CHARLEY’S CHOPPERS
In the late 1960’s and mid 1970’s Charley and some of
his friends from the ‘East End’ or Parkdale area of Hamilton, Ontario built Harley,
Triumph and BSA choppers to ride. In 1960 Charley was given the nickname ‘Dog’
and in the late 1960’s he was also known by - ‘Richard Dawg’ or ‘Back Roads
Richard’. The following pictures are some of the choppers he built.
Unfortunately cameras were as scarce as choppers back in those days and for
that reason there are only a few pictures of some of the motorcycles. Charley
remembers that back in the 1960’s the men that rode choppers were looked on as
social outcasts and they were looked down upon by most people. Times certainly
have changed and now building choppers is looked upon as an art form and
choppers demand BIG MONEY. The 1960’s and 1970’s chopper builders loved
motorcycles and took great personal satisfaction in what they fabricated and in
most cases they spent most of their income on hard to find parts and custom
paint jobs. Sometimes the grocery money was spent on a custom made oil tank
fabricated by a friend or the rent money got spent on a custom paint job.
Somehow with a little bit of help from our friends we managed to eat and keep
in the wind.
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Picture
taken in 1969 on In
1968 ‘Charley’ or as he was known back then ‘Dog’ or ‘Back Roads Richard’
bought this 1943 Harley 45 street racer as a basket case for $150 from
‘Sticks’. Layla ‘the snake’ is on the handlebars. In
the background is ‘Bob Boa’s’ 1967 Triumph 650 Bonneville Chopper. The
chrome Springer front end was in the original basket case box, along with the
handlebars, fish tail pipes, engine, transmission, back wheel, suicide
clutch, hand shifter, taillight and original hard tail frame. |
Picture
taken in 1969 on 6
foot 6 inch ‘Bob Boa’ and ‘Layla’ his 6 foot Boa Constrictor pose with ‘Back
Roads Richard’ and the just completed Harley 45 chopper The
bike was built over 14 months after searching high and low for parts we could
use. Gas tank was from a 1966 Triumph Bonneville, the oil tank was fabricated
by ‘Sticks’ & ‘Stones’, Triumph front wheel with an axle made by
‘Beercap’, the solo seat was made by ‘Sheekers’ and ‘Cuz’. The engine and
transmission were rebuilt by ‘The Parkdale Whop’, ‘Alphonse’ and ‘Brown the
Clown’ and the paint job was done by ‘Vinnie’. Lots of legwork and phone
calls to chase down hard to find parts was done by ‘Pork Chop’,’Small Paul’,
‘Freddie Lester’ and ‘Percy’ of Pooles Harley Davidson. |
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Picture
taken in 1977 in ‘Back
Roads Richard’ and his Brand New 1977 Harley Davidson 1200 Superglide. It
didn’t stay stock for long as the chrome on the front fork downtubes started
to peel so Dave’s Harley Davidson replaced the defective tubes under warranty
with 6 inch extensions. The stock air cleaner and cam were next as I found
the stock machine “sluggish” so I geared it to overtake 18 wheelers with
ease. |
Picture
taken in the winter of 1981. Five Islands, Nova Scotia. Richard
in the dining room of the farmhouse tearing down the engine of the 1200
Superglide. Some of the work done to the bike since new was: the front end was
extended 6 inches, custom wrap around oil tank, custom oil cooler, braided
steel lines, custom speedometer, custom tachometer, Lester mag wheels front
and back, sissy bar, leather saddlebags, Andrews J grind cam, cylinders bored
out 0.040 “ oversize, oversized pistons and rings, slash cut exhaust system,
custom air cleaner, custom paint job and lots of chrome. |
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‘Little Al’s’ 1966 650
BSA chopper with extended Springer front end |
