american chopper

[xswilly]

any body out there going to send a video into american chopper

[fbcaf]

xswilly,
I downloaded the info and application and gave it to my wife so she could nominate me. I don't think she's going to. I wonder if they would be impressed by my xs11, or feel sorry for me? I haven't really decided how to go about making myself a fitting prospect for their show.

[prometheus578]

To be a fitting prospect for the show, ensure that you can memorize your lines and read from cue cards. One must also be able to repeatedly say lines like, "I gotta be honest with you...", "To tell you the truth...", over and over without cracking up.
Also, be prepared to say your lines over several times so they can move the cameras back and forth to get those "close-ups" and "over the shoulder shots" without the other cameras appearing on the screen.
Be ready to do alot of entering and leaving rooms on cue. Example: Screen shows close-up of office door for 10 seconds... door opens and Walrus storms through ranting and raving. Scripted, or do you think cameramen just have cameras pointed at doors all day filming away just waiting for someone to walk in?
As far as mechanical abilty.... Any XS'er can order all the parts from different venders and snap a bike together like he was building a model car when he was a kid.
Trouble-shooting, I've only seen one episode. Vinnie tries to get a bike to run to meet the ever present deadline. First, it was said to have no spark...., but at the end of the show, 16 hours later, it was pushrods holding the valves open. Duh!! How about running a compression check?
Melon-Head: "Pops!!! The carbs are flooding. What do I do?"
Walrus: "I don't know.... call the Davinci Carb people."
Melon-Head: "Pops!! No spark to the front cylinder."
Walrus: "Quick, have low-grade moron Mikey call the vender."

Credit where credit is due... The hydrocephalic one has the artistic and design ability that I lack (and also the welding equipment), but then again, I wouldn't waste the obscene profits of my upstart fame on Hummers, Prowlers, and Rolex watches.

If you do get on the show, FBCAF, take a couple o' XS Gurus with you and show them how it's really done! Just remember to bring your sunglasses and wear them inside the shop like everyone else does. (I think this is for medical liability reasons, as the egos and inflated "senses of self-worth" can be quite blinding, at times.

[GNEPIG]

.. and the other things that pro forgot to mention remember to do lots of bitching and wining and maybe a little crying
..this seems to be good for ratings also

i cant beleive people watch that sh!t
it's like biker soaps or somthing

[Czekus21]

I think it'd be cool, being on TV and all. XSpecially if ya built a wild XS, super long, low slung, fat rear tired, over carbed supercharged, Nitrous fed. Street buster. with all the custom colors. Kinda would give new meaning to " Clean up the shop"

[xswilly]

well if all goes right i'm fliming my video tomorrow
and sending it in
i would like a chopper built with an xs 11 theme
standard of course
but long and lean
square headlights and signals, yes signals
maroon with a gold flame would be nice

[Targetman]

You guys all know that there isn't a chance in heck of anything
XSive being on that show, don't you?

An XS isn't even a REAL bike to those guys.

Everything else is just a "learning" bike until you "graduate" to a Harley, didn't you know that?

They're a good commercial show. Commercial means it's popular, and people are buying into it. To the non-enthusiast public in general, at least most of them I think anyway, there are Harleys, and then there are jap-scrap. Not nearly enough commercial intrest in the xs (or any other old japenese bikes) will be generated to sell anything. That's why you don't see shows called "XS Thunder" or see any japanese stuff at all on any of the popular motorcycle shows.

I'm a little disgusted at all the "chopper" merchandise that I see every day. A couple years back, I picked up a real cool springer front end from a friend for cheap, and was thinking about building a chopper with my uncle. But that was before every other person walking down the street was wearing a "chopper" t-shirt.
Now I think I've lost interest in the whole thing.
( We were going to use my '72 cb500 as the chopper project)

If you do make it on the show, I'll watch it and even tape it.
Good luck.

[prometheus578]

There's nuttin' wrong with building a chopper, or a bob-tail, or anything else. It's called individualizing.... making something unique and your own. Or, you can spend $20,000 for a "custom" harley, and put on $5,000 worth of "custom" chrome, and have it look like every other "custom" bike on the road.
Yes, but these ain't harleys. Just another shop building bikes with T-Rex frames, S+S Engines, and lots of store bought shiney stuff. The stuff shown on TV is just built for the show. (Occasionally you can catch a glimpse in the background of the real mechanics assembling the other bikes for sale.)
Modify and customize your own bike as you see fit and post pics here. I'll be impressed (not that that matters), as will everyone else on this site and will heap praise upon you for your imagination and inventiveness, for we here have an understanding of the machine and the time and detail spent to get it just right.
Leave the "Cookie Cutter" assembly line bikes for the unwashed masses to ooh and aah over. There is no real "Pride of Ownership" in those things.
As the Buddha taught: True enlightenment can only be attained by doing the customizing work yourself.

