American Iron Horse Texas Chopper
Road Test

In December 2004, I had the opportunity to road test a 2004 American Iron Horse Texas Chopper during a television production in Hollywood. Lifestyle Cycles in Anaheim California provided the Texas Chopper for me to ride on this one day television shoot.

I picked the bike up in Anaheim just after dark on Friday December 10th. This Texas Chopper is the same bike that quite a few magazines have used for their road tests. The paint scheme has nicknamed this bike the "Red Bull" bike.

Once I climbed on and settled in, I quickly learned that this chopper was easy to ride. It's also comfortable and it hauls ass!  The 111 cubic inch motor gets your attention and it knows how to motor down the road. The stock two into one exhaust system sounds good too.

My motorcycle riding skills were tested quickly after about 5 minutes on this unfamiliar bike.  I hit the 91 Freeway in bump to bumper, stop and go Friday night traffic. If you ride in southern California and you don't want to burn your clutch up in the summer months you learn how to split traffic. It's dangerous, challenging and you have to deal with wankers that cut you off and purposely move over in front of you. I felt comfortable enough after only about 5 minutes on the Texas Chopper to start splitting traffic, which says lot about the handling of this cool chopper. The dual disc brakes in the front and the single disc in the rear quickly passed their test to bring this bad boy to a stop.

Saturday morning I met with the other riders hired to ride in this production and we started our 70 mile ride towards Hollywood.  On the open Freeway the Texas Chopper is a total cruiser. After all the earthquakes in Southern California our freeways are a great test track. The Texas Chopper handled awesome on the Freeways. It had no front end shutter, it didn't grab the freeway lines and wobble and it didn't pull to one side. Pop this baby into 6th gear, lean back, relax and enjoy the ride. When you want passing power just crack the throttle and plenty of fire comes to life for you. I hit a couple good sized bumps on the Freeways that really tested the softail suspension. The bike kept stable and handled the good sized bumps.

Like any chopper you have to be careful with the limited turning radius, especially on your slow turns. During the shoot that was the only disadvantage I had over the others, it took me a longer to turn around on this really tight hillside street we were filming on in the Hollywood Hills.

Here's the bottom line... If attention is what you're looking for, the Texas Chopper is diffidently a bike you should seriously consider buying.  It's flashy paint and sick looking stance grabs everyone's attention.  After we were done filming we stopped by a cool little restaurant on Sunset Strip and it didn't take long for people to gather around and check out the Texas Chopper.

I rode this bike about 150 miles in one day and I'll now answer the questions you all want to know...

Would I ride a Texas Chopper for and everyday machine?  Yes, absolutely!  It's well made by a reputable manufacture, reliable, it looks sick, rides and handles well, and it hauls ass. What more can you ask for in an everyday motorcycle?  Nothing.

What changes would I make if I owned a Texas Chopper?  I would probably change the pipes to something really radical. I think some pipes that sweep up in the back or some hell bent pipes would look sick on a Texas Chopper.

After all was said and done, I was impressed, the Texas Chopper is a bad ass bike.

I would like to thank Junior at Lifestyle Cycles in Anaheim for providing this bike for me to ride and road test.  Lifestyle Cycles is an authorized American Iron Horse dealer located on State College Avenue in Anaheim California. Pop on by and check out a new Texas Chopper, you won't be disappointed.

I'm out, Ike


2004 - All rights reserved - Boot Hill Choppers is NOT affiliated in any manner with American Iron Horse Inc. The opinions expressed in this road test are solely those of Ike Clanton.

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