Choppers
Vince Vaccaro drag raced on the street and track until recent years, when he felt like his reflexes were no longer as sharp as they should be for a sport where a micro-second flick of a wrist can mean the difference between winning and losing your pink slip, or your life.
Vaccaro has been a realtor for 40 years, all of it in Phoenix, where he said he has sold some 2,000 homes. He has seen good times (enough to own three big-buck bikes at once) and bad, but there has always been a constant no matter how patchy life got.
“I ride very day, it’s my therapy,” said Vaccaro, “I’d go crazy without my bikes, or some might say, crazier. I have a built FXR that runs high 11s for the quarter, a bagger for the long hauls, and the chop for just the hell of it. Sure is a beauty, isn’t she? She’s even more fun than she looks. I love this damn bike.”
Vaccaro explained why, as if we didn’t already know: “When I ride, I feel young again. That bike is raw, just how I like it. I was raised with rigid frames sitting low to the ground, just oozing with ‘I take no shit’ attitude. Every time I ride her I’m 22 again, home from ‘Nam, wild and ready to live what life I missed. Now that I’m over the hill, she makes all the memories and feelings rush back, but in a more civilized way, usually.”
The chopper, according to Vaccaro, cost $75,000 and was worth every penny. “Talk about a rush! The bike is too long to fit on a dyno but I can you based on years of racing experience, it makes all of 120 hp and 140 ft-lbs. of torque. And I use I every single pony of that power. It’s never been beat on the street.”
Everything is big about Vaccaro’s chopper. It’s got a big motor, big price tag, big presence on the street. It’s the kind of bike you ride big for big fat fun. This chop is nine-feet long and 12 inches over, and it packs a big wallop. A 124 cubic-inch TP Engineering motor transfers asphalt melting power to the rear wheel through a Baker six-speed transmission. “It puts the power to the ground like an FXR,” said Vaccaro, who still gets as excited about the bike as a virgin on his fist date.
The chopper was the brainchild of Vaccaro and master builder, Paul Yaffe. “I’d say it was about 15% me, 85% Yaffe,” said Vaccaro. “I designed the 5.5-gallon gas tank and had a vision for the rest of the bike. I knew I wanted something low and clean, a lean profile, a dream bike that somehow worked its way to Yaffe’s drawing board and became real.
“He’ll sit you down and work with you, explain things in ways you’ll understand. I’d ask stupid questions and he’d give smart answers. He told me what would and wouldn’t work, and why. That guy is a good man and a true genius.”
Vaccaro, who has officially, or at least legally, retired from drag racing still seeks the thrill. He takes the dust cover off his 944 Porsche and rolls it out for some TT competitions, recently finishing just five seconds behind the winner in the national finals for that class. He rides the chop at least once a week, every week, between minding Vaccaro Realty and caring for his 94-year-old mom.
“The bike is just a blast, a damn rockin’ blast, and a real head turner,” said Vaccaro, who has been to Sturgis 19 times and plans another trip to the Black Hills this year. He likes to ride the chopper around town and would ride it further if he didn’t have a bagger for trips beyond the city limits.
“Sure, it doesn’t handle like my FXR or is as comfortable as my dresser, but it wasn’t built to be. Long sweeping turns are wonderful; short, slow turns more difficult. I call it adventure riding; it’s a biker’s bike.” The relatively moderate 200 tire, compared to mega 250 or 300 rubber, helps the bike to actually make right angles, rather than just navigate, turns.
Vaccaro is not only proud of his monster chop, but how well it’s built and the guys who maintain it. “My bike is together; I never had a problem. If I take it back to Yaffe’s shop for a minor this or that thing, they get right on it; they treat their customers very well. That’s a good feeling to know.”
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