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How to build a chopper bicycle without electricity

Chopper bicycle

With its bulging top tube and kinked handlebars, Monroe’s new ride shouts ‘Stretch Chopper.’ Even the large front wheel, while certainly outside of the standard chopper aesthetic, seems pleasantly contrary.

But while this frame was certainly chopped and dropped, it wasn’t welded. Monroe simply chopped an old JC Higgins cruiser frame and mated it to an Adams Trail-A-Bike (the kind used to help kids get the feeling of pedaling) and then pounded loops of chain down over the joints, where the two frames meet.

joints without welding

I had a chance to test-ride the chopper at the pier where Monroe works as a bike mechanic and metal worker. It was pretty satisfying. The leg extension wasn’t as full as I would have liked, but cruising and turning felt great.