The Rise and Fall of American Chopper
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ต.ค. 2024
- Today we're laying out the history of Orange County Choppers and the show American Choppers: its rise and inevitable fall and the motorcycles themselves
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Brit here. We got the show over here too and sure, I watched several episodes, but I found the bikes ridiculous and the whole family were obnoxious.
I once watched about ten minutes of American Choppers. Flipped the channel and never looked back.
I got sucked in so deep with this show because my roommate was a super-fan. To the point that he bought a motorcycle because he was inspired by the show. I tapped out somewhere in season 6, I think. My favorite bike on the show was Sr's Shunshine Bike and they didnt even build it, they just cleaned it up and got it running.
I remember watching the first episodes of A.C. on Discover channel and talking with Senior and Vinnie at the NY Motorcycle Show at the Javits Center. Vinnie seemed cool - SR. was sitting in a folding chair with his arms crossed in his cut-off shirt scowling. I said I saw the special about them and he said they were going to expand it to a regular show. The Spiderman bike was there and when I said it was so beautiful I'd be afraid to ride it (meaning not to get it dirty) Sr. snapped, "All our bikes are for riding." It looked pretty impressive, but I've never liked the chopper with extended fork look. thanks for the vid.
“All our bikes are for riding” Senior says. Sure, along with a pair of clown shoes to go with them.
@iggyzorro2406 oh dang I'd have laughed right at him... house to bar maybe, don't miss the gas station on the way.
I always thought the fire bike was the most horribly tacky.... but I guess we can't talk about that since it's for the 911 fire fighters..
There is nothing more Us-ish than making a fire-themed chopper to commemorate the victims of 9/11. Seriously this shit feels like it was pulled from a south park episode
oh, cool. i really liked your video on the bike and the whole time i was thinking about the tv show. i don't even wanna know how many hours of these guys i watched when i was younger. looking forward to this one.
I mat Paul Jr at a car show once. Really nice guy.
My experience with American management style is that yelling until one gets their way is part of the management style book.
Your videos are always of high quality and depth of thought. Thank you for your dedication and talent!🧡🦉🖐
Happy memories watching such shows with my Dad
I want a chopper, I am 64, rode most of my life. I have a Royal Enfield 411, very practical. But in my heart I want the joy of something most people will never have, something cool.
Choppers are the opposite of cool. It’s not 1978.
You’ve already got a cool bike.
@@stupidhead9117 people in Thailand absolutely love extreme choppers.
They may lose favor here in the west but elsewhere they're more popular than ever.
The 411 is way more cool than a chopper.
Great topic buddy! Keep up the great vids. 💥👊🏻🏍💨💥
I enjoyed watching them make the bikes but couldn't make it past season one. I hate 'reality' shows.
More money more problems. The ego unchecked is detrimental.
I been building semi rat bikes, cars, trucks since the early 80’s cuz all we could afford was broken crap & I need vehicles, never understood the desire for this crap but watched it
I like choppers so much I have always bought Racing Motorbikes !
Spot on.
American Chopper they never showed you any Engineering going on 😮
I remember ONE TIME where SR was obsessing over the geometry of a springer front end, but he didn't do any engineering he just yelled about it
That was never their target audience.
They did engineering?
Although I've always been a huge fan of motorcycles I've never seen the OCC show. That being said, I've seen parts of their show and seen some of their work. I'm much more impressed by some of the builders on TH-cam working in their garage.
Snr pulling the contract out over Jnr's arrival time, when he was quite happy to overlook Jnr finishing crazy late most nights, and ultimately firing him for it. That's the guy in one perfect snapshot.
Shit. I always thought Orange County Choppers was in Florida. Full Disclosure: Never saw a single episode, but I did see the result of their popularity on the street.
The choppers on their show were all about marketing, to put in the lobby of the company that paid for the bike and the advertising during the show. Their showroom in NY State is now a rental storage building and like Trump, Paul Sr. moved to Florida to get out of paying taxes after going bankrupt. I watched the show for a few seasons after starting to ride motorcycles in 1967- they always had something on top of the gas tank that might tear your balls off during a crash. The best chopper name was from another company, the Vengeance Vertabreaker with no back suspension other than the air in the back tire, and no front brakes to make emergency stops a lot more interesting for the looks.
Yall remember junk yard wars?
Now that was cool.
Best show ever
Monster Garage > Junkyard Wars
That was the british version of Monster Garage
I like going around corners on my motorbike. I've always said every chopper has one or two parts that could be used on a café racer.
