Easy tester

Easy tester

George Berge shows off the chopper he test drives for Big Bear Choppers. (BRIAN CHARLES/Big Bear Grizzly)
By BRIAN CHARLES

For George Berge the phone call couldn’t have come at a better time. Almost two years into his retirement, Berge was becoming way too familiar with the honey-do list.

The home improvement project list was shrinking and Berge was getting cabin fever.

George Berge is one of three test riders working for Big Bear Choppers. He monitors a variety of things on the Pro-Street Sled. (BRIAN CHARLES/Big Bear Grizzly)

Big Bear Choppers contacted Berge in late October about testing a new fuel injection system on its bikes. Berge owns a Big Bear Choppers motorcycle and has been a fan of the brand since 2004.

Ryan Burres, assembly manager at Big Bear Choppers, said the company never used test riders before November. “I used to test the bike,” he said. But Big Bear Choppers needed more information on its motorcycles, and that meant riding the bikes for more miles and doing some scientific research.

Now three test riders, including Berge, drive at least 1,000 miles each week. The riders log in where they have driven and each time they stop for gas. Berge is testing the Pro-Street Sled.

“We ask them to look for anomalies while they ride,” Burres said. Loose drive chains, nuts and bolts are often what test riders find wrong on their rides, Burres said. “We are trying to break the bike before our customers break them,” he said.

Testing for the quality of the ride is one thing, but tuning a fuel injection system takes more than rider input. Big Bear Choppers is switching from carburetors to fuel injectors. “Fuel injectors give more consistent performance. Carburetors need to be tuned for certain altitudes. If you tune the carburetor for Big Bear, it won’t work as well at sea-level or at the beach,” Burres said.

An on-board computer tattles on the test riders. “We know what speed they drove and at what rpm’s they drove,” Burres said. The computer information is downloaded from the motorcycle to the assembly computer. The information allows Big Bear Choppers to see whether the fuel injection system is performing as expected, he said.

Berge said he doesn’t have many problems with the motorcycle he is testing. The on-board computer handles most of the data collection needed on the bike. So Berge gets time to play. “I take the bike to Havasu some weekends and to the beach others,” Berge said. He gets paid to test the bikes, but said he would do it even if there was no money involved. “I believe in the brand so strongly,” Berge said about Big Bear Choppers.

Berge brings his wife along for some of the test rides. She follows on her own Big Bear Chopper bike, Berge said. The couple chews up miles of road on their trips and Berge said it beats the honey-do list.

Contact reporter Brian Charles at 909-866-3456, ext. 134 or by e-mail at briancharles@bigbeargrizzly.net.

Source:http://www.bigbeargrizzly.net.