![]() ![]() ![]() Although a global phenomenon, in terms of custom motorcycles the main innovations emerged from the United States and Great Britain. Now we reach the part in any history of motorcycles where we mention the effects of World War 2 on the evolution of biker culture. ![]() Once again, non-racers began to copy this style for the performance benefits, and the bob-job became the next big customisation style. In order to squeeze extra speed out of their bikes competitors began removing as much excess weight as possible, by cutting back – or bobbing – unnecessary details like fenders. In 1933 the American Motorcyclist Association introduced a new class of racing, which only allowed catalogued racing motorcycles to be used in official events. A “bob-job” – careful with those Google searches… Cutting down was a great way of transforming older bikes for those on a budget, and it wasn’t long before enterprising riders were jumping on the custom bandwagon. In its unmodified form they were one of the last Harleys to be built with something approaching the bicycle type frame, but close enough to the newer frame style that adapting it was relatively simple to do. The cut down was an American phenomenon, based on adapting the Harley-Davidson J model. It was relatively easy for people to adapt older bikes to this new style, and this saw the emergence of the first style of custom bike widespread enough to garner its own name, the cut down. Over the years manufacturers began to adapt the shape of bikes, which resulted in a frame that swept diagonally up from the rear wheel incorporating a lower seat. This gave them a high centre of gravity which makes handling a tad tricky. The motorcycles of the first two decades of the 20th century were ergonomically similar to bicycles, with the seating position in the “sit up and beg” posture. The 1920s saw the emergence of dirt track racing in Australia and America, with many riders adapting road bikes to go faster on rough ground. The Dreadnought was built for endurance races, and indeed was still winning into the 1920s, long after it had technically been outclassed. One of the main forces guiding the development of custom bikes was sport. Karslake wrote about it in a booklet he published in 1911, and astonishingly the Dreadnought survives to this day, owned and maintained by the Vintage MotorCycle Club. Whether or not it was the first custom bike built is impossible to say for sure, but it’s the first one we know about. In 1902 he built a motorcycle, the Dreadnought, which combined the frame and engine from different machines and unique scratch-built components. One of the earliest custom motorcycles we know about was built by Harold “Oily” Karslake, an engineer and trails rider who lived at the turn of the 20th century. The exact origins of custom bikes are lost in the mists of time, and kind of blur together with the phase of motorcycle history when “owning a bike” usually meant “building one”. Bikesure takes a look at the history of custom motorbikes. Nevertheless, the urge to stamp your identity onto your bike is strong, and people have been customising their motorcycles, either for performance or appearance, since they were invented. Obviously this isn’t entirely true, otherwise there wouldn’t be clubs where everyone owns the same make of bike, but it is still an important factor in their appeal. Biking, at least according to the usual boilerplate, is all about freedom and individuality. ![]()
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