Top 5 Saturday

So I might not have the biggest collection of vintage chopper rags but it is one of the things I am always scoping at the swap meets. There is something about the fact that all the shit I covet was brand new in these mags. Seeing the prices is funny to because the prices were actually fairly expensive if you do the inflation. So top 5 reason I love vintage magazines

Number 1. Useful Tech Tips. As I go through each magazine I will put a post it note on a the tech articles that I think I might use. I have used a lot at this point.  Remembered there was a how to install a kicker set up on a 79 Sportster. So I found the article and it was better then the manual for sure. There are always the home mechanic aspect to the rags because back in the day most guys worked on there own bikes. 

Number 2. Good/ Bad ideas. Every rag is full of great ideas. I might have coined the phrase" Get over it it's all been done before". I am not trying to reinvent the chopper wheel. That is why I love bikes they are timeless and a well built motorcycle is always respected. So you can look through these old mags and see a bike that has been ridden hard and long and then there are all the fluffy show bikes. Great eye candy but useless as a road worthy bike. I look at brackets or seat mounts and just apply that to what I am building. 

Number 3 The Girls. Whats better then motorcycles? Girls on motorcycles yes sir. So through out every magazine there is this theme of cute girls all over motorcycles. Who am I not to stare and then think that this lady is now in her 60's and probably tells all her grand kids that she posed topless on some trashy bikers bike in 1970. Funny but I like the way girls in the 60/70's looked. The clothes, the hair, all of it. The Jammer girl is always my favorite. 

Number 4 All the race coverage. Even into the 80's the chopper rags covered the drag scene, Bonneville, local events, and national rallies. Gives me a pretty good look into what the speed crazy fellows were up to. I like the look of vintage race bikes just in the fact that they look hand built. True backyard race ethos. Just get it done and hopefully go faster. 

Number 5. They are Cheap fun. Granted if I wanted to I could score them off  Egay for three times what I want to pay. For me it is all about the hunt. I go to swap meets and dig and dig to find maybe one or two old rags usually pre 1980. I never really pay more then a buck or two and have actually got entire boxes for a twenty spot. So the bang for your buck is always awesome if you aren't shelling out to much. The problem is just like chopper parts  more people are catching onto this stuff which makes it harder and harder to find stuff. So let the hunt begin.


In the pics above there is the most insane Honda 750 I have ever seen. Blower and all hand built by this maniac. Cool parts, crazy choppers, and all for one dollar admission.