Choppers (Drive. Ride. Fly.) [Paperback]

Mike Seate (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2006 | Series: Drive. Ride. Fly.

When a motorcycle has been built from the ground up, stripped of anything not needed for speed, power, and striking looks, and draped in rich colors and chrome, it has been transformed into a chopper. What was once considered an outlaw ride has now become a luxury item and a mainstream obsession. In "Choppers: Heavy Metal Art, author Mike Seate explores the many styles of choppers and bobbers and the builders behind them. The book is divided into several sections based on style or type of chopper, with each section devoted to the builders who follow a similar style and philosophy. Some builders are established names in their field, while others are up-and-comers rocking the chopper world with their far-out ideas and new spins on a classic style. Photographer Michael Lichter, who has photographed choppers for "Easyriders and several other magazines for nearly three decades, provides stunning studio images of the featured machines as well as portraits of their creators. Raked, lowered, and tricked out, Choppers: "Heavy Metal Art belongs to anyone who loves chopper style!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Booklist, April 1, 2007

“In their debut series for young people, the go-to publishers for automotive enthusiasts gets it right. These lavishly illustrated single-subject books, which include ‘Corvette’ and ‘Chopper,’ will be hot commodities with younger kids as well as car-obsessed teens.”

Note:  The series is one of ten selected by the American Library Association as the year’s top non-fiction picks launched in the last 12 months.

American Authors Association Web site, May 2006

Reviewed by the Associate President

“I personally recommend this book for all young male readers and those who are still young at heart! Choppers is given the American Authors Association’s highest rating for young readers – FIVE STARS!”

MPN, August 2006

“Targeted at readers ages 10 and older, Choppers and Harley-Davidson dish up all the details on the coolest bikes on the planet in a colorful, informative, easy-to-read format that’s exciting and engaging for young readers (dad might even pick it up, too!).

 

“In Choppers, bike builder and author Mike Seate immerses kid in the history of choppers and bobber with this book full of fun facts and wonderful full color photos."

 

Booklist, Aug. 1, 2006

“Photos on slick, heavy paper in gorgeous full color, typical of Motorbooks publications, will provide more than enough incentive to lure automotive junkies to the new Drive.Ride.Fly series. But there’s more to the books than pictures, there’s also enough intriguing, concisely present product/company history to appeal to sports car and motorcycle fans well beyond the book’s target audience … There’s little question that this will whet the appetite for more, more, more.”

About the Author

Mike Seate is a journalist living in Pittsburgh, PA. He began riding motorcycles at the age of 16, and 26 years later, has still not bothered to learn how to drive a car. His columns on city living appear three times each week in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and he has written hundreds of feature stories and opinion columns for motorcycle enthusiast publications, including Cycle World, Motorcyclist, Super Streetbike, Street and Strip, Classic Bike, Motorcycle News, Long Riders, and IronWorks. Mike has written a number of books, including Choppers: Heavy Metal Art, Technochop, How to Build a West Coast Chopper, Outlaw Choppers, Jesse James: The Man and His Machines, Suzuki GSX-R, Choppers, Streetbike Extreme, and Two Wheels on Two Reels.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; 1st edition (March 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760323283
• ISBN-13: 978-0760323281
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,334,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars absolute dreck, December 3, 2003

By 

mark mcdonald (Connecticut, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Choppers (Hardcover)

This book is god-awful, plain and simple. Anyone who knows anything about seate's alleged "journalism career" understands how much he knows about motorcycles, and would avoid it like the ebola virus. sadly, you can actually learn more about choppers from watching the discovery channel--and that's not saying much.

there's nothing new in the book. It's a marginalized version of stuff that's already been done, and done much better. it's a cheap attempt to cash in on the recent mainstream popularity of choppers and is chock full of historical inaccuracies, lame generalizations and overall weak writing. off hand, I can name 10 people who could have written a better version of this book...some of them could have done so in a coma.

this is a great book fr groupthink moron's who need to be convinced that their softail is a chopper, or that they're 'hardcore' or 'old skool', and all the 'bro'-mosexuals who use these terms in regular conversation, get all leathered up on weekends and pretend they're one-percenters at the dairy queen. it's the perfect holiday stocking stuffer fr the "bikerless biker" in yr life...you know the guy, 20 harley tee shirts, chain wallet...but no motorcycle. trust me, he'll love it, and swallow every word as truth. he might even high-five you with his fingerless gloves on. yee freaking ha!

it's really a terrible book, and I'm actually ashamed to have taken the time to read it.

mcd

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars socio-cultural origins of this strange art form..., October 27, 2003

By 

Ryan McNabb (Ooltewah, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Choppers (Hardcover)

This is a really fun and interesting book. Well written, highly literate, very informative, it gives you the skinny on the real origins of these bikes, their place in motorcyle history, and their place in American history (grudging acceptance, in both cases.) Not just for bike lovers, this book would be appreciated by anyone interested in popular culture after WW2, especially the beat/hippy generations: what really happened at Hollister, CA? What's the story behind "Easy Rider" and its influence? Also, for the riders in the audience, you get lots of interesting insights into the mechanics of these bikes: what is the origin of the Wide Glide fork? How did bobbers get their name? Why did these bikes take on the unique look they did? It ends with a look at custom bikes today, which is sort of mandatory, but not as interesting as what led up to them, in my opinion. Highly recommended.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfactual attrocity, December 30, 2003

By 

"kmp666" (Tool City, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Choppers (Hardcover)

I recieved this book as a Christmas gift, which is the only way it would have made it into my house. It is full of historical inaccuracies, poor commentary, and even poorer analogies by the said author. How this person is even able to get anything published, especially something this awful, is quite beyond me. How about doing some actual research, Seate? I actually felt somewhat insulted by the blatantly piss-poor information this book has to offer. Topical errors and inaccurately placed photoghraphs are the norm for this publication. Now obviously, this is a great book for newbies and yuppies who have no idea how the chopper "subculture" came about, or who think that Jesse James invented the chopper for the sake of Discovery programs, as other reviews of this book have led us to believe. But for us few who know how it really goes down, this book is a heap and a joke, save for a few nicely detailed photos, hence my 1-star rating.