A bobber is a motorcycle that usually has had the front fender removed, the rear fender “bobbed” or made smaller and all superfluous items removed to make it lighter.
The bobber was the earliest custom motorcycle built by people with mechanical skills and often part of the early biker clubs scene before there were any such thing as a choppers, a simple stripped down motorcycle . It is a style of custom motorcycle which took shape in the 1940s and 50s, generally thought to have been started by returning WW II servicemen working on ex-military motorcycles and inspired by lighter European motorcycles they had seen and ridden.
The bikes reflected their owners and were often homemadebut today there are many companies that create such vehicles. The style has also influenced motorcycle manufacturers such as Harley-Davidson.
The style continues to be favored by some to this day. Latterly, hybrid styles have emerged such as a “bobber chopper” and retro-bobber.
