The term old school gets passed around the motorcycle industry like a skinny accountant on death row, but retro looks don't mean much without the history that grew out of the early days of bike chopping. If you want to absorb some of that history, you could take a trip down to Denver's Choppers in Henderson, Nevada, since they've been around since 1967, when all that old school style was still the latest rage.
Denver's was originally the brainchild of Denver Mullins and Mondo Porras, who took over sole ownership of the shop when Denver passed away in a drag boat accident in the '90s. In the time that the shop's been around, all manner of custom bikes, from classic Pans and Shovels of the '60s and '70s to Evos and Twin Cams, have been created both by hand and using state of the art technology.
Back in the day, there wasn't any hard research to draw on in terms of how new parts would affect performance; it was all experimentation done by hand. You learned as you went along. If something worked, you stuck with it; if it didn't, you discarded it. This made for a lot of crazy styling, and over time custom building evolved into the refined art form it is today. Denver's Choppers and Arlen Ness were at the forefront of all that.
Mondo's operation has moved around over the years, but through it all the song remains the same: A real hands-on approach to bike building. Denver's Choppers moved from San Berdoo to Sin City years ago, but you'll still find them making the same long crazy Springer fork setups that made them famous. We took a shop tour with Mr. Porras; here's a glimpse into his world.
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