As the American Chopper TV show comes to an end, the future of custom choppers is left missing a critical spokesperson that remindedus how much we love choppers. The only custom motorcycles themed show to be aired for more than a season, you have to be curious if cancellingthe show will have a profound impact on the custom motorcycleindustry overall or is the local demand enough to keep it going?
The boost the motorcycle business got from the television show centered around a group of custom motorcycle builders reminded one of the technology madness in the late nineties as far as the swell of start-ups entering the market. As with any artificially created demand, eventually consumers came back to reality and many of the newly formed custom motorcycle businesses had to close up shop.
At one time just a small fragment of the motorcycle business, the buzz that was created in people who would normally have no interest in custom bikes also launched small companies into huge successes and created an new internet niche that has remained as large as it was during the custom motorcycle craze. Since websites are much less expensive to maintain than brick and mortar businesses, the fallen economy did little to affect the huge number of websites that were built around custom motorcycles.
What remains to be seen is whether or not the custom chopper business can live through this recession with only magazine ads and internet buzz to keep it going. I’m guessing that many more custom shops will shut down this year. Some may simply turn back into one man motorcycle shops that can no longer afford a crew of bike builders.
Fortunately for one man shops, they only have to produce 5 or 6 custom motorcycles a year to keep their heads above water. And the few customers looking for choppers in these tough times are also the sort to not search for cheap bikes as much as getting the bike they really want. Most blue collar workers, the type that were pushing their financial limits to get into their own custom bike when times were good are certainly not going to risk their family’s financial future on a $30,000 toy.
So this really leaves only the well to do and hardcore bikers as potential buyers of custom bikes in general. I think the average Joes will come back to buying {custom bikes|choppers[s/pin] but not until this economic slump is truly over and Americans are no longer afraid to spend money again. But we have certainly seen the heyday of the custom motorcycle business. There’s just simply no way it will be what it was during the American Chopper days.
Probably more than half of those that bought custom bikes just because of the TV show have already traded them in on more practical motorcycles, if they’re even still riding. When times got tough many just couldn’t justify keeping a toy in the garage for an occasional ride that was worth more than a lot of Americans make in a year.
While there is a future for custom bikes, it isn’t going to look anything like the recent past.
For more information on choppers visit Choppers.
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