Chopper Conversion Kit: The Easy Way to Chop Your Motorcycle
A chopper conversion kit is an easy way to turn your stock motorcycle into a customized chopper.
These are fairly new to the marketplace and allow you to get the look and ride of a chopper without having to modify your stock frame at all. In fact, if you decide you really don't like the feel of the chopper or want to go back to the stock look, it isn't that difficult to reverse the process, returning your motorcycle to its original configuration.
By employing a conversion kit rather than doing a ground-up build, the difficult to perfect triple tree rake alteration, or mixing and matching methods, you'll end up with results you can predict. Plus, the cost of a chopper conversion kit is small compared to the cost of a new custom chopper built by a professional.
The key behind the chopper conversion kit is that they contain carefully designed triple trees that create a new steering axis and a new rake. They also include longer front forks so that you get the look of the custom chopper with a fraction of the cost and work of a frame change or any other method.
The concept of the custom chopper kit works for Harley-Davidson's or any make of bike. You'll find conversions available in kit form for every year, make, and model from most of the after-market parts sources online or locally.
Now, you have to understand that conversion kits are made to the specifications of every model to allow you to get that rake and stretch look you want. Because there is a lot of design work that goes into getting the kits for chopper conversions so they both appear and feel just like the more expensive ground up builds, and they must be designed so they maintain the level of safety of the original motorcycle, which isn't an easy task itself, the kit to convert your stock ride into a custom chopper isn't going to be inexpensive. In fact, you could spend almost as much as if you did a mix and match conversion yourself.
So, why would you use the chopper conversion kit if it isn't inexpensive? The main reason you want the kit approach is because the complex engineering details and all those complex mathematics formulas are figured out for you. You do not have to wonder if you are calculating correctly as you lower your frame, rake the triple trees and add the longer forks. If you do not get all your calculations just right, you can end up with a chopper that isn't safe to ride, isn't comfortable to ride, or just doesn't look quite right.
Another advantage of using the chopper conversion kit is that it is a much faster process than any of the other methods of turning a stock ride into a chop. You can get the conversion accomplished and get in the wind quickly and reasonably easily. Everything you need will be included in the kit except tools and labor!
You should expect a chopper conversion kit to include the top and bottom triple trees, a bottom adapter which spaces the bottom tree to create the rake, extended fork tubes, extended brake lines and speedometer cable, as well as adapters for headlamp and gauges. There may be some other spacers included for fender, wheel and brake caliper. When installing a conversion kit, you can expect to reuse your existing front wheel, brake, headlamp, risers, handlebars and lower legs. Many of these kits can be installed in a single day if you got at it to get it done.
The chopper conversion kit allows you to achieve much more than the small 5 or, at the very most, 6 degree rake possible before you end up with a trail that becomes so small that the chopper will become a danger to ride.
And, remember, if you don't like the results, you can always remove the chopper conversion kit and go right back to your stock configuration by simply saving the original parts you replaced with those that arrived in the kit box. So, there's really no commitment. The chopper conversion kit is a great solution for someone tackling their just chopper build.
