New Chopper on the block!

Custom choppers were born in the USA over a decade ago and have enjoyed a strong following since their inception. But a decade ago if you wanted a chopper, you either had to own a fully-equipped workshop or be friends with anybody who owned such a workshop. But with swift change in engineering and technology along with their accessibility to the larger masses, the chopper culture also picked up pace increasing its following to ten-folds. However, most of these choppers were built by custom bike builders in limited numbers depending upon orders. The large capacity V-Twin motors were mostly borrowed from Harley Davidson and the creators tried all sorts of radical designs with the frames and wheels.

Making a chopper is more of an art than just engineering. It's, to be more precise, a combination of both to create something that looks stunning rolling on the road and goes hand-in-hand with the rider's personality. However, due to the lack of factory expertise these choppers suffer from issues regarding reliability and perfect dynamics. But even then, American bike-makers like Harley Davidson and Victory Motorcycles that churn out factory choppers are giving the Japs a hard time in the US market. In fact, in most states, Victory has recorded more sales with its chopper line up than any of the Japs managed to garner with their cruiser model range. Hence, Yamaha was quick to introduce the Raider Factory Chopper model in order to bring an end to the climbing sales chart of the local chopper companies in USA.

With the Raider, Yamaha brought the Japanese reliability packaged in chopper form, straight from the factory. Another big benefit of a factory chopper is the insurance it demands compared to the custom choppers built by bike-building firms. The custom choppers attract very high amounts of insurance premium thanks to their exclusivity and lack of reliability. The newest kid on the block is the 'Fury' or 'VT1300CX' from world's largest bike-maker, Honda. The Honda Fury takes cues from various successful chopper designs and incorporates the same lines. It is propelled by a 1312cc 52-degree fuel-injected V-twin found in the popular VTX1300 machine but featuring re-profiled camshafts and a new exhaust system.

Most choppers run Harley motors with technology that can be traced back to the days of the disco decade. The new Honda motor boasts of a single-pin crank that gives the bike a unique growl each time you work the throttle. The Fury also comes with Honda's very own advanced PGMFi fuel injection system and the newly developed C-ABS braking system (only for US market). Honda has got the recipe spot on for the chopper. The styling of the Fury is smooth, flowing and typically chopper-like. The bike was designed by the styling team in the USA at Honda Research Americas (HRA) along with Honda engineers at HGA (Honda Headquarters, Japan).

The radiators for the liquid-cooled machine are neatly concealed to maintain the 'traditional' look. The front of the Fury has a remarkably uncluttered appeal between the front cylinder and the radiator area. The top radiator hose is hidden away beneath the front valve cover, which is a patented idea that illustrates the extreme efforts expended on maintaining the airy look of the front end. The rear mono-suspension is also adjustable for preload, which means ride quality on the bike will be much better that what is seen on the custom-built choppers.

Honda has gone all out in building a true-blue chopper motorcycle to cater to the large American base and demand for such models minus the premium demanded by custom chopper builders. Honda also offers a variety of custom options and accessories to make the Fury an even more value for money package. The price has not been disclosed yet by Honda and the bike will be known as Fury in the USA while in the UK it will be called VT1300CX.