The Trop Chop Chopper arrived at Atlanta Custom Baggers in March of 2014. It was long, low, and full of fish. The chopper was originally assembled in 2005 by Mid West Choppers. Being a custom bagger shop we had another direction in mind. A new beginning for this beast of a bike.

We knew there was going to be some challenges to this build from the beginning. The frame was low and long, the wide tire and belt drive would prove to be a small challenge, and building a body that flowed with the frame and tank would need to be well thought out. We called Darrin Davis of Dirty South Designs and threw some ideas around on how we could incorporate a once piece backend and slicked back fairing design into our project.

There were numerous aspects of the bike that we liked and wanted to accentuate throughout our design process. The one piece backend was fit to the frame and a custom seat pan was made to flow from the tank to the rear end. We knew audio was a must in the build and wanted the full sound of 6.5″ speakers from the bags that the rider could hear while flying down the road. The tank design and shape were mimicked in the rear speaker lids, hand sculpted out of clay and later fiberglass.

We needed tail lights. The more we sat and stared at the back of this beast the more we wanted them to be sleek, slim, and sexy. We gathered inspiration from a multitude of automotive and motorcycle designs of the past and threw the idea of sinking in a Victory tail light into both bags. Since the back of the backend was flat we needed to change that as well. Both bags were sculpted to flow around the pair of tail lights and into the center fender design.

The custom fairing was fitted to the front end with a custom built mount. It was at this time we decided that the original wheel had to go. The 21″ chrome front wheel was no match for the overall size of this bagger. We mocked up a 23″ and 26″ wheel and the decision was made to order a custom Renegade 26″ phantom cut wheel.

Next we needed a front fender for the new 26″ wheel. We already had a fender picked out for the 21″ wheel originally on the bike. We liked the design flow of the fender so we decided to modify it for the larger wheel.

The color choice was made and the frame , swingarm, and engine were dis assembled for paint. The bike was then mocked up for the two tone graphic design to be added to it.

After paint, reassembly, and testing we added rear air ride to assist with ground clearance, a 7″ Navigation / Bluetooth / MP3 head unit, 4 Polk Audio Mobile Monitor 6.5″ speakers, Diamond Audio 600 watt amp, saddlebag liners, custom upholstered seat, and electronic actuating lids.