What is a bobber motorcycle?
A bobber motorcycle is a minimalist custom style with a shortened, or bobbed, rear end, a solo seat and bodywork stripped back to the essentials.
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The bobber took off after the Second World War, when riders coming home found war-surplus motorcycles cheap and plentiful and started cutting weight off them for speed and looks. The rear fender was shortened, or bobbed, down to a stub, the front fender was often removed entirely, and anything chrome that did not help the bike run was left off. What's left is mostly silhouette: frame, tank, engine and a single seat, with almost nothing to distract from the shape underneath. That is the point of it. Unlike a chopper, a bobber usually keeps the standard frame geometry, so the changes are subtraction, not reshaping. Don't expect a rulebook, though. There isn't one, and the types of motorcycle page explains why that's true of every style name here.
The bob-job came first
The name arrived long after the bikes. According to Wikipedia's bobber entry, the style was first called a bob-job, and the first ones appeared in the mid-1930s. In 1933 the American Motorcyclist Association started Class C racing for catalogued racing motorcycles, and those racers ran with no front mudguard, a cut-down rear one and no spare weight. Road riders copied the look. After the war the bob-job picked up chrome, metal-flake paint and pinstriping. No factory sold a road-going one until the late 1990s, which is also when the name shrank to bobber.
Individual bikes can vary.
Bobber or chopper: the quick test
The two get mixed up all the time, and the frame is the place to look first. The differences below come from the same entry and its sister page on choppers.
| Bobber | Chopper | |
|---|---|---|
| Frame | Usually the original, unmodified | Cut and welded, or built from scratch |
| Front wheel | Usually close in size to the rear | Often larger than standard |
| Seat | Often a sprung solo saddle | Often low, with a tall sissy bar behind |
A bobber on a British road
Taking the front mudguard off is the classic bobber move. In England, Wales and Scotland, though, regulation 63 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 says a motorcycle must have wings or similar fittings to catch, as far as practicable, the mud and water its wheels throw up. Check a build against that before it goes on the road. Changing the frame is a bigger step again: GOV.UK counts lengthening, shortening or widening a motorcycle frame as a structural modification that DVLA must be told about.
Our bobber art page shows that hardtail silhouette in heavy black ink, or upload a photo of yours for the same treatment. The chopper takes the idea further, reshaping the frame rather than just trimming it.
If you're buying for the person who built it, motorbike gift ideas is a better start than a catalogue.
Written by Craig Fearn, Throttlefolio. Last updated .
Questions answered
What is the difference between a bobber and a chopper?
A bobber keeps the stock frame and strips weight off it. A chopper changes the frame itself, usually with raked-out, extended forks.
Why is it called bobbed?
From bobbing the rear fender - cutting it down short, much like a bobbed haircut - a term that stuck to the whole style.
Keep reading
- Next What is a chopper?
A chopper motorcycle is a heavily customised bike with raked-out, extended front forks and a long, stretched stance built for maximum visual impact.