American Chopper???

[Mitch21]

Just wondering if there is any American Chopper fans on the site?
I know they are totally diferent bikes to the fz6r but you have to admit they are pretty cool creations. Whats everyones Views on the split between Jnr and Snr. I have watched the show from the beginning and love the show. Particularly in the early days.

One of my favourite parts is where they make a video out of still pictures

ShopShank Redemption
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DPMO-vndS4&feature=related]Shopshank Redemption A Mike Teutul Film. American Chopper - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Sander Koop]

It was fun at the start, when they focussed more on the bikes; now it's all about the Teutul's family life.

I've lost interest, I'm afraid. Do they follow both Junior & Senior's exploits?

 

[JonKerr]

I still watch. I do wish they'd focus on the actual building of the bikes more. It seems like they just don't have the "problems" with the bikes that they used to so there isn't much drama there. So they focus on the rivalry. Personally neither one are angels, but Sr. Is a douch. Plus I like Jr.s bikes a lot more.

 

[Mitch21]

I still watch. I do wish they'd focus on the actual building of the bikes more. It seems like they just don't have the "problems" with the bikes that they used to so there isn't much drama there. So they focus on the rivalry. Personally neither one are angels, but Sr. Is a douch. Plus I like Jr.s bikes a lot more.

Yeh It was better with two shows to complete a bike and you could see the ins and outs of building a chopper, now they are just focusing too much on the split between them and not so much the bike.

+1 on juniors bikes, especially now that he has pretty much his old crew with him again except Rick, of course

 

[JonKerr]

To me the bikes he did at OCC and the bikes OCC still tends to do a lot of are just over the top theme. I mean the amusement park one was just an abomination. The Christmas bike, while I like the idea, was again, ridiculous. And my all time biggest hate was the '57 Chevy bike. That thing was just stupid looking. And you could tell when Jr. didn't want anything to do with a particular build because he thought it was just dumb. If you look at his bikes now, they're theme, but they're not so literal. Tell me what you think is a better theme bike.

This atrocious thing:

or this bad ass beast.

This joke of a bike:

Or this beauty.

Now that's not to say Jr. can't go huge on the theme stuff, but when he does it, they get this:

Not this:
(I can't find a full pic of this thing, but here's the gas tank)

 

[Marthy]

I watch to show when it first come out... but got old quick. My favorite were the spyderman and fire fighter bikes.

What do you think about that try? With a car engine, ac...

 

[Fizzer6R]

yeah i've been watching since day one, and still do. if you've never been in business with a family member then it's hard to image how it really is. paul sr must be part jewish the way he didn't give jr or mikey even a little slice of the biz profits. one episode mikey asked about it, and his reply was "an you got paid a salary for those years working" - come on sr the show wouldn't be what it once was w/o the kids, and them going on all the trips etc.

i will say besides the whole lawsuit thing, sr really disappointed me when mikey was going through his alcoholism period (assume sr must've known even through word of mouth) and didn't try to intervene. if you were an alcoholic and saw your kid going down the same path, come on!

that damn ugly horse bike above - can't believe they couldn't do any better than that. I mean it looks like they went to a toy store, bought it and bolted it right on.

what's his name, the airbrush guy at OCC - his artist abilities don't even come close to the nub guy paul jr uses.

if/once jr gets rick over to this shop, occ, at least for shows is gonna drop even more interest = mine as well just air jr's projects then

was about the worst time in the slowing economy; many don't know occ couldn't maintain their ducati dealership there and closed

 

[Parcho]

They do themed bikes and as with any design, 90% of the stupid bullsh*t that looks like garbage is requested by the customer who thinks they know what they want. You can even see on the show they hate half the crap that comes through since they have to 'meet' the pre-approved drawings of the customer. What customer wants, customer gets.

They always relish when they get some creative control. I know I do as a designer. I can't tell you how many times a client has totally trashed a really good design.

 

[FZ6R_Mike]

I used to watch the show but it just got old. I have watched a couple episodes of the rivalry and I would have to say that Jr is better off on his own. I did watch the battle between Sr, Jr and the good ole Jesse James and I thought jesse should have won that battle IMO. Jesse along with alot of other custom builders build their bikes from the frame up. They don't have someone else build their frame for them. In that episode they showed jesse using old fashioned blacksmith work to build his parts. Now I could sit and watch someone do that all day long and not get bored with it.

