$200,000 custom motorcycle masterpieces or the father-son bickering. What keeps you watching Orange County Choppers?

I'm not a huge fan of reality TV. However, as a red blooded American biker, how could I not Love Orange County Choppers? This show is is centered around the verbal jousting and name-calling between the father-son team of Paul and "Paulie" Teutul.

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.

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.

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 has a dealer network.

Orange County Choppers caused a revival in custom motorcycle building. Check out my directory of custom chopper shops that will sell you anything from forward controls, to rolling chassis, to a complete custom bike built to your specs. If you're contemplating a custom bike build of your own, J&P Cycles is a great online source of parts from frames to engines to fenders.

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 - owned at the time by a Mississippi dentist - stole the show.

If you've been under a rock building a website like me, (I haven't seen every episode), it's worth the effort to tune in to.

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 :-)

Enjoy these photos from the Trail of Tears ride in Waterloo, AL

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