12 Motorcycles That Trace the Evolution of the All-American Chopper

The distinctively-styled Chopper, epitomized by Easy Rider's Captain America, is the culmination of decades of motorcycle culture.

The art critic Robert Hughes called the custom motorcycle a distinctive form of American folk art, but "I would go further," Paul d'Orléans writes in the introduction to The Chopper: The Real Story. He calls the Chopper "the ultimate American folk art movement, a culturally explosive mashup of particularly American traits; the cowboy/outlaw, free of family, property, or history, free to explore endless highways, free to express one's individuality through dress and choice of transport."

Distinguished by its extended forks, lack of rear suspension, and tall sissybar, the Chopper was preceded by styles like the bob-job and cut-down, and grew out of efforts to make Harley-Davidsons and other bikes lighter, faster, and more agile. But in d'Orléans' telling, it was more than a question of mechanics. It was the culmination of decades of motorcycle culture, spurred on by American societal shifts brought on by World War 2, changing race relations, and the explosive counterculture of the 1950s and '60s.

The Chopper, published by Gestalten, tells the story of that evolution, from the 1904 bike believed to be the first "truly custom motorcycle" and the bike gangs that terrified America in the 1950s, to Easy Rider and the 21st century takes on the iconic style.

Here's a selection of bikes and riders, photographed over a stretch of 110 years, that helped lodge the Chopper firmly in the American public consciousness.