what makes a style?

The bikes above are speedway bikes. If the bike from Sunday was a speedway then both tires would be knobby for dirt tracks. Also, current speedway rules demand it would have a chain guard. Lastly, this bike has front brakes but speedway bikes must have none at all. Yes, I am being literal in my interpretation.

This leads me to wonder what elements on a style of bike are “must haves.” For a bobber, well, it’s “bobbed.” No front fender. Extraneous things like signals and gauges are cleaned off. No freaking heavy chrome ****. If it’s a chopper, pretty much the same thing but the front end is often longer and the style can be pretty freaky. It seems choppers have a wider interpretation of what makes them choppers than bobbers or cafe racers are allowed.

I’ve seen bikes called “choppers” that made me laugh. They had too much junk on them. How can a chopper have a 300 mm rear tire and weigh seven hundred pounds after the b**ch fell off?

So, is the bike from Sunday really a “speedway?” Or does it merely have stylistic elements of a real speedway racer? I guess it all depends on who you ask.

What makes a chopper, a bobber, a cafe racer or a speedway? What changes them to something else; a stylistic hybrid? Why is it such a big deal to some dudes?

In the meantime, here is an image of Nicholas D. Wolfwood from one of my favorite Japanese anime cartoons, Trigun:

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