@@TUGG75 Good luck with that.
I enjoyed watching OCC, but the yelling and hard feelings were my least favorite parts. It was interesting to see Paul Jr. create the ideas he came up with. I spent many years in paint and body shops and later just body and framework, so that's why OCC and the other young fellow who did it first related to me.
Thing is, they weren't making art, it was a ''KITCH FACTORY.''
I got a very close up look one of their bikes. Absolutely beautiful, but obviously not meant to be ridden in the real world. More a showpiece or work of art. As with all of these “reality” shows more BS than reality. Keep in mind that the writers for the Discovery channel created a lot of the drama on all of these shows.
I love how you said his dad didn’t respect him, of course he wouldn’t respect his dads wants when talking about Paul jr being fired, many parents just feel they deserve respect, and even deserve their kid just feeling comfortable around them my parents put me through a lot and they can’t handle the fact that I don’t feel comfortable or safe around them and they try and tell me how I feel about things and have zero respect for my feelings ever and they actively get in the way of me moving forward in my life and still stalk me and track me and even drive by my work cause they think I’m not there it’s creepy and so much they’ve done feels illegal
Uhh... that sounds seriously rough. Obviously that paragraph doesnt even cover a few percent of what is going on. But I just wanted to say: Get a lawyer and a therapist! Or at least speak to a lawyer you can return to when something goes sideways with your parents.
ah, the Black Widow; the only chopper ever made that actually looks good.
Are you doing a build off with Sr.?
The thumbnail bike is the only one I ever wanted.
That Lincoln bike could have been a nice bike if it wasn’t ridiculously raked out
2 words Honda Fury Still made until this day
There's a sucker born every minute. 😅
This was our shop class sub day activity 😂
I watched the show off and on for a few seasons. Mostly I enjoyed it, but sometimes the conflict was pretty uncomfortable. I was never really interested in the bikes as bikes, but saw them more as functional sculpture.
Functional?
He deff has main character personality. Dude started drama with BnB for no reason. Straight up made shit up and BnB has to take the high road and show the dude how to behave like an adult. Honestly sad.
times really well with bikes and beards paul senior stuff
Those bikes are the ultimate symbol of style over substance. Completely unusable as motorcycles, and completely unusable as art, they serve no purpose
“Unusable as art”
How exactly do you use art? Personally I’d say appreciating something for its aesthetic qualities and craftsmanship is the closest it’s possible to come to “using” sculpture, and that’s what I’d say I do to OCC bikes.
@@HALLish-jl5mo art is meant to be appreciated. I can't imagine anyone who appreciates that these bikes exist. You can appreciate the skill it takes to make them, appreciate the dedication it probably took to make tgem, but appreciating their appearance and that they exist, I can't imagine that. They're commercial products and frankly they all look hideous, cruisers are not pretty bikes and they managed to make it worse somehow. Motorcycpes in general aren't pretty but especially not cruisers
@@laurenmartinez55art exists to launder money. OCC choppers aren't even good for that
@@TUGG75 you're talking to a girl who doesn't like choppers. And I know most girls don't like choppers either because they're uncomfortable and loud and deeply uncool. It's something my grandpa would ride, and my grandpa isn't the epitome of cool or attractive. It's like driving a Ford Raptor. It's a red flag. I might talk to a guy on a grom but I won't give someone on a chopper the time of day
I think "serves no purpose" is the epitome of art. It exists only because it does.
As a motorcyclist I agree that those bikes are pretty much useless. But as an artist, I appreciate that they exist for no reason aside from someone making them.
That said I'm glad that the conversation and impression around motorcycles and motorcyclists has expanded so much beyond OCC and gaudy noisy impractical choppers
I just went for one of my last seasonal ride on my chopper. I love it as almost nobody rides them anymore. PS I hated the OCC show because of the yelling so I stopped watching it early in its run. I just like my own much plainer one than the OCC types or Jessie James. I just liked Indian Larry and his bikes. Funny that all those fancy over the top choppers are worth about 30% or less of the original price. I saw one of those types driving around town. Stretched out neon green from front to back that the guy went down to Texas to buy. All the choppers I watch online are builders like Max Schaaf, 947 Works, Hippies Chopper Corner etc. Building old school beat down choppers like all the choppers guys in Europe do.
