T
ool & D
ie page 16
I was talking with a friend
of
mine who has built a couple of cus-
tom bikes in his garage, when I had
the idea that it would be cool to
highlight some "amateur" bike build-
ers as opposed to those who do it
as a profession. But don't get me
wrong when I use the term "ama-
teur". Anyone that can successfully
build a bike in their own garage is
anything but an amateur and worthy
of the utmost respect in any garage
and biker circles. It is a daunting task,
and requires extensive knowledge of
motorcycles as well as the proper
tools, support network (friends with
mechanical ability), creativity, and
most of all, patience!
So this story is about an adventure
taken on by Mr. Dave Bush, not
once, but twice. He has, to date,
successfully built two bikes, a chop-
per and a bobber. What is the dif-
ference between a chopper and
a bobber? Basically it depends on
who you ask. The old school defi-
nition of a chopper was a bike that
was stripped down to make it weigh
less so it would go faster, the frames
were chopped and modified and
extended front forks added in an
attempt to obtain a better handling
bike at faster speeds. Unfortunate-
ly, these long front ends also made
them handle crappy at low speed
and made them very hard to turn.
This trend began back during the
World War II era. Bobbers, on the
other hand, are also a stripped down
bike, but without the frame modifi-
cations keeping the shorter "stock"
front end. Today's definition differs
for most, in that a chopper is more
glitz and glamour, whereas a bobber
is made to look old school, often
built with used parts.
Dave's obsession apparently began
when he bumped into a friend who
had a new custom chopper, one
that had been built for him. It was a
drop-seat rigid (a rigid has no suspen-
sion in the rear), stretched frame and
a long front end that put the front
wheel into the next county. It was
By Hop
probably a $30k bike, yet he gra-
ciously offered Dave the keys one
night. Dave's thoughts as he was
riding along were, "My first time
on a stretched bike, first time on
a rigid, in downtown Syracuse
on a Saturday night...I knew I
needed one." Once he decided
he had to have his own, it was
only natural that he would build
it himself, as he says "My entire
family has mechanical abilities.
Growing up we all had sleds, cus-
tom cars, boats and bikes. We
couldn't afford to send work out
so we learned mechanics out of
necessity. Once I decided that I
was going to own a custom, my
first thought was to build my
own."
His riding days started in the ear-
ly `80's with a couple of smaller
Suzuki's, nothing exciting, until
he looked at an '82 Suzuki Ka-
tana 1100 that was for sale. This
was a limited run production
bike that was very fast. During
his test ride down James St. he
hit around 80MPH. The bike
was scary fast, but again, he had
to have it! He eventually owned
a pair of Suzuki GSX models, a
750 and an 1100. He says "The
little one was fast, the big one
was stupid. I had a couple of
untimely dismounts and decided
that I needed to step away for
awhile!"
In 2000 he bought his 1st Har-
ley, a Softail which he very nicely
customized and did some motor
work to. Shortly after that he ac-
`H
e
S
ays
T
hat
B
ike's
G
ot
S
oul
'