Built For Veterans. 1844 Pabst Blue Ribbon Chopper.

There is a lot of support from the motorcycling community when it comes to charities and other nonprofit organizations. Everything from rehabilitation for disabled riders, to support for bikers in financial difficulties because of health issues and medical bills, to helping service members, veterans and their families.

Over the 11 years of its existence, Brass Balls Cycles is probably one of the custom shops in the US having built the largest number of bikes providing help and raising money for those in need among our soldier veterans. This new project was built by Dar Holdsworth of Brass Balls Cycles on a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer theme and raffled (congratulations to winner Ken Miller) in conjunction with Warriors For Freedom, an organization committed in programs dedicated to our veterans.’

Pabst Blue Ribbon is of course the American lager beer sold by Pabst Brewing Company, established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1844 and currently based in Los Angeles. Originally called Best Select, and then Pabst Select, the current name comes from the blue ribbons tied around the bottle neck between 1882 and 1916. After a two decade-long slump the beer experienced a sales revival in the early 2000’s largely due to its increasing popularity among urban hipsters
Pabst Blue Ribbon is the brew that unites hipsters (thrifty boozers) ,just as much as it divides people who hate hipsters (serious beer drinkers) So is this 1844 PBR Chop a hipster bike? I let you judge…

Dar says: “This wasn’t to be one of our new, groundAup production custom bikes. This bike had to be unique, a bike with a soul, a bike that could be remade into something special”. He got started with a 1973 Sportster Ironhead which was generously donated by “Rebel Rock Entertainment founder” Jim Jonsin. The bike had been parked outside in south Florida in salty air for the past 20 years! But it’s a great vintage Harley motor to start from, and for the purists this engine is considered the main reason for the enduring success of the Sportster. After the donor bike was disassembled, almost all parts were discarded and only engine and front end were preserved.

The makeover started with a complete tear down of the 1973 motor, for cleaning, blasting, restoring tired parts when possible and replacing too damaged ones. Time consuming but worth it when you see it cradled in a one-off brand new rigid chassis built by Led Sled Choppers, complete with steel rear fender and oil tank installed. Many other talented and generous industry friends were enlisted and deserve to be mentioned here: Gus at Outlaw Polishing for bringing back the shine on motor, primary and several other parts, Hix Design for the seat work, Avon Tires, David at Custom Powder Coat of chassis candy powder coating, TC Bros for the Art-deco air cleaner, the Foot Control and Bars and Tag bracket, Manny at Manny’s Fineline for Killer paint job. Special thanks to Dar’s right hand Brian for doing again a solid job putting the puzzle together. Brass Balls Cycles (photos @ Tyler Wolff for Cyril Huze)

23 Responses to “Built For Veterans. 1844 Pabst Blue Ribbon Chopper.”


  1. 1 P. Massara Oct 23rd, 2017 at 8:03 am

    Hipster cool, I guess.

  2. 2 P. Hamilton Oct 23rd, 2017 at 8:05 am

    Neat little chop.

  3. 3 TK Oct 23rd, 2017 at 8:36 am

    Great looking bike. Dar keep on doing what you do!

  4. 4 Ghost of HST Oct 23rd, 2017 at 8:39 am

    The bike is OK . The beer sucks . With their charity efforts being questionable at best .

  5. 5 Mike Schmitz Oct 23rd, 2017 at 10:32 am

    PBR? Heh. One of the worst beers ever. Always tasted like chemical good to me, when I was dumb enough to mix drinkin’ and ridin’. Nice bike anyway. But I get a kick out of the ironhead motor. You wanna make a mechanic puke,just say you got an ironhead that won’t run.

  6. 6 highrpm Oct 23rd, 2017 at 10:43 am

    ya man, buy american & support the veterans and troops. use any marketing line that works to sell…PBR corporate move from milwakee to la la land gives it away,

    Cyprus-based beverage conglomerate that calls itself the biggest independent brewer in Russia. The iconic brand behind Pabst Blue Ribbon, the red-white-and-blue-canned lager founded in Milwaukee before the Civil War, announced late last week that it will be bought by Oasis Beverages, which runs breweries in Moscow, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. 9/28/2014

  7. 7 Brian Oct 23rd, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    Clean. Nice job.

