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Big Dog Motorcycles
2003 Chopper Special Edition 5000
(1 1/2 out of 5 stars)
I’ve looked at this bike and to be honest with you I am hard pressed to find anything that I like about it. Right off the bat, the most striking thing is the gas tank. It does not flow with the lines of the bike at all and sits far to high on the frame leaving a huge gap between the tank and the rocker boxes. The rear fender stops abruptly at the top of the swing arm looking almost flimsy. It also sits far to high over the rear tire leaving at least a 2
½ inch gap. If you are going to have a wide rear tire you don’t want to make it look smaller by having your fender sit that high.
The front forks look like a regular wide glide front end with some pointy lower legs. Sitting above the front fender is a brace (I assume to cut back on high speed wobble) which actually looks like a third triple tree. It not only looks tacky, but way out of place.
Of course everyone knows my hatred of mag rims so I wont even mention it here. The blinkers and rear view mirrors are to large and tend to give the bike to much of a stock look. They would be one of the first things I would replace. The pullback risers with built in drag bars does not look like it puts the rider in a good riding position when you take into consideration the stretch of the frame.
The two into one pipes was (and is) never one of my favorites and they dump into what looks like a Super Trap tip. Maybe it’s just me and my history but when I see a Super Trap muffler I always think of Enduros and dirt bikes, not high end choppers.
Once again there are no passenger pegs on this bike. But what makes this worse is that Big Dog has placed a large chrome retaining thumb screw to hold on the plain black seat right in the way of where a passenger might sit. So unless you have a real adventurous participant you will be riding alone.
The ad I’m looking at (pg. 75 from the Sept 03 issue of American Iron) has a large red headline stating "Big Engines Big Tires." The big engine they are talking about is a 107 cubic inch S&S. Now since S&S has released its’ 145ci Anniversary engine I really need to ask is 107 really big anymore? I know when you look at the stock engines Harley puts out it is a large power plant, but Big Dog is not just competing with Harley.
I know I may sound like I’m slamming Big Dog but I’m not. I have seen some Big Dog bikes that I really liked and plan to review later. But when a motorcycle manufacture posts this as their flag ship bike it needs to be their best work to date. And when you ask the selling prices these companies are asking for these days you better make sure it is well worth it. Or folks like me might just let you know. To be quite honest with you, I can literally build a bike identical to that one using after market parts from various catalogs for about $15,000.
So come on Big Dog, show us what you got. Put out a new bike next year that makes us drool. We know you have it in you.