Chopper Motorcycle Parts

Oswego County custom bike builder rides with the biggest names

Phoenix, NY -- Look closely the next time you pass a line of parked motorcycles. You’ll probably see Harley-Davidsons, Hondas, Kawasakis, Suzukis and maybe, just maybe, a bike manufactured by County Line Choppers in Oswego County.

“We’re a certified manufacturer. We title a bike just like a Chevy or Harley,” County Line owner Pat Briggs said.

Briggs has been riding motorcycles since he was 8 years old, he’s been working on them since he was 12, and he opened his own shop in 1996. He has built nearly 50 custom choppers over the years and, he said, modified hundreds more.

Briggs’ 4,000-square-foot shop on state Route 48 in Phoenix is part machine shop, part motorcycle-repair garage, part showroom, part clothing store and part library.

The repair shop has three trained technicians. The clothing store has a host of County Line Choppers shirts. The library is the display of magazines and books that have featured Briggs-built bikes.

If a publication writes about custom choppers, it has probably featured one of Briggs’ bikes. Easyriders magazine has featured his bikes five or six times, he said.

“Art of the Bobber,” a coffee-table book about custom-built motorcycles, features Briggs’ “Lady Luck,” a purple custom, in the center spread and on the back cover.

The bike is on the showroom floor, along with five other Briggs-made custom bikes, including one that will be delivered this weekend to its owner in Cazenovia.

That bike is “high-end,” Briggs said, and it features all kinds of custom-made parts and touches, such as a hydraulic lowering system.

Briggs said he can deliver custom bikes for anywhere from $16,000 or so to more than $80,000 each. At the low end, the bike won’t be all-custom, but at the high end, he said, the bike will be “totally handmade, top-of-the-line, one of the kind.”

This spring, Briggs was certified as a level-two master bike builder by the International Master Bike Builders Association. He’s one of 13 to reach that level, said Jeff Starke, president of the association. Reaching the level requires at least 15 years of documented work experience, education — Briggs studied engineering at Onondaga Community College and the Rochester Institute of Technology — involvement with charity and points scored in bike competitions.

The rating puts Briggs at the same level as bike-building legend Arlen Ness and chopper builders Dave Perewitz and Eddie Trotta , whose work was featured on the television show “Biker Build-Off.” Starke hopes the certification helps would-be bike owners to find a truly skilled bike builder, instead of someone who simply proclaims himself a master. And, he said, he hopes that as master bike builders go through the work and studies and documentation necessary, they recognize and respect each other. Then, he said, they can spend more time riding.

Popular Custom Chopper Parts For Your Next ... - Hot Motorcycle Info

The chopper is one of the most unique looking motorcycles on the road today for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons is that they have a look like no other bike on the road and are unique in the sense that they are created based on a new and fresh design just about each and every time. The chopper really is a motorcycle like a Harley Davidson with many of it’s parts replaced by custom parts and accessories . The existing parts of the chopper have been chopped off. Another type of chopper is one that has been built completely from scratch, and not broken down from an existing motorcycle.

There are a number of reasons motorcycles are turned into choppers. A couple reasons being that this is done to make the motorcycle lighter and more maneuverable. Of course, another important reason that choppers exist is because of the unique look that they create, and their creators love to show them off. We started seeing choppers early on around the time of World War II when it was desired by the soldiers that were coming home to have lighter motorcycles like they had over in Europe. The only way they could make the bikes lighter was to “chop” parts off of the motorcycle, hence the name, Chopper. This started an entirely new trend as many people began looking for new and interesting chopper parts and the market began to boom.

There are a number of chopper parts that are popular among those who enjoy building chopper motorcycles. The handlebars, wheels, and tires are a few of the more popular parts that are typically “chopped” when a custom chopper is built. Handlebars are usually modified so that they reach further back towards the rider in order to make for a more comfortable ride. There are a number of different chopper style wheels that can be added to the motorcycle to give it a little extra class. Some of the most popular types of wheels are the magnesium alloy which create the perfect chopper look. Others still also prefer the spoke look and have not strayed to far from that concept. In most cases the front tire is changed to a bigger and skinnier tire, and the rear is changed to a wide and smaller tire.

Some of the more popular chopper parts also include the frame, seats, fuel tank, and brakes. These parts can be easily customized with custom paint jobs, designs, and more to give the chopper a unique look and feel of its own. One thing to keep in mind is that before you purchase chopper parts for your motorcycle, be sure that they will be compatible with your bike and that you buy your chopper parts from a legit dealer. Purchasing chopper parts can be somewhat costly, but in the end they are definitely worth money when you see the finished product that they have become a part of.

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