  8. 8 Jim Tom Stimpson Oct 23rd, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    used to sneak a PBR out of my grandfathers garage frig as a youth. Good memories.

  9. 9 marcus Oct 23rd, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    The majority stake in PBR is owned by Eugene Kashper, an American citizen (Jewish refugee born in Russia). Minority stakes are held by investment firm TSG Consumer Partners (San Francisco) and Oasis Beverages (Cyprus – which owns and operates breweries in the former Soviet Union). Kashper has invested millions in the old PPR brewery in Milwaukee for multi-use development (including a microbrewery). The place which just opened looks pretty cool, check it out online.

    As an interesting aside, beers are made everywhere now under cross licensing and manufacturing deals. For example Japanese, Chinese, and other foreign beers are brewed by Budweiser in the U.S., and vice-versa overseas. Beer is rarely shipped overseas anymore as a bottled product.

  10. 10 Andy Fat Boy Oct 23rd, 2017 at 12:49 pm

    Keep up the great work Dar. Always supporting fellow vets and bikers👍🏻

  11. 11 takehikes Oct 23rd, 2017 at 3:18 pm

    If anyone cared who owned breweries Bud wouldn’t sell a single can since its not American owned though they try like hell to not talk about it.
    That said I hate “theme” bikes but this one is a very nice build take away the theme adornments.
    I know all about theme choppers as I may have been involved in the very first one’s ever built. At AEE Choppers 1971 we built 2 Triumph choppers for 7Up Bottling. I was Ok with it the idea of theme bikes until the first one OCC did then I knew it was going to turn to crap and it did.

  12. 12 Dar Holdsworth Oct 23rd, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    Thank you Cyril for sharing our PBR Chopper with your followers. Thank you to those who appreciate a cool chopper and the efforts of trying to support our troops.

  13. 13 Floyd Cantrell Oct 23rd, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    Pabst Blue Ribbon was and still is very popular in the south. Drank a lot of it growing up and in Vietnam. Still like it. Nothing like a West Tennessee BBQ sandwich and a ice cold PBR for lunch!

  14. 14 HillBilly Jim Oct 24th, 2017 at 7:13 am

    Well done Dar! I always loved ironheads but never loved kick starting them. I have the knee damage to prove it too. In the 70’s and 80’s PBR was my brand. Quit drinking it when they stopped using the returnable long necks.

  15. 15 Tom Oct 24th, 2017 at 7:38 am

    PBR
    Yes !!!!!!!!

  16. 16 Pat Savage Oct 24th, 2017 at 7:53 am

    Great effort and a sweet little chop Dar and great support for veterans. Kudos to PBR brand and whomever owns the company for their support. Sounds like the new owners are putting money into Milwaukee headquarters so power to them. Vroomin

  17. 17 Guzzigreg Oct 24th, 2017 at 7:54 am

    PBR hasn’t been PBR in over 20yrs.The Pabst brewery is now a housing and entertainment venue.The micro brew there is not Pabst.Nice bike but zero originality.

  18. 18 Git Real Oct 24th, 2017 at 2:45 pm

    If all goes to the charity then kudos.

    But no creativity though….so toss that “unique, a bike with a soul” bull shit! IMO…Looks like another way for Brass Balls/Dar to cover past bad, very bad, business practices and segue his way into good graces with the military again.

    Having had more than my share of bar-hoppers, give a VET a daily rider.

    Lest we forget http://cyrilhuzeblog.com/2016/03/25/darwin-motorcycles-closed-customers-file-complaints-for-custom-bikes-paid-and-not-delivered/

    Git Real

  19. 19 willie Oct 24th, 2017 at 4:30 pm

    That is a very cool build

  20. 20 Floyd Cantrell Oct 24th, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    Here’s a history timeline of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Still my favorite beer!

    http://pabstbrewingco.com/timeline/

    Cantrell

  21. 21 Chris G Oct 24th, 2017 at 11:48 pm

    Nice work guys classic, cool, no frills and masculine, unlike some of the bleeding vagina fags that always bitch on here. Next bike up, the midol tribute chopper

  22. 22 Heavy Metal Oct 26th, 2017 at 9:28 am

    Nice build. I love my Ironhead but in reality they are just a bunch of parts that almost fit.

  23. 23 barneyfife Nov 16th, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    the bike’s purty.

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Cyril Huze