Yes, Jesse is a fool -as he was dumb enough to marry Jannine the **** actress, I liked where he whines when he was on the road with Kid Rock about her, yet gives her "HER papers" when he returns. Those shows were made for 14-17 year old kids or biker wann-bes that will be into the next craze by fall. I am embarrassed to admit I have even watched the shows, I had faith that I would learn something new in fabrication- I didn't nor did anyone else. I did learn that money/fame doesn't make you more intelligent or have the smallest amount of basic social skills. Anyone who has spent enough time around a boss that acts like Sr., appreciates the ability to become self employed. I will give them credit for having the money they all do and yet none of them have a trophy wife or girlfriend - they are real bikers if you judge them by that.

 

Might as well ask Larry while you're there. May he rest in peace.

American Chopper is just a tv show. So is Monster Garage. But there are differences, just as there are similarities. A conflict of personality will always sell, no matter what the backdrop.

As far as OCC on TV is concerned, I think Vinny is probably the best guy there. He doesn't snap and lose it like Paul Sr and Jr. He just does his job.

I don't think Jesse James "started" shows like American Chopper or American Hot Rod. There was a documentary about Jesse James and the bikes he built. The producer of that came to Jesse and wanted input on a "game show" where he would host. The stuff you won on the game show was a bunch of tools. Somebody else came along and thought a series of shows about building a motorcycle would be cool. Thus, American Chopper. No tools were won. It just showed the "buildup" of a bike, with a lot of bickering. In Monster Garage, there's "buildup" and "bickering" also. But it's still a game show.

 

Just mindless noise for the masses. It's the reason why I'm getting the satellite shut down this spring. The weather is too nice to watch a bunch of fools destroy good things, when people are living in shelters that aren't half as nice as what was left of the old occ shop when they were done with it....

 

Some of the stuff they make is neat i.e. that jet bike or stealth bike - the all black one, but I have heard from the bike builders here in Brandon(www.cycleboyz.com) that OCC's fit and finish is crappy. Still though, I bet if they really applied themselves they could come up with some nice bikes.

Trevor

 

i have had the chance to meet big paul in person and he is no where near the way they act for the tv camera, he admits they play it up. when you have a chance to see thier work up close it is much better then you see on tv, yes they buy a lot of stock items from other shops , but then so do a lot of others, the thing i see is how someone can take the time to fit and lay out so it all comes together in the end, the engines and tranies they use are all name brand builders that stand behind thier product. they did start out welding custom iron railing and it is still a major income for them. there shop is just outside of newburg new york near the airport, the fords they drive are almost all from the same dealer i use.
indain larry was a old school man who enjoyed building old school choppers. he did do a lot of stock into custom work from his shop in brooklyn ny on n14th street. larry was something else to met he would scare you at first then show you he was all heart and a true to earth bike rider, he was married to bambi the mermaid from coney island's carinval fair area. he died aug 30 2004. may he rest in peace,here's alink some work from all of them www.bigeasychoppers.com

 

all i ever seen them do is make the handlebars. everything else gets sent out to other shops. but with wannabe's like jay leno paying 100,000 for a bike i guess they can afford not to do any of the real work

i liked that other show where they build the hot rods... at least i used to.. when they showed more of the work that goes into a project like that

then it became a soap opera and i don't watch it anymore

 

does anyone know how indian larry died??

 

He was doing the stunt where he rides standing on the seat, and dumped it. Just on a side note, I'm not a big fan of the bikes Larry made. They were nice and all, just not my style.

Trevor

 

he was doin' that trick of his where he stands on the saddle while riding, and he fell off and hit his head - if he'd of been wearing a helmet, he'd still be with us

 

Wow! I didn't know that myself. I used to ride bikes back in the 70's and had 2 accidents on them. Luckily I wasn't going very fast when the cars turned across in front of me.....but my head hit the pavement just the same. Thank God I had a helmet on.
I liked Indiian Larry's bikes myself.
Rest In Peace Larry!

 

If Indian Larry was wearing a helmet he probably would have died of a broken neck instead. Except at very low speeds, Helmets do not always save lives - but merely preserve a better corpse.

 

Prayer to indian larry,

Anybody know why many bikes shop d0n't get recognized, Instead we have to the Tuttles argue over some stuff...i'd like to see more J.J instead of drama

 

Since he was standing on the seat of a moving bike, we can assume that he was at low speed. His neck was not broken, he died of head injuries which common sense says would have been less with a good helmet. If one stands on the seat of a moving bike on a hard surface without a helmet, he is risking death.
Dono

 

I had the oportunity this week to see the Miller bike built by OCC at the local welding supply shop. It is touring the country.

I will have to say that I was brought up a bit of a perfectionist and was tought thet you put your best into everything you do. Well most of thier wire welds were left untouched before they sent the frame off for chrome and it is very noticable. The exhaust had weld pits in it and again were chromed over. Everyone that I work with that saw the bike was not impressed at all. If I called myself a custom bike builder and was going to parade my work all over the country I would put a lot more pride in it than that. We were also told the cost of the Miller bike was $175,000.00

I wouldn't give $25,000.00

Just my 2 cents..

jd

 

I assume by your assumtions that you never seen Indian Larry do his stunt, because He rarely did it at a very slow speed. Common sense will tell you that wearing a helmet and falling off after standing up will most likely break your neck. You may want to do a search on the computer- a well proven fact is helmets will break your neck in a fall- the inertia of the impact causes the back of the helmet to transfer the force of impact to the back of your neck, as will the strap from a different angle of impact . Any educated biker will tell you that, as it a very well known theory for which they base their rights not to wear a helmet.Try searching ABATE, one of the largest and well known helmet lobbyist in the nation , known by any motorcycle club, group or people as a lobbyist/group whose primary focus is to educate , inform and change helmet laws- mostly due to the fact above( focusing their attention on educating the dangers of a helmet as well). Helmets have their place and time, though as said before, many times they just make the difference between a open or closed casket. If one stands on a bike with or without a helmet one risks their life, Indian Larry knew the risks involved and for many many years he performed that stunt as well as many more. Indian Larry was a legendary and talented biker, performer, fabricator, and circus style /stunt performer. Not just your here today gone tomorrow type, He knew the risks and unfortunately his luck ran out. I am certain if you knew anything about Indian Larry you would know a helmet would not be part of his stunt- most likely because he knew the out come both ways. Although, each accident presents it's own unique conditions, wearing a helmet sometimes will cause you more chances of death. Why don't they wear seatbelts in a schoolbus? Why don't you seat belt yourself to a motorcycle? Which are more acceptable theories to safety.....

Helmet neck snapping link :: http://usff.com/hldl/report/3rdEditiona.html