ISLAND CHOPPERS HISTORY PAGE

FRISCO,NORTH CAROLINA *252-986-BIKE (2453)* HATTERAS ISLAND

History of island choppers

You know its always funny to look at yourself when you were young! That's me in the plaid shirt!

I would have to say that i started riding at a later age than some ,but maybe that was due to the strictness of my mom & pop.
They mostly thought that things like having fun and the like were non productive and were not useful. So need less to say if i wanted to have something to ride other than a bicycle, i had to #1 buy it myself and# 2 convince them to let me buy it.

So by the age of 12 i acquired a lil’ indian mini bike with a whopping 5 hp briggs and stratton engine. It had ape hangers and cool smouchy hand grips After removing the governor linkage she would go! As a few years passed ……

We would go camping with their friends in a camper club there i would get with a friend whose dad had a new honda 90cc street bike he was older and had a drivers licence,this is when i got hooked,man that wind in your face flying down the hi way (must have been doing 50mph

No mom and pop around to say you are going to get hurt!! I remember just going to all the local motorcycle dealers and just drooling at the cool bikes Never thought i would get one,but guess what? In the early 70’s my roommates and i would build choppers out of what ever we could get our hands on cb 350 hondas made it easy on our empty pocket budget,we hade a 2ed story apt. We would rebuild what ever was wrong and cut the frames and put pieces of pipe in the fork tubes to extend them but we lost most of our shock action by doing that but we did not care about that we just wanted the bikes to look different.

After all was finished we would put rubber hoses on the shortly mufflers hang the hoses out the window and crank those babies up.

We had kickers in those days too. At that time our neighbors did not like us very much and they liked us even less when we rode them down 2 flights of steps! Just think about it And i know some of you guys out there are saying yeah i did that too.

One day i got hold of a yamaha xs650 1972 model, For $75 bucks. I reworked it and extended forks cut the neck Tear drop tank and lowered the rear. Man that was a running machine, black of course. This was as close to a triumph as i got for some time, i’ll tell you about that later. Then that day came,and i bought one ….that 1979 xlch from rockville md. Harley davidson. Thought i had died and went to heaven ,until all those guys were pointing there fingers at me saying you need a real bike,then i had to wait to get me a real bike. I sold that to my brother and taught him to ride in the G.C. Murphy's parking lot, yeah that’s right brother you remember ,as you ride your road king around on the big island, at least mom and pop did let you have a dirt bike!

Anyway, the next bike was a real chopper A 1959 pan lower with a 66 shovel top end. A long FLH front end,2 head lights, flat bobbed fender On a ? 49 frame . And those old pan/shovels would go. I rode that for many years and got hammered a couple of times put it back together and go again. I bought an old 78 low rider once for $750.oo and pushed it home she was stock for a while, When a piston pin let loose it was time to stroke it! 93 cu in those days was a rather nice engine to play with ,there was 1 guy that had an old ?63 BSA 650 (yeah ,mountain man i am talkin about you ) This guy could stroll right along with me we would run off and leave the pack and be at the bar with a cool one waiting for the rest to arrive.

Anyway we run the shop in WPB florida for 8 years, Oh ,about that triumph… i bought two 750 triumphs from a guy that said he just did not want them anymore ,you have heard of a basket case before? Well these were in barrels,so i bought them A couple of months later i get this phone call form this guy that was about to press charges on me for buying stolen motorcycles . Never the less that was the end of my triumphs! We closed the shop in florida And moved to North Carolina.

Now we are here on the outer banks , The blue marlin fishing capitol of the world,and building custom bikes .we also have a very nice parts and accessories retail store ,a web site that you are on now and an ebay store for shopping.

Use of the word Harley-Davidson®, various model names and designations, and OEM part numbers are provided solely for reference and application information and there is no affiliation between Harley-Davidson®, Inc. and Island Choppers.

