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teve Bates better known as “Choppa” is a garage builder from the Saginaw section of Texas. An area that has become very rich in the underground chopper scene. In a place where you can pretty much build and ride 12 months out of the year, your bike and what you do around it can keep you sane and at times truly help you find your inner self. Having been a builder for almost 15 years now, Steven once worked on
building fat tire show bikes with his dad and brother back in the day, only to discover one day that his true calling was to cut ‘em up and build them chopper style. With a new calling, Steven took to his garage to build for himself and with friends, his circle had grown from this sharing of knowledge. Going back to the way they did things back in the day garage life was his escape from the modern world. With loud blues blasting and old school handtools taking the place of the more modern-day tools was how Steven would get things done.
And when not chopping things up, the local scene was a welcome spot to just be another builder where he could chill with no stress. I was lucky enough to meet Steven through a mutual friend, Robert Clague, who is quite the builder himself and has been featured in this lovely rag. Rob had first called to tell me about a new show, Boogie East, that would be going down in Daytona this past year. It was being put together by himself & Scott Hoepker of Chemical Candy and would be held over at Annie Oakley’s. Just those two namea alone
Article and Photos By: Mark Velazquez
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February ‘18 - CYCLE SOURCE MAGAZINE