 

[JonKerr]

I agree that Jesse is more of a craftsman than either Jr or OCC (Can't say Sr. because he doesn't do shit on the bikes besides put the tank on and every now and then help build handlebars.) But the bike he built for that build off looks like 100 bikes I've seen at any car/bike night for years. And I'm just not a huge fan of his style. If he'd done something extraordinary looking with that level of craftsmanship, he would/should have won. But Jr made the more visually striking bike. And in all honesty, that's what most people want to see.

Personally my favorite custom bike builder is Roland Sands. By a LONG SHOT the most talented bike builder in the world. Here's one if his bikes that was at the IMS show in Long Beach in November.

 

[FZ6R_Mike]

Don't get me wrong, I think Jr builds nice bikes NOW. Theme bikes IMO are dumb and useless because they are all locked up in a semi truck being driven around to shows. I liked the chopper build offs when they put 2 guys head 2 head, showed them build an ENTIRE bike then met each other somewhere and rode the bikes to the show to be judged. I know it sounded like I think jesse is the greatest but I only used him cause he was put up against them in that show. I agree there r better builders out there that don't get the publicity or attention they should. They need to just drop that show and either pick up Jr or go back to the biker build off.

 

[JonKerr]

I did like the Biker Build-off show too. I do think a lot of these bikes that never get ridden are ridiculous.

My favorite bike building show lately actually is Cafe Racer on Velocity. I LOVE Cafe bikes. And seeing some of these bikes being built from a rusty wreck and pieces in salvage yards are amazing. I think that's a big part of why I like Roland Sands stuff. He combines a lot of sportbike inspiration, cafe racer, and custom chopper inspirations too. Here's some of the bikes built on Cafe Racer.

 

[FZ6R_Mike]

Never heard of that show or channel. What cable or dish company u got?

 

[JonKerr]

Cox Cable. It's a Discovery network.

Velocity Channel Videos

 

[FZ6R_Mike]

Damn i wish i got that channel. Some good shows on there. Might have to call dish network

 

[Fizzer6R]

Damn i wish i got that channel. Some good shows on there. Might have to call dish network

if you're clever with the computer, you can find the shows online

 

[JonKerr]

So I just watched the new episode of American Chopper. OCC built a "Sportbike." They said their customer wanted them to build a bike that could perform on the track. IMO it's an abomination. The one or two shows before they admitted who the bike was for, I just was baffled why someone would spend the $60K+ it costs to have OCC build a custom bike on something that has no R&D behind the design to make it actually work and handle like a sportbike should, when you could spend the same amount and get 3 of the most exotic Italian superbikes in the world, all that have racing backgrounds. Then they said it was for his business partner in the cafe they just opened and it made since. He didn't have to pay a dime to have that bike built. It was part of their deal. But still. Just a hideous, useless waste IMO. The body work doesn't look good, it looks like it's pieced together. When they showed it done I was wondering if they still had parts to put on it to finish it. They probably put $4,000 in suspension on a bike with a steel tube chopper frame with sport-ish geometry and way too much, un-useable power from a turbocharged Harley engine. Really??? When I heard they were doing a sportbike I was actually kind of hopeful that they'd do something cool. But...

:eyebrow: :jerk:

You could buy both of these sexy bitches for less and actually have something that performs and about $15k left over.

 

[roundhouse]

i always had more respect for the guys that built every part of their bike. OCC outsourced alot and either used them the way they were or modified them like tanks and fenders.

they were bike assemblers not builders like the true artisans that annealed the aluminum and shaped their own tanks and fenders

i watched the 1st couple seasons and gave up when it became more like a soap opera

 

[bleedinblue]

I bett the OCC bike will scrape fairings with the best of them.Thats why the frame doesn't fit inside of the body, its a scrape cage...At least they didn't build it on a teeter totter trying to figure out its frame geometry.I was expecting to see it though.

 

[Fizzer6R]

i caught the 1 or 2 episodes that showed em build it, but didn't catch the final result - did they even air that coverage? had to search online to see the end product, and wow man i almost threw up a little in my mouth. makes sense now the bike was part of a business deal. at first they said the customer did not have a budget, so out came the carbon wheels, ohlins and it got me excited. then when senior had rick basically cut yamaha parts to fit this mistake, knew it was gonna turn out a Frankenstein Bike. wonder how much the POS weighs. bet when junior saw it he couldn't stop laughing