The legendary Earl Durfee started building girders in 1969 for choppers. He was a master fabricator/welder and I believe he evolved from the aero-space industry. He passed several years ago but his company is still going (earldurfee.com) Anyhow, in 1976 my two uncles and myself were all riding 750 Hondas and decided to chop them using Durfees girders. One of the unks saw a picture that someone had of a 750 chopper and we decided we could do better. We built the threepictured below. Mine was the second built, painted blue. Charley's was "Dombs Tomb", kinda morbid but it worked, and Bob's is not pictured. All three sported 15" over girders, two round and one square. All three had Honda frames, modified for a hardtail seat, and all the necks were extended, raised, and raked. I made forward controls for all three, mine from stainless. "Domb's Tomb's" gas tank was made from three pieces, top, bottom, and a long squiggly thing that ended up being the middle. Over the years we sold all three and two have became parts in chopper heaven but I have located Uncle Bob's and am trying to buy it and "put it back" Anyhow, pictured below are two of the chops we built, and wish we still had. It was fun building these "old school choppers" and theyreally caught attention here in our small town.

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Love them bikes ...... of course I am still in the middle of a restroation job on one
will be done by July for the West Coast Honda Chopper meet in Auburn Ca.

 

Up for Da Grumpmeister

 

My first street ride was a 1974 CB-750K4.....got it for $75 in 1979..It was in pieces butI turned it into a rideable and impressive street bike. Don't see ANY of those on the street anymore.

Remember Russ Collins? He built the 1st drag-race fuel CB750 in the early 70's and got 400-HP out of it......It was named "The Assassin"...He also designed and produced the 1st 4 into 1 exhaust for those SOHC CB's....Good memories!

 

Its nice to know that people still have respect for machines other than their beloved Harleys...................BG

 

I can't turn my back on my past......I learned how to ride on MANY Jap bikes.....I believe that is what has kept me alive this long.....like learning how to ride on a tricycle before going to 2-wheels for life! Jap bikes were my "training wheels" for the real world.....No offense to anyone!

 

mine was a 10grand build back in the 70's

and I am trying to keep it like it was back then but am having to change some things

 

your thread title caught my eye... 2 buddies and I went together and bought a 73 CB750 chopperin january and are bringing it back to life. It had no wiring, was not running, and was mostly just a collection of parts and boxes. and it has a durfee on it. This has been a fun project, we hope to finish it soon and ride it to the Smokeout east in june. I had no clue what a durfee was prior to starting this. We've been cutting welding grinding etc to turn it into our version of a chopper/bobber. I tried to attach a couple pics but apparently they are too large. You can see some progress pics at the link below, they are kinda out of order, I can't figure out how to fix that, but you'll get the idea. The paint job is hammered paint from a rattle can, but we are also gonna shoot some clear over it this weekend.

http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s...326/Choppahog/

 

Man, I have been lookin' like a madman for the pics of "our" chop B4 I redid it. Was metalflake red and "completely" molded. NOT quite as rad as the second pic you have, but close.
For those of you who still dabble in those Honda chops (they were UGLY fast, and EVERYWHERE for a while), here you go: http://www.cyclexchange.net/index.html
An old high school buddy out in SoDak, still rides one. And, YES, it is still just as fast as it was back in its hayday.
This is about the best pic I have of the girder, right now.
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/PICT0948.jpg

Do you recall the "lace" paint jobs from the 60's and 70's? It came up in the grudge the other nite, and I wasnot smart enough to pay attention when I was around it back then. IF you, or anybody has any recollection of those paint jobs and how to do, please post.

 

I dont know if it was the right way but some friends and I saw the lace paint job back in 75 or 76 on a bike and my buddy thought it was cool, we went back to his place and took one of those huge paper lace things from off his moms coffee table (doilie ?) and taped it onto his dark orange Honda tank then misted it with a lighter orange paint we had mixed up in his dads shop, not a bad paint job for a couple of 16 year old if you stood at least 10 feet away