Choppers Cycle

There’s something about this life that has a way of coming full circle. No matter how many years pass or how much changes, I always seem to find my way back to the same place, buying and selling Harley parts. It’s not just a business to me, it never was. It’s a feeling, a rhythm, a part of who I am.

This is really where it all began, the early days of Choppers Cycle Parts, long before there was a name for it, just a passion and a couple of guys chasing it.

Back in the early 70’s, my brother Dan Roche and I would head out across the Midwest, no real schedule, just a truck, a bit of cash, and a shared instinct for finding something special. Swap meets, small-town Harley dealers, backyards, barns, and wherever word would lead us. We weren’t just looking for parts, we were chasing stories, history, and the characters who had lived it.

We’d meet old-timers who had spent a lifetime collecting, guys who had quietly built up treasures you wouldn’t believe.

I remember Harold Eidee in particular, standing among what felt like mountains of history, six-foot-high piles of engines, cases, and frames stacked like they were nothing. At the time, it almost seemed endless. Today, it feels priceless.

I often catch myself wishing I had held onto more of those parts. Not just for what they’d be worth now, but for what they represented. Each piece had a story, and somehow, we were part of it.

But more than anything, it was the journey. Every trip was an adventure, the kind you don’t fully appreciate until years later when the memories settle in and take on a life of their own.

And through it all, Dan was right there beside me. Sixty years later, I can still say the same thing, he was, and still is, the best traveling partner a guy could ever ask for.

Looking back now, those weren’t just trips… they were the foundation of everything that followed.

How did your Harley story begin?

Every rider remembers their first bike….

I started riding 60 years ago and opened my first shop Choppers Cycle in 1970 in Winnipeg Canada, the same year I purchased my first Harley a 1954 Panhead chopper.

I was going to buy a Norton Commando but when I walked into Chariot Cycle on Selkirk Ave with a pocket full of cash was told to get lost because they didn’t have time for me. So I walked 3 blocks to Canadian motorcycle Sales and talked to Right-on Joe who gladly sold me a badass 1954 Panhead chopper and the best part was it was $350 less than the Norton.

This will be a day I will never forget. Shorty Hoffman should me how to start the Pan by retarding the distributor, give it 3 prime kicks, turn the ignition on kick it and hope it starts.

My new chopper had a 14 over Harley Springer with 40 Ford radius rods used to extend it, su***de clutch with an early jockey shift that did not have a ratchet top so finding neutral before stopping was a challenge.

I remember coming to a red light more than one time having one foot on the clutch and the other on the brake and no neutral, which lead to me falling over or stalling the bike….

Unfortunately, there’s no photo of that first bike, but here’s one from the shop around that time.

What was your first bike?
Still have any old photo of it?

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