The stupidity of the whole chopper thing is the idea that you can improve upon a stock motorcycle. It simply can't be done. You can only make it worse. OCC proved that in spades. Idiot piles of junk. 😂
Used to watch Occ when Discovery was the thing. Wheeler Dealers alike. And Junkyard Challenge. Those were the days, before streaming took over... However never fancied the 'Reality TV' conflicts - I was there for the Bike builds 🛠️
I love OCC still .
If you send this to Paul Sr. He would be annoyed enough to do a video about you.
Very talented & creative, even though choppers aren't for me (although I'd put up with a bobber).
What is Rick doing now? He and Vinnie where my Favorites at American Chopper
What 50k bikes that are terrible to ride wasnt sustainable?
I'm not huge into the whole chopper thing, but those bikes were worth more than 50 Grand when they were selling, and the dude made tens of millions of dollars off the TV show. It was pretty sustainable it's not like he went out of business. They are still making bikes to this day
@@Motocentrick I watched a you tube video last week of a tour of the former OCC building of the defunct business. It is now a public storage facility.
I used to build bikes not ordering parts and putting them together
I enjoy your videos because they are well researched and thoughtful presentations. Unfortunately, you had nothing to work with here. American Chopper was all about assholes screaming at each other so a video about American Chopper is about assholes screaming at each other. Who GAF? They are gone and the bikes are gone. Motorcycling is better for it.
I liked the episode where the young one said things about 'my father' the one that looks like a walrus got very angry and the fat one fell over. Oh, that was all episodes...
You forgot the GEICO bike that Sean from Bikes & Beards just bought, it’s atrocious!
Never watched the show. I'm not surprised that these type of machines fell into disfavour. I just don't see any on the road these days where I live. I'm guessing that they sell for pennies on the dollar in the used market.
I liked the show even though I mainly ride enduro, I think most people miss the point that the bikes were really marketing tools for companies to wheel around to stalls and put in business lobbies, corporate people felt it was a means of connecting with the common man and as such and were never going to be ridden after the unavailing. Another thing is this was made in the 90's which was a very different time, there was no micro aggressions, safe spaces and hurt words, people said what they meant and didn't hide what they thought in case they got cancelled.
Just descended into a mess of buzzwords at the end there. Sad thing is you probably think of yourself as a free-thinker and have no idea how well programmed you are.
@@Jambobist I don't think saying three things that didn't exist in the 90 is descending in to a mess of buzzwords but that obviously hit a nerve with you, what's the matter are you someone who is all for free speech and for people to be able to express themselves in any crazy manner until someone disagrees with you? maybe you should go to your safe space look at some beige and not look at YT comments it's obviously far to triggering for you.
Ferrari is a caricature of Ferrari...
I never seen an episode in full I was to busy riding. From what you taught me I am glad I have not. We ride to get away from drama not wallow in it. I give them respect for the bikes they have built Chopper culture is a American tradition. Guys like me could not afford a new bike had to cobble something together from a beater bike and what ever used parts we could find.
I saw the Snap-On bike up close in Seattle. I've seen better welds from 16 y/o ag class students. What? Nobody else took ag class?
American Chopper made show bikes. Art designed to produce an emotional reaction. They are not track day or ride across the country bikes. Wonderful to look at, but not something I would ride around the streets or twisties. The top person in any field is brimming with self-confidence and comes off as arrogant. Paul Sr. is no different. I can admire Paul for serious skills that I don't have. The one bike in my garage had better be very practical, although I admire Allen Millyard's bikes a great deal.
The moment Paul Jr got fired created amongst the best meme templates of all time!
the firefighter bike isnt gaudy?
Cool!🍺🍺🍺🍺
"Powerful" 🤣
I didn't like many of the bikes from that time, I'm old school. We had other "Rock Star, " builders with similar egos to Paul, Billy Lane, Arlen Ness, Jessie James, and others, but at least they had talent. I think the so called "reality TV," twisted the whole chopper genre of the time for the worse.
In the late 90’s I was getting burned out as a lawyer and considered buying a custom motorcycle business in Ft. Lauderdale. The bikes were pretty, not garish and rode decently for custom choppers but did not handle or corner the way I liked. Since the roads in Florida are straight and many riders just cruise to the beach or the clubs cornering wasn’t a big issue. Every month the business threw a party for customers, most of whom were doctors, lawyers, judges, local business people, etc. I dropped the idea when I realized that I could make a small fortune only if I started with a big one, thus it could only work if I continued practicing law.
Anyone wanting to know how senior is now check out bearded mechanic and bikes and beards 👌👌
I was already on my fourth bike when Easy Rider was released. I never bought in to all that un-roadworthy chopper BS.
