Deep South Choppers Shocker Low Voltage

We've raised a monster with a small price tag," is the slogan splashed across the homepage of the Deep South Choppers (DSC) website. While it seems the remaining few production motorcycle companies are still caught up building the drawn-out, wide-tired, pro-street style of bikes, DSC is headed in the opposite direction with its no frills, stripped down, tight, lean and mean Shocker line of bikes. "We wanted to build a modern, hot rod, bobber-style bike with a price tag under $20,000," DSC Co-owner and CEO, Dennis Mannino, told us. "Sure, you can build a bike for under $16,000, but we wanted to build a bike that didn't look like we just thumbed through a catalog and bolted a bunch of knock off parts to a frame." If it wasn't a DSC part, then the shop wanted to use well-known American manufacturers parts as much as possible.

DSC offers two models in its Shocker line of built-to-order, limited production bikes, the Shocker High Voltage (SHV) for $19,999 and the Shocker Low Voltage (SLV) for $19,899. According to Dennis, the $100 difference is in the production of the SLV bars "they are more difficult to make then the SHV bars." We were lucky enough to get our hands on a SLV for a few weeks and were damn upset when we had to give it back.

Inspired by the solid handling characteristics of The Motor Company's Dyna frame, DSC designed its own frame to mimic the Dyna suspension setup with outboard shocks. With a solid mounted 80ci H-D Evo at its center, DSC knew the engine harmonics could lead to lots of vibration and a numbing sensation to the rider and even worse for the frame itself. To help reduce harmonics DSC used thick .250-inch wall DOM tubing for the backbone and heavy duty DOM seamless tubing for the rest of the frame. Overall the frame features a 1 1/2-inch stretched backbone and 1 inch under downtubes culminating into a slight gooseneck with 34 degrees of rake.

Before mounting the SLV we gave it the once over and did the old kick the tire test. Up front is a set of DSC triple trees clamping down on 2-inch under conventional fork legs with a 130 Dunlop stuffed between. Out back a 150mm Dunlop is nestled between the rectangular tube swingarm. Skinning the bike is the bare minimum in sheetmetal necessities. A 2.25-gallon DSC gas tank sits square on the backbone, not too high not too low. Underneath the seat a Moon Eyes rubber isolated spun aluminum oil tank adds to the hot rod look. Over the rear tire, barely keeping the mud and debris off your back, is an extremely chopped DSC fender.

At the heart of the SLV is the aforementioned Evo, behind that is a Baker five-speed clicker and tying the two together is a 2-inch open belt drive from Midwest, which spins power to the rear wheel via a 530 O-ring chain. A 42mm Mikuni carb pulls air into the engine and a set of black heat-wrapped DSC High-Low pipes with slightly turned out ends spit exhausted gasses.

As far as capturing a modern hot rod style in a tight package, we'd say DSC did a fine job and we'd take it even further in saying that there's a hint of industrial attitude to the bike as well. The SLV features a mix of billet components like Hawg Halters wheels, Switch Blade Billet hand and foot controls, a DSC gas cap, speed hole accents throughout, a simple flat black Airea 5150 paint job with a flat gray racing stripe on the sheetmetal, and the sanitary look of brushed satin finish on the rest of the components.

Hitting the streets on the SLV we were very pleased. We've ridden many of these short stature bikes with the tiny solo spring seat setup and always feel like we are going to slip right off the back with a hard pull on the throttle. The design of the SLV frame put us right in the center of the seat and kept us there. As for the ergonomics, everyone from the shortest on staff (5 feet 9 inches) to the tallest (6 feet 1 inch) felt comfortable on the bike, with its forward controls and slightly pulled back DSC bars.

While the bike does have a hot rod appeal to it, it couldn't really fit into the category if it didn't get up and go and with a weight of only 520 pounds the 80ci Evo put the power to the rubber and cut loose like a deuce-the only thing missing was the blondie in a poodle skirt ready to drop her neckerchief. Cruising the freeway (if you want to call it that) there was plenty of throttle left in top gear. In fact there was so much we felt the SLV definitely could have been outfitted with a six-speed and still had plenty of juice to get around any of those whiny Fast and Furious cars the kids drive. As for vibration, there was some but it wasn't so bad that it spun the mirror out of whack or put our hands or feet to sleep. The conventional frontend handled all the dips and bumps with ease while the fully adjustable coil-over Carrera Racing shocks in the rear kept tire to tarmac and didn't cause us to slip a disc.

Back on the surface streets is where the SLV felt most at home. With a 71 inch axle-to-axle wheelbase the lightweight bike was easy to dip into the turns and the 5 1/2-inches of ground clearance allowed us to really dive into the corners before we had to worry about any scrapeage. Compounding all this was the super low 24-inch seat height, which really put us into the bike and gave us that knuckle dragger feel.

As they say, "with the good comes the bad." We only had one contention with the bike and it created several problems for us. The triples trees seemed pinch the neck/neck cups causing it to stiffen up at highway speed making the steering tight, but then once we slowed down or came to a stop they moved smoothly and the frontend had good fallaway. The fork stops were extremely close together making for a very short turning radius. Also the headlight bracket was pretty bulky for such a minimalist bike. Lastly, the trees were powdercaoted gray and didn't really match the rest of the components on the bike. However, on a positive note, we relayed these issues to Dennis and he informed us he was working on a new set of trees that would solve all these issues.

Selling retail direct, with a one year warranty, limited production, and each bike being built to order with a ton of options like a Baker six-speed, Vance and Hines exhaust and a host of others we'd say the SLV is a really good buy considering everything you get; a solid drivetrain, a mix of proprietary and top notch aftermarket components, and excellent styling. Obviously this isn't a long distance tourer but, if you're in the market for something that is completely different from what all your buddies are riding and will really get people to notice you, you won't be disappointed with the SLV, we weren't.