(Sure, I still go to bike shows.... but just to steal ideas!)

[superdave]

I wana be like mike !

I would just like to meet Mikey ! He's the only one on the show with a level head. Big round flat on top ! Those guys arn't bike builders ... they are assemblers They take manufactured parts and bolt them to a prefabricated frame. The only customizing they do is, handle bars... and some exhausts... I see Mikey getting his own spin off show !

[uk1.1s]

American Assembler

Couldn't put it better guys,

Watched the episode last night that Prometheus mentioned, with the "trouble shooting bit".

The OCC ace mechanic Vinny kind of "helped" an outside engine builder guy bolt all the big-bore goodies onto the Harley engine they already had.

When it doesn't start they seemed to ignore the fact they have a spark and continue trouble shooting the ignition system..... Doh. Because in the past that is usually the only problem - as engines / carbs are all usually delivered a "ready-to-go" erector set parts. They actually don't need to be mechancs!!

As most people (with old XS11's) realise... when something goes wrong the problem is usually in the parts you've messed around with recently. Once the bolt on ignition unit was found to be sparking the next check is normally fuel.... when that checks out OK it is pretty obvious that the next place to look is the engine that they stripped and rebuilt. (OK I'm being harsh and armchair hindsight has 20:20 vision - even after the third bottle).

Anything slightly wrong with engine / carbs/ etc etc gets the third party experts in..... lots of fun to watch.

Even the bike designs are getting boring.... Leno asked for a classic Brough Superior look and got a stretched S+S engined chop thing (like all the others) - with a "classic" looking paint job. That's because those are the parts OCC can get off the shelf. Just think what they could have done with that engine in a more conventional less "harley-chop" type of frame.

Sorry - rant rant rant.... I still watch it to see what Mikeys up to and laugh at the dodgy mechanic skills!

[superdave]

MIKEY RULES !!!

[kf4anm]

pro wrestling of the 21st century- scripted, planned out, carefully edited, yet somewhat amusing.

[fbcaf]

American Pop Culture

This is supposed to be a reality show. How much reality do you get from ANYBODY when you put a camera in their face? Of course, there has to be a script, and money, and a project to "work" on. How about $150,000 for one of those bikes, "off the shelf" variety? I do believe that Jr. has some artistic ability, and that Vinny and the other guy could probably find employment in somebody's Harley shop (I've had clowns messin' with my bikes through the years who didn't qualify as mechanics). Sr. must be money-bags or nobody would work for him long. Mikey is the star of the show. This is not reality - it is a money-makin machine which appeals to people who really don't know much about motorcycles, but like to hear guys go off on each other. Most people watch this stuff brcaise of outrageous antics, not because of the bikes. If I decide to watch, it's just to see what the idiots will do next. If I try to audition for the show, it will just show that any of us can be an idiot for the right price. Do you suppose that they would refuse to take up the challenge of an XSchopper? Have you noticed if all their OCC merchandise is American made?

Guys, this thread has made my week - has given me vision - has solidified purpose and meaning for me. And then I turn the switch, and all I can find is sharks and Lance Armstrong. Drat!!!

[prometheus578]

Sharks, Lance Armstrong, and Crab Fishin' in the Bering Strait.
Yet, people still laugh at me for cancelling my cable!
(Ok, they laugh at me for a lot of other reasons, too.)

[John]

Originally posted by prometheus578
Sharks, Lance Armstrong, and Crab Fishin' in the Bering Strait.
Yet, people still laugh at me for cancelling my cable!
(Ok, they laugh at me for a lot of other reasons, too.)

You forgot to mention Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Ya know there is some decent programming on some of the cable channels and now that I am pretty much bed ridden, I have been doing a lot of TV watching. I like the home repair shows. I like some of the bike building shows because some of these guys have some pretty good fabrication skills. The accent that the guys on Southern Steel have just kills me. To my southern friends, please don't take offense to this. My mother in law is from southern Virginia, near where these guys are, and even she gets a kick from their accents.