MOTORCYCLE TIRES,DUNLOP,AVON,BRIDGESTONE,IRC,KENDA,MAXXIS, CONTINENTAL TIRES,SUZUKA TIRE WARMERS. MOTORCYCLE TUBES BY BIKERS CHOICE,DUNLOP,BRIDGESTONE,IRC MRS HEAVY-DUTY TUBES AND RIM STRIPS. WE ALSO CARRY A FULL LINE OF ONTHE ROAD TIRE AND TUBE REPAIR KITS WITH CO/2 INFLATORS,tire tools by motion pro,bikers choice. WE CARRY A WID ASSORTMENT OF MOTORCYCLE TOOLS FROM JIMS,ROWE,MSR,MOTION PRO,CRUZ TOOLS, BIKE MASTER,PARK TOOL USA,PROGRESSIVE SUSPENSION,FLYWHEEL PULLERS FROM BIKE MASTER,AUTO METER, MOTORCYCLE,ATV,DIRT BIKE,watercraft & snowmobile MANUALS FROM CLYMER,&HAYNES.we carry seats from Ultima ,mustang seats,saddleman,LaPera,High End, we also have the stick on seats with suction cups. luggage racks for all makes and models of motorcycles. HARDWARE & FASTENERS,FROM CHRIS PRODUCTS MOTIONPRO,BOLT,GARDNER-WESTCOTT,COLONY & CHROME HORSE. Windshields from nation cycle, windvest,Switchblade,slip streamer,and the windshield hardware and mounts. IGNITION PARTS FROM BLUE STREAK,STANDARD,ULTIMA,TAYLOR ACCEL CRANE,SPLITFIRE,ULTIMA,SUMAX PLUG WIRES, IGINITION COILS AND ALL OTHER PARTS FOR DANA,WILD RIDER,ACCEL,CRANE CAMS,BLUE STREAK,V THUNDER,SPYKE,DAYTONA,TWIN TEC & COMPUFIRE .spark plugs from champion,splitfire,autolite,accell,accel cycle lite,and oem harley davidson® . in the electronic end we carry cardo-rider,scala rider communication systems, cycle sounds speakers and music systems,biketronics,& seizmik radio systems W/ sirius satellite cd changers mp3. EXHAUST BY ULTIMA BIG GROWL NICE PIPES AND A LOW COST,CYCLE SHACK,RUSH,PAUGHCO EXHAUST,SAMSON EXHAUST,ROAD BURNNER,SUPERTRAP,HOOKER HEADERS,rush,Vance&Hines,S&S, Buckshot exhaust, also the hardware to mount you new exhaust systems.ALSO EXHAUST COATING AND WRAPS FROM KREEM,CYCLE SHACK CROME GAURD,COOL IT EXHAUST WRAP AND SPRAY COATINGS, EXHAUST CLAMPS OF ALL SIZES,BAFFLESHANGER BRACKETSHEAT SHIELDS AND MUFFLER TIPS.HERE AT ISLAND CHOPPERS WE OFFER A FULL LINE OF PARTS & ACCESSORIES FOR HARLEY DAVIDSON & AMERICAN MADE CUSTOMS. WE ARE A NORTH CAROLINA SAFTEY INSPECTION STATION FOR MOTORCYCLES.WE ALSO CARRY PARTS AND ACCESSORIES FOR MOST OF THE METRIC CRUSIERS SUCH AS HONDA,SUZUKI, KAWASAKI & YAMAHA MOTORCYCLES. WE ARE ALSO REGESTERED MOTORCYCLE BUILDER WITH THE DEPT.OF TRANSPORTATION IN WASHINGTON DC. SO WE COULD BUILD YOU A CUSTOM MOTORCYCLE OF YOUR DREAMS.we also carry bike kits you can build yourself,from v Twin mfg. and midwest motorcycle supply/ultima. bobbers,prostreet,choppers,replica bike kits,1948 panhead foot and hand shift.also 1941 knucklehead bobbers & replica bikes with foot or hand shift, roller kits,custom wheels,ultima engines from 80ci.,96ci,100ci.,107,113ci,120ci,127ci,130ci,140ci.engines come in short and long blocks unassembled or assembled. engine case, harley replacement oil pumps,oil coolers, replacement harley cylinders & piston sets big bore kits, edelbrock twin cam heads, S.T.D. HEADS AND CASES,wiseco pistons and other performance products, also those hare to find shovelhead parts,panhead parts,knucklehead parts&flathead parts for engines and transmissions,frames cam shafts,replacement gaskets single gaskets for engine rebuilds ,and repair gasket sets for oil pumps top end set gaskets,primary gasket sets for harley davidson®, for evo,shovelhead,panhead,knucklehead,flathead&twincam, cometic,gary bang,revtec, gasket sets for buell & sportster.complete 4,5 &6 speed transmissions and rebuild kits w/gears.also we carry the Ultima and backer left side drive transmissions .kicker conversion kits for, 4 and 5 speed transmissions.open primary kits ,clutch kits,gas tanks for all harley applications and custom gas and oil tanks .petcocks form pingel,oem style petcocks,hi flow petcocks and hi flow fuel filters. edelbrock nitrous kits,mukuni Ultima ,zenith,bendix,thunderjet,carburetors & kits to rebuild them .D+M custom air cleaners,+velocity stacks,all stock oem type air filters from Ultima uni,accel,K+N ,custom air cleaner covers,custom oil tanks from Ultima ,paughco, custom stainless steel braided oil lines and oil line kits for your bike ,add on oil coolers form Perf-form,Ultima,custom oil pressure gauges & mounting hardware.In our clothing line we carry all leather gear such as leather jackets,vests,chaps,neck warmers face covers,Zanheadgear, from river road,hi way on (cci) wild rider, vance leather,barnies leather, GOOD SPORTS ,HOT LEATHERS riding gloves such as the gauntlet gloves to the shortly fingerless gloves, and the nylon racing gloves. we have a full line of saddle bags handlebar bags, tool bag sissy bar bags, sumax& nation cycle hard sided bags, willie&max,All american rider,ace leather,Iron horse leather products, Iron horse luggage,dowco,First Gear, river road, Kuryakyn, Chase Harper luggage, Ridetek,controls by jay brake,Ultima, BDL, CUSTOM BUILT CABLES