An American Chopper using a Honda Engine? Surely not.

The Honda Corporation produces a variety of different types of Honda motorcycles, including mopeds, custom bikes and commuter bikes however it tends to focus on sports bikes, and given the global success of Honda in all classes of bike racing this is understandable. If it wasn’t for Honda and Team HRC’s dedication to Moto GP (formerly Grand Prix), World Superbikes and various domestic Superbike championships across the world the general public would never have got to enjoy the awesome CBR600RR, RC30, RC45 or Fireblade. By using races as the way of testing and developing the bikes the overall cost has reduced making them more affordable. Combine the reduced cost with the Honda financial services and it is possible for bike enthusiasts to finance or lease a brand new Honda motorcycle for little money.

The majority of Honda motorcycles have race engines that are highly tuned and produce peak power at very high revs. This means the engines have to be worked hard and revved to produce the power, making them feeble at low revs. Honda are not known for making engines that produce a lot of power and torque at lows revs, which means a Honda engine isn’t suitable for building a custom chopper. Think about it, how many times have you watched American Chopper and heard Paul Teutul say “let’s put a Honda engine in this” during a chopper build off? Thinking about it, how many times have you heard any custom chopper builder say “I’m going to use a Honda engine” in a chopper build off? The answer is going to be none, and the engine of choice is generally one made by Harley Davidson.

Honda's answer to the chopper - A Honda Fury

Honda has dipped its toe in the world of custom and chopper bikes, after all the Honda Rebel and Honda Fury are based around chopper bikes, but they are not really the real deal are they. The Rebel is too small to be classified as a chopper and whilst the Honda Fury boasts a large 1321cc engine that produces peak power at low revs, the bike is just not extreme enough to be classed as a real chopper. The rear tire isn’t big enough, the bars aren’t high enough and the Honda Fury doesn’t have enough of an attitude to be a proper chopper bike. That said, there is some scope to turn it in to a custom bike depending on your technical ability and the size of your wallet.

For people who are mechanically apt, the Honda Fury engine and frame has a lot of potential to be turned in to a totally unique custom bike, but would you shell out your hard earned cash on a complete Honda motorcycle only to then rip it apart and turn it in to a chopper? The whole idea is ludicrous and you would be better off spending your money on parts and creating the chopper from scratch.

For those riders who are not as technical as Paul Teutul and his team there are a number of replacement parts you can buy for your Honda Fury to customise it. These parts simply replace standard parts and are bolted in place. These parts are pretty simple to fix on and anyone who knows their way around a tool box should have no problems. If you want a Honda chopper this would be the way to go.

A "proper" American chopper without a Honda engine. Give it a few years and who knows?

Most chopper fans would scoff at the idea of using a Japanese engine for their chopper and would prefer to use a more traditional engine, like a Harley Davidson. However, Japanese engines are excellent. Japanese engines are bullet proof, reliable, easy to work on and the parts are cheap and in plentiful supply. A Japanese engine may not sound as authentic or loud as a Harley Davidson engine, but sometimes it is nice to blend in to the background. Whilst Honda engines may not be the first choice in a chopper build off at present, give it a few years and attitudes will change.