Welcome to the CD version of the Chopper Builders Handbook

Builders Series

How To Build Girder Forks

The main site is located at http://www.chopperhandbook.com and you can check there for news of updates, new articles, new CD's and online (condensed) versions of many chapters contained on this CD. There is also a Technical Discussion Board that is an excellent source of general building and fabrication information.

The information contained on this CD is presented in the Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf) so you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer system before being able to access the various files and drawings. The program is free and can be downloaded from Adobe by clicking the icon below.

If the 'AutoRun' provision of your Windows operating system is enabled you will see a menu appear on your computer screen that will facilitate navigation of the CD. If for some reason 'autorun' is disabled on your system you can still navigate the CD using the normal Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer or just by double clicking on the CD icon.

The files on this CD are Copyrighted but you may make copies for your own personal use and the data is not encrypted so you may copy the entire contents of the CD to your system disk drive. Many people print-out specific sections and arrange them in the three-ring binder along with their own personal notes, sketches and other reference material from other sources to serve as a 'shop manual'. I have no problem with somebody sharing and copying this information for a close friend who is also working on a project but I have a huge problem with somebody making copies of this material for a bunch of friends. You get the idea so I don't think I need to say more about it.

The large scale and full scale drawings included on the CD and available at the main site can be copied to a disk or CD and taken to almost any Office Supply type of store to be printed at their normal 30"x42" size. Most Kinko's, Office Depot's or Blueprint shops or other businesses with large format printers can perform this work for you. You can also print the drawings full size at home by selecting the 'Tile' option on most desktop printers.

The material on this CD is not intended for the faint of  heart. There are no instructions about how to do bolt-on operations and no information about how to build kit-bikes. This is hard-core chopper fabrication from the ground up and is intended for readers who have a serious interest in learning about the craft and in creating unique motorcycles with their own hands. If you're not seriously interested in getting your hands dirty just go to any of the several Chopper Boutique Discussion Boards and have fun. Building real Choppers requires just a little bit of serious dedication and a lot of research work. We're trying to do our part of the equation by posting and publishing the important fundamentals of the craft but it's up to the builder to do the detail work that suits their particular project. We'll be helping where we can on those details through the threads at the discussion board.