps aren't the demon to these things that they are to a couple of the bikes in the main shootout. Handling for both was surprisingly good. On a moderately snaky road, they were a ton of fun. You know you're riding a big machine but they're supremely stable and planted and turn in to corners well. Naturally, flipping u-turns, parking lot maneuvers and other fine-line riding requires some foresight and planning with bikes this big.

Both bikes have decent ground clearance, with the obscenely large rear tires actually helping by both jacking up the rear end when cranked over and resisting additional lean at the end of their range. The bar levers don't work like a "normal" bike with both requiring a firm pull. The brakes are pretty good but should be better for bikes of this heft and thrust. Both sets of levers required a full four-finger grasp to get proper engagement.

The big boys differed in a few key ways. Ergonomics are surprisingly accessible on the Big Dog, with a fairly tight riding triangle, considering the size of the bike. While the BBC was more extreme, with a super-dropped seat and a stretch to the bars and pegs, but anyone over about 5'9" should be able to work it out. The seat was a far better design than the Rocker seat, however, and actually offered some support in front of its floating fender.

Though both transmissions were made in the same plant, the BBC unit was far smoother than the Big Dog, which was notchy on downshifts.

Riding the Fury back to back with these bikes was a lesson in the difference between a chopper and a cruiser. The Fury felt like a toy going around corners, flicking easily, compared to these ponderous machines. That said, the suspension (within their range) actually had a more refined feel than the Honda's, which was one of the better units in our shootout. However, the Honda does act like a bridge between bikes like these and more conventional machines. You can feel the similarities when you ride it despite the differences.

Though both the K-9 and Athena occupy fairly "value" spots in their respective makers lineups, they are still a hefty investment. That said, they're also made from steel and billet, with very little plastic anywhere. There is (at least aesthetically) very little which looks unfinished on either bike, which is the way it should be for bikes claiming to represent show bikes for the street. --BB

Big Dog K-9

Big Bear Choppers Athena

Cruisers And Choppers???

Really what do they have to do with each other? Well, nothing cept maybe where they come from...

Let's go back, before there were "Cruisers". Before cruisers, on the street in the 50's we really had basic street bikes and big, bulky Harley-Davidsons pretty much ruled the road. Yes, there were brit bikes coming overseas at that point in time, but they were smaller, quicker and generally handled way better. That is what prompted the Americans to start stripping their bikes down for performance. OK they were doing that before the brits came over, but it really didn't start to change things til the late 50's. That's when guys started building customs and the first choppers. It's these bikes that were geared for riding, not performance riding, but cruising! Yes, you can argue that choppers aren't real cruisers and that's fine, I agree with you. But it's these bikes that are the precursor to the cruisers of today. The new Harley- Davidsons aren't what they were 50 years ago, they aren't the workhorse they were then. Some have evolved into a "Cruiser" that is based, loosely, on the choppers of the 60's and 70's.

Yes, the 1971 Harley-Davidson Super Glide was Willie G Davidson's answer to the chopper craze, and it's that bike that evolved into the cruisers of today. You also can't argue that the Japanese have always copied that basic style. Well, you can argue all you want, I don't care, and it's the truth.

Forward to the cruisers of today, the Harleys, the Yamahas, the Hondas, and yes the Honda Fury. They are way different in feel and function than traditional "Choppers" but they share the same lineage, even though it's blurred by make and origin. While there has never been a production bike that is a real chopper, (A chopper can't be a production bike, part of the true choppers history and allure) there are bikes that share the "Basic" lines of the chopper.

The Honda Fury is a good example of a major manufacturer trying to get into the chopper craze, even though it's a few years late, it's a decent attempt. The fuel tank alone is a huge step for a major, based on the custom gas tanks on many custom high-end "choppers" on the road today. Harley-Davidson has never taken a step that bold!

While none of these production bikes are really choppers, they are a direct result of the impact that choppers have had on all of us, whether we want to admit it or not!
--Chopper Dave