The fact that anyone believes the drama was real makes me lose hope in humanity
Most motorcycle manufacturers spend years trying to make bikes that handle well and stop safely, just chucking some bits together and hoping it works is not my idea of product development 😂😂😂
...take everything thats exciting about riding motorcycles, then remove it. Then add in some fairy glitter and there you have it.... any OCC bike....or Hardly Ableson
Look up Paul Tuttle Jr The next American innovator
The Diecycle
This show portrayed everything that’s wrong with riding. Bikes were completely useless and riders had no techniques. Lots of what you see at Sturgis and other rallies.
@@TUGG75 outriding all these posers. Let me guess, you mastered duck walking long time ago. Good for you
Indian Larry say no more ( and I have built 2 bikes this year from the ground up by myself .)
Why are the Dutch subtitles in mirror image? 😁
A majority of the clips are. Copyright mumbo jumbo
I think Paul Senior gets treated unfairly.
Some people absolutely love ridiculous useless custom choppers.
Right now the people in Thailand love them even more radical than OCC bikes.
So all they did was build bikes that made for good TV and the bikes his customers wanted.
I think you hit it on the head when you say that show wasn't for motorcycle people. As a student of machines and a person that has restored barn find bikes and built old cars I never had the slightest interest in that goofy stuff or the people doing it. It was all a huge downer and I imagine did more harm to choppers than good in the long run. Good video though.
Its all backward
I watched a few episodes to see what all the fuss was about, but didn't like all the drama. I could tell that some of the workers were talented, but I am more of a function over form guy and thought the motorcycles were ridiculous. They seemed more for people who had too much money and thought they looked cool on these monstrosities. The extremely low resale value of these motorcycles indicates how little intrinsic value they had as something to ride and enjoy.
Isn't this a reupload?
I never liked this show.
The ferrari bike doesnt look that bad
Didn’t Leno buy one n say it’s absolute crap? Don’t get it
Preferred Jesse James and Indian Larry shows.
Let's be honest. Sr. was like this because of steroids. I think he was an OK guy deep down, but roid rage often took hold of him.
Why are they all left handed 😮
Choppers. You guys like choppers? English schoolboy snigger here... yes I know..infantile. 😊
I just assumed all the fighting was fake and just for ratings. I still think that after this video.🤷
I've got nothing against choppers, but the OCC show was the worst kind of brainless drivel. I don't get why anyone would want this on their TV when you can go outside and meet jerks anywhere.
The show wasn't really about bikes.
Choppers just dont do it for me.
I watched a few episodes... But as a guy who grew up on dirt bikes and my dad sold motorcycles from the 70s to the early 90s, I couldn't get over how bad most of their builds were.. as a rider now I am so picky about what I'll buy that there's nearly zero parts on any of those bikes that I would ever use.
Today I learned they weren't Californians. Huh.
I watched the show for a while and liked how they designed and build the bikes but did not like the shouting etc. I stopped watching because of how senior behaved.
Why is a huge amount of the footage reversed??
Not the most professional presentation….
You got so much wrong, did you even watch the show ?
I used to watch for a bit. Then I got tired of all the BS and stupidity. Oh, and the bikes they built sucked. “Build or Bust” was a much better show. Nuff said.
You're just trying to get Paul sr to react to this for clout lol.. I know you watch bikes and beards and the bearded mechanic
Bart makes some of the best researched videos and obviously has a respect for the show and motorcycles in general, I think he is well informed to make a video on this regardless if it’s a hot topic or not.
Are you a bit simple?
Or a lot?
@@stupidhead9117 your username is literally stupid head
Senior was offered a chance to buy back the Miss Geico bike, and passed on it. Bikes and Beards is skilled at youtube click baiting, and not much else. There isn't a great story behind that bike, or Senior would've bought it back, and it doesn't really have anything going for it other than looks. It's great that Bikes and Beards is trying to get the bike completed and running properly, but he he's based his whole career off of buying insane project bikes just to make a youtube video on it, then immediately reselling the bike without finishing it shortly after he's done making the video. So you have to be doubtful.
Gigantic narcissistic baby! Definitely reminds me of someone.
They never made a bike that was built to ride. They were built to look at. What good it that? The OCC builds used a Rev Tech engine and a Baker transmission. No Harley parts. Rev Tech made a Harley clone engine that was manufactured in Asian countries.
A dysfunctional family making non functional bikes. Imagine that!