American Chopper

[JimO]

Ya just got to know what to look for to appreciate them!!

hi scummy would i be looking for the harley ring, underpants, belt buckle etc

[selectedgrub]

Cookie cutters, when was the last time to see a Pan, Shovel or Knuckle engine used...

Or an English wheel....

[JimO]

Scumdog i thought Helen Clark was talking about you in the ODT this morning but she said scumbag so it wasnt you

[slowpoke]

I hear you jimjim. In silhouette it would be hard to tell them all apart.
I can appreciate the talent/skill involved but it's just a styling exercise after they've bought in a frame, engine, wheels etc.

My score card
As mobile art: 9 out of 10
As functioning motorcycles: 3 out of 10

[STORKEN]

There's new series Biker buildoff starting 6th Jan on Discovery 6:30pm. Petrol Heads 1:00pm same day, same channel. The Horse Backstreet Choppers is best bike mag. They have Internet site. They also have Jap and Brit choppers and bobbers.

[Dodgyiti]

I just love watching those things come together from scratch like that. It's magic. To me it doesn't matter if it is something I would ride or not - I think that anyone can appreciate the talent that goes into those bikes.

Anyone that is not an engineer or metal fabricator can appreciate what they do.
But people who are trained to work with metal just grimace, or laugh at the goings on there.

Here is an easy one to spot;

Watch them put a fully chromed motor into the frame during mock-up. Then watch them MIG weld and grind all around that chromed motor.

Ok, seen that now?

Right.

Here is the inside information;

When welding or grinding, the sparks when they hit chromed surfaces will, 6 months down the track, cause tiny pitting scars. The pock marks contain small amounts of ferrous metal, which when exposed to moisture will rust.


Here's another one;

They get the finished bodywork from the painters, then proceed to drill mounting holes etc in it. Metal bodywork...

As above- they are blindly causing $150,000 rust buckets.


Now let us look at a little Health & Safety..

Let us show the kids at home how to get skin cancer- We will MIG and TIG eld without any gloves.

Let us show the kids at home how to go progressivly deaf- Let us grind metal with no hearing protection.

I love the show, the creations are great, but I do spend as much time cringing as wowing..

[Dodgyiti]

Damn that's a nice tank, does anyone in NZ do that kind of stuff? And with fairings too? I have some great ideas for a custom tank and some custom fairings but I need someone who can make them up.

Any Sheetmetal Engineer worth their salt can make a tank. And a tank that holds petrol not just a pre-made tank with bits MIG welded on it that do not hold fuel, but are there for looks only.

Next time you are on the Kestral Ferry, have a look at the brass ventilation funnels around the bow. Hand beaten by me as a second year apprentice, no filler, fully functional.

But making a tank from scratch takes time, a decent tradesman will cost you around $50-$70 an hour. A tank, depending on complexity, can take up to 100 hours- how much money ya got?

Regards,

Mike
Tradesman Sheetmetal Worker

[notme]

is it just me but dont all those bikes look the same. lets face it there is only so much you can do with the chopper look

Horses for courses.....

They all look the same to me, and seem to focus on looks and how much chrome can be layered on to every other part, then the engine is thrown in as an afterthought. Suspension? Ergonomics? Instruments? We don't need that shit.....

However, a cruiser/chopper enthusiast watching an equivalent show about custom sports bikes wouldn't be interested in the little technical details of the engine, suspension, etc - they would just lament the fact that after all the tech work was done, the "looks" got a few seconds consideration and then some stock fairings were thrown on.

I can appreciate the art and the skills on display, but as someone said it's more a rolling piece of art than a functional motorcycle.

Be very interesting now that i think about it if there was a custom sprotsbike build show!

[Geordie]

Christ! 600 hours, pay me $40 an hour and I'd head but it out of a VW hub cap, spit polish it and fill it with gas,,,, and spend the change on a few cans of Guinness... Im talking about the tank, never get these computer tings in the wright box...

[nudemetalz]

The show is entertaining, but as Dodgyiti says, the OSH is worrying.

I find them MIGing metal without eye-protection "turning away for a sec is just fine" attitude just laughable.

Then when they made that dragster Harley, they drilled right into the backbone spine for a tank mount, thus weakening the structure......

I also cringe at these things, I seriously hope NZ engineering shops are not like that. It def wasn't at the last one I worked at, and my Nudemetalz business adhere's to OSH standards (my workshop !!!).

[Wired1]

I watch and enjoy American Chopper but I'd have to say I enjoy Biker Build-off more as most of the latter are actual choppers ie bikes that have been modified or "chopped". The OCC bikes are basically a kit chopper with a few key hand-made elements like the tank and bars, sometimes the oil tank, sometimes the pipes all put together with a sick paint job (both their painters are unbelievable artists) and a lot of bolt-on bling. The Ausi hand-beaten alloy gas tank on the Discovery channel biker build-off was just incredible, but of course the Americans picked the US bike over both this and the Pommie guy's bike which was also truely amazing. Both losing bikes in this episode were outside the suqare but the US bike won anyway - you can't beat rake and stretch with the yanks. The biker build-off guys are cutting old frames, adding innovations like twist clutch and air suspension and making truely uniques machnes, but then I guess they are all made by different guys which was someone else's comment above and is quite right - the OCC bikes are all similar as they are made by the same guy.
But I'll watch anything about motorbikes - if they started making choppers on Coronation Street I would probably watch that too - I'm not going to bitch about how many catalogue parts they use just as long as they keep showing chopper programmes on the telly!

[Skyryder]

Right.

Here is the inside information;

When welding or grinding, the sparks when they hit chromed surfaces will, 6 months down the track, cause tiny pitting scars. The pock marks contain small amounts of ferrous metal, which when exposed to moisture will rust.

That's the problem I had with a repaired header pipe. The crossover pipe broke on the weld so I got it repaired and the pipe rechromed. Six months later I noticed pinholes around the weld. So now I need a new header pipe

Skyryder

[scumdog]

That's the problem I had with a repaired header pipe. The crossover pipe broke on the weld so I got it repaired and the pipe rechromed. Six months later I noticed pinholes around the weld. So now I need a new header pipe

Skyryder

Ya sure it wasn't because the welds were uneven in depth and the grinding/polishing caused really thin areas tha corroded through quicker than the surrounding thicker areas?

Seen it happen.

[NinjaBoy]

It's just you.

Have to agree. They spend lots of time themeing each one. What I don't get is after the initial show and tell... what happens to these bikes... does anyone really buy them to ride ??? Or do they end up being expensive garage ornaments ??

[Waylander]

Have to agree. They spend lots of time themeing each one. What I don't get is after the initial show and tell... what happens to these bikes... does anyone really buy them to ride ??? Or do they end up being expensive garage ornaments ??

Some are bought by customers, some are auctioned off for charity some are kept and displayed at the OCC booth at rallies like Daytona Bike Week, Sturgis, Las Vegas, Easyriders Dallas and so on.