$200,000 custom motorcycle masterpieces or the father-son bickering. What keeps you watching Orange County Choppers?Read the WiseGuy's review of your favorite Discovery Channel reality show - Orange County Choppers
My favorite part is watching the incredibly creative ideas of Paul
Jr. come to reality among a shower of sparks from gringing and welding.
What really hooked me was watching the Fireman Bike sketches
become a tangible, rideable bike that had such significance as a memorial
to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. I'm envious of people who have
such creative talents, because I'm from an technical background and
am very left brained.
I think the success of the OCC shop apart from the TV show is a case
of preparedness meeting opportunity. The long background of Paul Sr.
in metal fabrication combined with a love of motorcycles inspired
him to build a bike in his basement. He took that bike to Daytona
Bike Week in 1999 and the rest, as they say, is history. Orange County
Choppers now builds about 150 bikes a year.
I really liked the bikes that I saw on TV, but I was lucky enough to get up close and personal with one of the OCC creations at the 2003 Trial of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride. There were lots of cool bikes at the T.O.T. ride, but in my opinion, this green monster belonging to a Mississippi dentist stole the show.
If you've been under a rock like me, (I haven't seen EVERY episode), it's worth the effort to tune in on Monday nights or any of the other (usually 4) repeats during the week to catch the re-runs. Enjoy the pics. If you can't wait any longer, just visit the
Orange County Choppers website
and order your own custom bike. You had better check your bank account first though :-)
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There IS one thing that DOES drive me crazy every time I watch and
puts me on the side of Paul Sr. It's the apparent lack of a good
inventory control system and parts ordering procedure. They are
constantly forgetting to order a fender or some other part. In the
case of the fireman bike they forgot to send out the frame to the
shop that was going to fabricate the tank. C'mon! Maybe instead
of yelling about it, Paul Sr. could spend some time organizing and
let Paulie do what he does best. On second thought, if the shop
was running too smoothly, they would lose half the appeal of the
show. 
Orange County Choppers caused a revival in custom motorcycle building.
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