Death Of The Million Dollar Chopper

Article By: Chris Callen

Over the few decades I have been involved in motorcycling, trends have come, trends have gone and a few have even managed to stick around. The most popular as of late are the high priced, full out, one of a kind custom motorcycles, or as I like to refer to them, the million dollar choppers.

Many people today think that the chopper craze is a brand new thing to the motorcycle industry but it was actually a craze that started back in the 60's & 70’s, when our beloved motorcycle manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, was selling more engines than complete bikes. In those days, like in recent times, choppers ruled and everyone had one, well everyone that rode that is. Back in those days, the riding public was a much thinner and more specific group of individuals than the cross section of society that now participates in motorcycling. “Bikers� (how I hate to use that term anymore) were basically gear heads and thrill seekers. They loved to tinker on their bikes and from that era, about a hundred good companies.... and about a million ideas were born. Through the late eighties, the Harley-Davidson Motor Company began its economic climb to the top of the motorcycle sales pile. With actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jay Leno and Hulk Hogan proudly supporting their product, not to mention the fact that the Evolution engine was destroying age old myths of always having to fix a Harley, the American based company was in good financial condition. As the price of a new stock Harley-Davidson increased a brand new market was opening up. Companies like Titan, Ultra and Big Dog were starting to offer customers a full radical custom motorcycle right off the showroom floor. Sure the price tag was much higher than a Harley, but at that time there was a waiting list a mile long for a new Evo. Even if you didn’t have to wait, your purchase may have included a bike with quite a few extras added in, that you might not have wanted. It was a sellers market and will forever be referred to as the “Good Ol’ Days�.

As the motorcycle scene hit its apex, another strange phenomenon was being created, two actually, the "Super Builder" and the "Million Dollar Chopper." Unlike old times, where nationally renowned builders who were mostly members of the Hamsters and had worked their way up through the ranks over the years, these new builders were gaining stardom in almost overnight fashion. The general public was ready to accept all that motorcycling had to offer and the media grabbed up a huge chunk of the action. All of a sudden shows like “Monster Garage� and “American Chopper� were giving John and Jane Q public a nice, safe view into the world of the biker, or a well prepared version anyway. The more the TV builders built, the more the media publicized them and of course the more the value of the bikes went up. Hence the term “The Million Dollar Chopper�.

Right around the turn of Harley-Davidson’s century, or the 100th anniversary of the company, the market began to shift. Suddenly, bikes were starting to sit on the showroom floor of dealerships. This was something that Harley-Davidson assured its dealers that it was striving for and who could blame them. With products like the Honda VTX, the Yamaha Star Series and Suzuki’s line of import touring motorcycles,with an increased level of quality and performance, it was time for Harley to make sure their customer had a bike available when they were ready to make a purchase. In spite of dealer grumblings the motor company pushed forward with their plan to have the supply come closer to the demand and then it happened. On Wednesday April 13th, the Associated Press released a headline that read “Harley-Davidson’s Stock Tumbles As Co. Trims Shipment, Earnings Forecasts Due to Weak Sales� The shares of the company fell nearly 17 percent to the lowest point they had been in over a year. Although this was due to the company keeping in stride with supply and demand concerns and cutting back production to do so. It was the first time that the quarterly report wasn’t as positive as the share holders may have wanted. It would appear that the saturation level, at least in the domestic market, was being reached.

So where does this put us in respect to the million dollar chopper? Well, everything is relative, Ya dig? See, the sales craze that has been going on with the motorcycle scene was one generated by aging baby boomers looking to out run the hands of time. They fell into the Harley market in an attempt to relive their youth, or more appropriately, give it that one last hoorah! While this was going on, Harley-Davidson enjoyed a good strong decade of growth, as did many of the companies that started doing factory built custom bikes. But as industry analysts have clearly pointed out, the baby boomers are about done buying in mass. The market, as it applies to motorcycling, will experience a lull until the assets that they hold start to be passed on to the next generation. At which point, there stands to be another wave of buying. Here is where things get a little blurry in the biker crystal ball.

The new generation of motorcyclist are setting their own pace. Like the 70’s generation, they like to do it themselves. They don’t care much about very expensive paint necessarily, or the most expensive parts for that matter. No, in fact, a good portion of them just want reliable transportation. Many more just want their own bike, and it isn’t anything more than their bike. It’s not a status symbol, not part of a collection, not to score honeys, no, it’s just their bike. If it is going to be customized, it will probably be a low dollar job they do themselves. Here in lies the death of the million dollar chopper. That character trait defies all tradition for the MDC crowd. For a group that has been obsessed with building bikes that look like Tonka trucks, wrenches, tool boxes and any other corporate product that may land them an endorsement deal, they sort of forgot the chief criteria that makes all this cool.... building bikes that look like bikes!

I started to ponder this whole deal at the Indianapolis dealer show this year. I was standing at a booth looking at a giant hunk of chopper that looked kinda like a flying saucer. This cat came rolling out of the booth and started to tell me all about his company, like the bike gave us a common bond or something. Makes me wonder if somewhere in a small shop there isn’t a giant white pillow bike with a long string on it that someone is building for Tampax...... They'll be touted for revolutionizing the women's movement in motorcycling...... Hmmmmmm, this thing sure is getting strange!

In my very modest opinion, the final days of the million dollar chopper are upon us, and not a moment too soon. There still may be time to resurrect the spirit of motorcycling and a few souls of the willing along the way. Bring on the next generation!