Art Choppers: Post 5: They were right

Yes they were, and I have really enjoyed riding the Rebel. I have ridden the 77 Chopper too, but it is much harder to handle, and getting back on the "little bike" seems like a breeze... I was lucky to find about 1 hour and a half away in Mississipi that 1997 Rebel with only 10,000 miles, that had already been substantially chopped, and repainted in my favorite metallic orange and black. The vertical tag plate is nicely made of non skid aluminum and the short rear fender looks great:

The side mounted black leather bag was a nice touch I kept:

The foot rests and controls had been moved way forward and up chopper style, and the brake pedal extended about a foot:

The gear shifter had been moved up to the foot rest, but the amateur mechanic had not done a very good job of it, and it fit very loosely and got out of whack. I had to add a spacer sleeve and work on it to make it work properly. I still might redo the linkage tighter and with a longer lever arm to shorten the travel of the foot peg. In fact, I will probably replace the foot peg altogether with something a little more stylish :

The mufflers had been removed and the pipes blacked out, and it sounded awesome, for a short while... I ordered a pair of 24" megaphones from J &R to cut the noise down, but it now sounds a little too "emasculated". The neighbours are probably happy now, but I may have to remove some of the baffles to restore a little roar...

The homemade seat it came with was formed out of a flimsy piece of a 55 gl bucket and upholstered in cheap vinyl with thin polyester padding from a quilt. I put some good foam in it and was going to cut a stiffer pan and upholster it in buffalo leather, but then I ran across a wonderful hand stitched La Rosa tan/orange leather seat with an iron cross tatooed in it on eBay, and figured I couldn't do any better. It is wide and fits both my butt and the bike perfectly: