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History

of the

National Chopper Club

Following on from the cinema success of the film 'Easy Rider', custom bike design in the UK took on a new direction, the building of Choppers, this helped lead to the establishment of a motorcycle club devoted purely to riders of custom machinery.

History

of the National Chopper Club

Following on from the cinema success of the film 'Easy Rider', custom bike design in the UK took on a new direction, the building of Choppers, this helped lead to the establishment of a motorcycle club devoted purely to riders of custom machinery.
In 1973 the National Chopper Club was conceived and formed by Bill Gill, Pete Gaertner and Syd Wellings with the aims of:
  • Generating a better understanding between Chopper enthusiasts, other road users and the general public.
  • Improving standards in the safety and construction of Choppers.
  • Bringing all Chopper riders closer together.
To partially lift a quote from an early Club poster, "The National Chopper Club exists to promote, protect and enjoy Custom biking in the UK". Aside from the Club's subsequent expansion into Europe and Scandinavia this is an ideal that remains close to it's heart.

Our Presidents

None of the Club's 45+ years of history would have been possible without the 100% commitment of the Presidents, the support of their families and the total dedication of their respective committee's, reps and members. Without all of them, none of this would have happened.

Houdi

Houdi joined the NCC back in 1992 while living in Plymouth, his first Run was Merseyside. Within his first year of Membership, he had become the Devon Rep joining the North Devon and South Devon Counties together. They had 22 Members and were custodians of the NCC National Clubhouse on the Club’s land in the North of the County.
The formative years he spent there with the Club clearly instilled a deep love of riding hard for long distances, as location required it, but also of hard partying, close Brotherhood, and a fair bit of mischief which we will not go into here! But has a natural proficiency of parking ‘borrowed’ cars on bonfires...
Houdi was invited to join Mat’s Committee in November 1996, at the age of 27. He worked hard and took his responsibility very seriously. It took Houdi a while to balance his Committee work with enjoying himself as he had in his early days, but it’s clear to the whole Club that he has well and truly mastered this now!
Houdi took over the NCC Presidency in 2011, having already served on the NCC Committee for 15 years. He had previously held the positions of Run Captain and National Secretary then served for seven years as Chris’ Vice President. Since taking the helm, he has led the Club in celebrating the monumental landmarks of 40, 45 and now 50 years of National Chopper Club at the most spectacular Mega Runs ever seen. Despite working in the Motorcycle industry and having a good technical knowledge of modern bikes, his passion is for old school Choppers; the more hardcore, the better. His main Club bike has never had an electric starter and has a very bare bones style.
He has always held strong opinions about the importance of each Member riding a unique bike, “Where’s your Chop?”. Regardless of style, he feels that no-one should have one exactly the same! Rather than creating additional Rules for NCC Members, Houdi has focused hard on applying the Rules, as they have been agreed, uniformly across the Membership. Treating everyone the same is a cause he has always pushed. He has never missed a Bank Holiday Run in all his years in the NCC and expects high levels of commitment from all NCC Members.
Houdi was responsible for relocating the Club land in the North of England. He oversaw the sale of our ‘Plainsville’ site in Yorkshire as local developments nearby had made it unsuitable for the Club’s needs, then appealed to the Club to help find us a new home in the North. He oversaw the subsequent purchase of a new site now known as ‘Area 33’ near Blackpool. The transition took many months and was the cause of a fair few sleepless nights.
As the Covid 19 Pandemic hit, Houdi was faced with making a number of unprecedented decisions. Priority number one was to keep the Membership safe; activities at a National level were suspended and meetings were moved on-line.
With money already collected for events that would now not take place, Houdi steered the Club towards using this money to ensure the NCC had something to show for the sacrifices made during lockdown, something that would benefit the entire Club, something we could all be proud of. This resulted in major improvements at the Area 33 site.
Very much a people person, Houdi’s personable and disarming nature has helped to promote ever closer collaboration across the entire organisation. He has worked closely with other Presidents to ensure that the ‘One Patch, One Club’ ethos continues to ring as true as it ever has in the expanding empire.

Chris

After a long period working tirelessly for the Club behind the scenes, both on the national committee and before that with the production team of 'On The Highway' - the Chopper Club's in-house magazine - Chris was able to bring his organisational and management skills to the fore when he became Matt's Vice President. show more >

Mat

Mat, started his term by continuing the work of previous Presidents in establishing close links with other countries keen to become part of our future expansion. show more >

Hank

In late 1989, following the devolution of Chopper Club Ireland from the NCC, it was perhaps fitting that Boots should hand over the Presidency to Hank at the Club's first event on our own land - a place that has become our spiritual home. show more >

Boots

By August of '79, Dino's circumstances had changed and he stepped down as President, handing over the job to a shy retiring chap named Boots. show more >

Dino

Following Bill must have been a very difficult task for Dino. But, during the fifteen months that he held the Presidency, Dino set the Club on a path which is still current today. show more >

Bill

From 1973 to 1978, our first President and now Honorary Life Member, Bill Gill, laid the foundations on which our Club stands today. He organised our structure, pioneered the idea of regular Bank-Holiday Club runs and introduced our backpatch. show more >

In memoriam

Paul

NCC Hertfordshire

Bren

NCC Staffordshire

Maddy

NCC Devon

Muzz

NCC Committee - Suffolk

Pumpe

CCG Paderborn

Mik

CCN

Totte

CCB Mall

Harry

CCW Vice-President

RAF Dave

NCC Committee - Ribble Valley

Andy

NCC London

Tom

NCC Honorary

Speash

NCC Shropshire

Stax

NCC Sussex

Stars

NCC Suffolk

Joey

CCW

Little Kev

NCC Bucks

Radar

NCC Ribble Valley

Buzz

NCC Essex

Dave Lynch

NCC Honorary

Chris Bulman

NCC Cumbria

Terry

NCC Jorvik

Duncan

NCC Ribble Valley

Flusher

NCC Leics

Paul

CCS

Donut

NCC Bucks

Pirre

CCB

Mike

NCC Cumbria

Colin

CCW

Barry

NCC Wiltshire

Kiwi

NCC East Lancs

Mick Fuller

NCC Berkshire

Brian

CCW

Stevie Hewitson

NCC Sussex

Big Lwi

CCW Honorary

Jock

NCC Glos

Colgate

NCC Bucks

Andy Jackson

NCC Suffolk

Brian

NCC Wiltshire

Kev

NCC Hampshire

Den

NCC Devon

Inch

NCC Newcastle

Chris Rodd

NCC Committee

Geoff

NCC Devon

Johnny

CCB Heusden

Glenn

NCC Pennines

Jimmy the Monster

NCC Jorvik

Wayne

NCC Manchester

Ian Kilner

NCC Northants

Ronny

CCB Kessenich

If you're interested in the NCC