Here’s a wild one. We hooked up with O School Choppers through Bikernet as they opened their shop. We stayed in touch, because we want to deliver as man class sources of reasonably priced choppers as possible. We kept in touch, and when we heard they were headed toward Phoenix for the East Meets West show, I contacted Scooter, a long time biker photographer, in Arizona. He was up for it and I soon found out why—the women. There’s something about the devastating sun and arid air in the desert. It does something for the girls.
O School Choppers is located just 3 miles west from the Vegas STRIP off Blue Diamond Rd. Their shop features complete service, design, assembly, paint, leather works and the custom fabrication of down to earth….. no bullshit….. CHOPPERS and BOBBERS.
”We create and build the details from the age of the true chopper,” Chop said. “that stops traffic withO Style nostalgia and sets our bikes apart from Garage Candy?
I was grappling with Scooter’s lense aimed at every girl who strolled through the event. “Focus on O School, goddamnit,” I said.
Chop took me aside and told me that he had a photog connection in Vegas. I was still nervous.
They Specialize in Builds, Repairs & Restoration of O School Bikes and newer models.
“You'll find a wealth of talent designing, detailing, installing, servicing and restoring Knuckles, Pans, Shovel and Evolution Harley-Davidson motorcycles,” Chop said. “All O School Choppers feature 17 digit DMV approved serial numbers and EPA certified engines.”
They also offer inhouse real O SCHOOL pin stripping by Zorac. And here’s a rarity, they have a BSA and Triumph chopper guru, Ray, on the staff.
How the hell was I going to show off Zorac’s talents if Scooter aimed his camera up every skirt that passed.
O School Choppers features a 4000 sq. ft shop and showroom for Big Twin service and chopper assembly. “Sit down at our BurnOut Bar with the best view of the Vegas sky line,” Chop said, “and fill out one of our build sheets and plan your next ride with Adam or me.” Their turn key rides start with our MINIMAL CHOPPER at $15,500 “For the garage builder see our new BLUE COLLAR RIDE at $9995 and the CREW-CUT roller $3450.
We're working on California certification so watch for our rides on the I-5. We have bikes in stock at different stages of build and can deliver in 6-12 weeks a complete turn key ride!”
While Chop rambled about the shop and I tried, like a meth addict, to scratch notes in the blistering sun, I searched the crowd for Scooter. He was chasing another woman or following celebrity builders.
“O School isn't chrome and garage candy it's back to basics,” Chop continued, “flat black, pin stripes, whitewall tires, apes, solo seats and peanut tanks. A real bar hopper no ole lady on these fenders….OK, sum times ya gotta give in.” O School Choppers is located on Bronco Road off of South Jones, next to the tracks in SIN CITY, NV. Look for the building with the stop buy and pickup.
“O School” parts and accessories are available, including their Special pricing on solo seats, metallic grips, chopper mirrors, white wall tires and other vintage parts. The also have a full apparel line.
I gave up and returned to Wilmington to wait for the images to arrive. Scooter didn’t let me down and Chop backed his play with studio shots and shots of Stacy, testing out their O School apparel line. She tough, independent, with lotsa heart, who’s getting hitched in 2006 to LJ, the local bartender.
BRASS KNUCKLES:It was built by Chop’s son and partner Adam. He joined us in the begining of 2005, as we had a back log of bike orders. BK was the first bike he built based on our $15,000 Minimal Chopper and it lasted 24 hours when posted on our web page and sold cash for $23,000 to Ben Boyd of Las Vegas.
The theme of this bike was to integrate brass into key design areas, springer springs, rocker boxes, drive, hardware, seat springs and details. This build was based on a 34 degree rake 2-inch back bone and 4-inch stretch downtube frame. We powder coated the frame, used our 180 w/w tires on a 16-inch wheel and a 19-inch w/w for the front.
The springer was broken down and partially p/coated. The motor was pumped with a linewebber cam, titanium pushrods and crane springs, along with the S&S super E and single fire ign. LA Chopper pipes were added and the factory oil filter adapter positioned on the frame. All of their bikes feature CR 6 speed trans and BDL drive with O ring chains.
They painted the bike with their new ONE-SHOT O SCHOOL BLACK paint, they are preparing to market and had ZORAC do the details. Desert Leather stitched our natural leather baseball seat.
HOT ROD KONG: Where do you fine a chopper when your 6'7” and 340 lbs? Joe Ramos had them fit Hot Rod Kong for his stature. They started with the $15,000 Minimal Chopper, added an 18-inch, 60-spoke wheel and 200 Avon out back and 21 Avon on the wide glide. Kong was painted all “O School 1 Shoot black”. The frame was the 34 degree rake, 2 by 4 with a 2000 Sporty tank added. The bars are 18-inch apes and the forward controls were located 5 inches forward of their original frame mounts.
The engine got their cam, carb, ignition, hotrod setup and a custom leather baseball stitch seat was wrapped by Desert Leather with the big “O” tooled in the top. The seat was dyed ox blood and moved as far back as the fender would allow. We finished the build with our new “O” fender struts and added our O School 3 square-inch convex mirrors.
CHERRY BOMB: They had this frame laying around which had a 38 degree rake, 0-2 stretch and a stock Sporty tank painted H-D red, so that became the beginning of Cherry Bomb. We added our 80-inch H-D EVO, 6 speed, 3-inch BDL with a 41mm front end and our new Sleezy T drag bars built by our friends in Utah. Check out their DUMP pipes from SOCAL. “We fastened our new round 16-inch radius rear fender and big “O” struts and matched the rear fender with H-D Sporty red,” Chop said.
The hand controls are GMA satin and the forward controls are pirate pegs. “We added some O School boots to the front end, a metallic red seat and a ‘34 ford taillight with the word STOP.Zorac our pin stripper did the deed on the tank and rear fender and the Paint Pimp added the “Cherry Bomb” to the oil tank.”
All O School Choppers feature their touch of Vegas with the fender spacers and gas cap made of billet aluminum dice. “It’s sitting in the showroom with a red bow, and we'll delivery it for Christmas for a mere $22,000,” Chop promised.
That does it, the O School line-up. Scooter may have focused his lense on the girls in Arizona more than O School, but I enjoyed the hell out of his images. Sorta warms a man’s soul in the middle of the winter. Although Vegas is dead in the center of the Nevada desert, the images have that asphalt, tough-as-nails, city aura about them. It's an interesting mixture of smiling faces and sultry skin from the City of Sin. Hang on for report on Chop's new models as they roll out of the shop.
O SCHOOL CHOPPERS
OSchoolchoppers.com
(702) 837-5287
Photography by Victor Salavador and his studio is www.deserticestudios.com
