Bobber motorcycles are an interesting breed of bikes that essentially were the style of motorcycles that paved the way for custom bikes and choppers. These motorcycles were the definition of a striped-down machine for riders seeking nothing but the purist form of a motorcycle experience. The exact history is somewhat vague, but one thing is for certain is that these types of motorcycles paved the way for “do it yourselfers” looking to manufacturer their own motorcycles from simple parts they had lying around.
“True” bobber motorcycles are customer built, one-of-a-kind bikes that favor minimalism. Their most iconic features are that they have no front fender, a very small rear fender, and other parts removed from the bike that were deemed “unnecessary”. Motorcycle builders and enthusiast removed these parts to make the bikes much lighter. The roots of these motorcycles can be traced back to the 1940’s, especially after World War II. Returning Americans from the war rode much lighter European bikes during their stay overseas and returned home to their massive American bikes. Growing accustomed to the smaller bikes, they began tinkering with the motorcycles and removing parts, and thus the Bobber was born. Eventually people started building their own motorcycles out of cheap parts and simple frames. The history of custom made motorcycles can be traced to these bikes, and they were created long before choppers. In fact one can argue that without bobbers, choppers would have never even existed. The difference between bobbers and chopers are that bobbers typically have unaltered frames from other bikes, while the frames found on choppers are usually modified and elongated.
The hole concept of bobber motorcycles were that they were custom made motocyles that people built themselves, which were also economically affordable. There are some companies that produce bobber-esque motorcycles, however purists will tell you that if you want a real bobber you have to make it yourself. Either way these motorcycles were extremely important and helped shaped future custom bikes.
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