Evolutions
By: Pepper13

I guess that this would be more of an editorial than an article, just some thoughts that have been going through my mind lately.

So I've been thinking about this whole "custom motorcycle" thing quite a bit lately. Especially since I started building my first Fighter and have became a member of Custom Fighters. First a little a bout me, My background came from the motocross/flat track genre, I have been riding since the age of 5 Being 43 now (though I never act it) .My son (Banjaxed on CF) has also inherited my love of bikes and now stunts and rides daily. I guess that gives me a bit of experience. I have ridden everything from metric to European to American bikes. Somehow for the longest time I got stuck in the Harley/American bike scene. I must say, thinking back that I was never happy or satisfied in this community. Not that I didn't learn a lot or meet some great people, but as a whole there seems to be a lot of arrogance and close mindedness seeded deep in the American bike scene. I personally have done my share of "chopper" building and bike mods over the years.

And before I go any further let me define the word "chopper" In my opinion of course.

Chopper, or to chop. A word taken by the the motorcycle community in the 60's borrowed from the hot rodders of that era who "chopped' "Channeled" and "shaved" their stock cars to personalize them.

Now before some of you get your panties in a bunch, I am in no way comparing Fighters to choppers, But there is a direct connection to what we are doing to the original chopper movement. Both are an anti establishment community, both have a fuck the factory attitude, and both are groups of guys building bikes with whatever they can get their hands on And both are groups building bikes for themselves and their own approval.

Now I am going somewhere with this because this word has as much to do with the Streetfighters we build as the Original café racers do for the streetfighter movement in Europe. As there is, and I am sure, always will be... a distinct difference between Euro Streetfighters and American Streetfighters because of this. But I digress The first custom bikes or "choppers" I can remember as a kid were not Harleys but metric and european bikes. As a kid I can still remember my older cousins CB750 (I think) that had a one piece fiberglass body ,chopped down header and a metal flake paint job the would make the blind see.

I recall watching him blast down the road while my ears rang ,drool running down my chin, uh oh that's about the time that I got the street bug.

So what's your point Pepper! Ok I'm getting to that, my point is that The American motorcycle industry has done a good job of claiming something that they didn't start and then totally bastardizing it by putting moron father and son "chopper building teams on TV so all the world would get this misconception of where all this came from. You can't buy a chopper! Sound familiar?..Well You can't buy a streetfighter! The Streetfighter movement (in the states) is really in it's infancy and it really is up to us to keep it true and let people understand what we are doing. I am sure it will evolve over time as all things do, but speaking from experience even with my very short time On Custom Fighters, we have an exceptional group of people here. Think about it, No boundaries, No rules, No attitudes, no animosities and egos! Wow, everybody helping everybody else out. Welcoming noobs in without any hazing, no one arguing over stupid shit. This thing can only survive and stay this way through people like us.

I have not been excited about motorcycles for a long time, and this community and genre have really rejuvenated me. So much that I plan on starting a business that is centered on the underground sportbike movement. My hat is off to Adam and AB for getting this site rolling and I think we all should thank them. I hope that I can keep contributing to this site and learning from all of you.   And if we do it right we won't see Paul Jr and Sr yelling at each other standing next to an Orange County Fighter..