American chopper

**Hitcher** · 28th April 2005, 20:53

Discovery Channel. Paul Senior, Paul Junior, Mikey, Vinnie. Two-wheeled American steel.

**John** · 28th April 2005, 20:59

Originally Posted by Hitcher

Discovery Channel. Paul Senior, Paul Junior, Mikey, Vinnie. Two-wheeled American steel.

Watched it a few times, its very very different - abit over the top.

But still entertaining and alot of skill involved. Much respect to them.

**Timber020** · 28th April 2005, 21:03

I like the show, Paul Sr would be an arse to work for. They do good work though.
But seriously, how much of the bikes do they make? As far as I can tell they dont do the wheels, main tank fabrication, engines, frames, exhausts, carbs or paint. Doesnt leave alot of bike really!

**Wellyman** · 28th April 2005, 21:16

Great show. My favourite actually as well as the MX.

**dss3** · 28th April 2005, 21:27

I luv it aye, the father son relationship is surprising like where I work. Believe it or not I would say that my boss and his two sons actually shout more than Paul Sr... seriously!

Some of the bikes look a little boring where they have a frame ready built that they pretty much chuck a tank onto and drop in a motor. But other ones are real works of art. Especially all of the hand crafted parts, no computers used to work anything out, its all cardboard and trial and error.

Got to be the ultimate job, doing something you really luv, with your family, and (pressumably) making a lot of money at the same time. Did you catch the "american chopper marathonon" sky1 a couple of weeks back? Good times!

Who's keen to start up a NZ sportsbike equivalent!?

_daryl

**Badcat** · 28th April 2005, 21:50

i enjoy it.
the bikes are not of my taste at all - but i love the paint and fabrication.
and it's fun to watch the old boy steam up..
hee hee

k

**Kickaha** · 28th April 2005, 22:06

you forgot the option,the bikes are crap and so is the show

**wkid_one** · 28th April 2005, 22:55

Originally Posted by Badcat

fabrication.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You mean the cutting of supplied fenders, and extensions of supplied tanks - and bolting them on to supplied frames, and adding supplied wheels......

They are bike assemblers - not fabricators. Conceptually yes, practically no....without Justin (painter) and Da Vinci Wheels - they would be very little. How many times on that programme do you see them waiting and nearing deadline because they are waiting on SUPPLIED parts! Seldom are they delayed due to excessive fabrication!

They have only made one tank from scratch and that was just to prove to Paul Jr that Rick could do it.

They only guy I have seen fully fabricate is the Ozzy on Biker Build Off who made almost the whole bike from Alu by HAND. And with NO paint or bog.

**onearmedbandit** · 28th April 2005, 23:55

wkid one is right, these guys are only in the assembly process. Saw a small bit about Jesse James the other night on C4, showed some solid billet blocks that were soon to be turned into rims. I believe they do mostly fabrication work there.

**SlashWylde** · 29th April 2005, 00:06

Americal Chopper is cool. The Father-son BS gets tiresome pretty quickly but the bikes they assemble are cool.

I prefer the Great Biker Build-off. Awesome bikes built in record time, almost completely fabricated by the builders themselves. Then the guys ride them accross country to the shows, giving us highlights of some of Americas' most beautiful country vistas.

**Two Smoker** · 29th April 2005, 07:21

Dont mind it, but hate it how they dont do fuck all fabrication... Jesse James and West Coast Choppers on the other hand..... pure skill and art...

**k14** · 29th April 2005, 08:14

Gotta love how they represent the stereotypical white trash american family. With the compulsory senior and junior (how original).

I like watching it for its comedy value more than anything else, wouldn't be seen dead on one of the bikes but some of the things they do are cool.

**Eurodave** · 29th April 2005, 08:25

"To be honest witcha", "I gotta tell ya" I feel that last nights episode portrayed Mikey & Vinnie as clowns fooling around & generally playing up while trying to "build", or should that be assemble another stretched out bike the same as all the other stretched out bikes B4. Who else liked Mikeys chrome german helmet?., imagine being seen in NZ wearing that anywhere other than a fancy dress party?
The only ray of hope Ive seen so far is the Dixie Bike powered by, of all things, a lawnmower motor. This is really the only original bike thus far.
All the others are S&S/ Harley clone motors.
I reckon they need to do more original stuff with unusual motors/ frames
But for all that, they are living the american dream, I myself love building bikes & parts for them as a living

**Drunken Monkey** · 29th April 2005, 08:44

Those guys are pretty rough buggers though...few things like tyring to drill a hole in steel with a battery powered drill (don't they have mains power?) - hmmm, wonder why they burnt the drill out? And all the bog they use - The biker build off was cool, those Aussies built there one with no bog at all. Maybe if they spent more time & care in their 'construction' process, they wouldn't need so much filler to tidy up the finished product.

Wonder how they end up costing around US150,000 as well?

We build a lot of cool replica and kit car cars here in NZ, maybe we should tackle some custom choppers as well?

**TwoSeven** · 29th April 2005, 11:06

I think the design of their bikes is crap, and they should learn about health and saftey as well.

However, sometimes you see one of them actually working (ie. welding, cutting, shaping etc), and you must respect some pretty good skills. I liked the episode where the guy builds the face of the statue of liberty. Thats some pretty good metal work.