Better find a motorcycle made in India or a Harley if genuine old school bobbers are the apple of your eyes. Because essentially, these are the bikes from which a bobber was defined in the imagination of the ex-American GIs who started the custom-building craze soon after the end of World War II. Looking for outlets to spend their adrenaline excess upon returning to the States in the late 1940s and 1950s, the war veterans saw an appropriate diversion in motorcycle travel. To make their journeys more interesting and more adrenaline-pumping, they modified their rides which at the same time made use of their wartime skills in fixing mechanical problems.
This post-war American GI adventure led to the popularity of the custom-made bobber. The front fender of the motorbike was removed and its rear fender was cropped short. All parts that are not essential to running the motorcycle were also discarded, resulting in a bare, nearly skeletal look save for the motor mounted mid-ship. The make-do spirit is oftentimes reflected during these early days of customization when parts from one different non-running model maybe incorporated in another through some clever mechanical adjustment. This is the basic pattern that custom builders follow for old school bobbers.
Thus, shops offering old school bobbers at present may raise a chuckle from the purists who understand that there really can’t be a model for this type of custom-built motorcycles. Each one has to be unique and distinct, and therefore cannot be pigeon-holed into a “model”. But be that as it may, the proliferation of bobber shops augurs well for the custom-building of motorcycles. The availability of parts that are of higher quality and more affordable should come as good news to the hobbyists seeking to preserve a revered tradition that was left as a legacy by America’s war heroes.
