Looks like the end for OCC?

Mutley

Mutley

Registered user
Joined
Oct 10, 2005
Messages
12,696
Reaction score
0
Location
A crazy melon farm
Orange-County-Chopper-building-635x423.jpg


Well it looks like the American Chopper series has finally called time after 10 years:

“After 10 years and 233 episodes of incredible, riveting reality television, American Chopper will be ending its run,” says Eileen O’Neill, group president, Discovery and TLC Networks.
Click to expand...

I really enjoyed the first few series as I thought the early bikes were interesting and they concentrated more on the engineering with the back stories as 'colour'.

Increasingly though the tension was an artificial creation, the dysfunctional family made me feel uncomfortable and I just felt sorry for the other employees. The bikes just became formulaic and even I can bolt together a kit as they appeared to be doing. At least I wouldn't pretend what I produced was a custom build though.

In an attempt to refinance the business it looks like Senior has risked everything by valuing the business at nothing in order to 'buy' Jr's 20% of the stock for $0 and get an advantageous refinance package.

Senior's attention must be elsewhere anyway as he is appearing in the U.S. 'Celebrity' version of The Apprentice and has also been named in an illegal steroids case.
 
Sorry but I really loathed the programme. I didn't see the early series, all I remember are the fake arguments, the swearing and bad temper and the walk outs. It's a shame as there was a lot of engineering skill which should have been shown but rarely was. Unfortunately it also spawned other similar and diabolical series on Brit TV all of which I ignore (How to build a Mini Cooper in three weeks, a racing car in three months, a VW Campervan etc, etc....):rob
 
Paul Rochdale said:
Sorry but I really loathed the programme. I didn't see the early series, all I remember are the fake arguments, the swearing and bad temper and the walk outs.
Click to expand...

You'll have no understanding of why this is a shame then :blast

Paul Rochdale said:
It's a shame as there was a lot of engineering skill which should have been shown but rarely was.
Click to expand...

They built some very clever bikes in the first series and created tanks from flat sheets of metal. So much of what they built was truly bespoke it was a genuinely interesting programme.

Paul Rochdale said:
Unfortunately it also spawned other similar and diabolical series on Brit TV all of which I ignore (How to build a Mini Cooper in three weeks, a racing car in three months, a VW Campervan etc, etc....):rob
Click to expand...

In the early stages the deadlines were genuine and the pressure was created because they were a tiny business creating bikes for big corporations and major stars. The time ran away with them because they were creating one off pieces and had genuine engineering issues.
 
Went to occ last year place was amazing but the prices were to high for items and the staff uninformed/unhelpful. Dissapointed that you could'nt see bikes being worked on, all closed off.Out there on holiday to see friends and built this visit in but it left me feeling a bit cheated.
 
Most of OCC bikes ended in boardrooms as advertizing decoration. No one knows what happened to those sold off for charity but, at the prices they probably went for, they also ended in glass cabinets.
Some that travelled by road to exhibitions had minor breakdowns and others taken out of the trailer difficult to start.

It was just a bit of (American style) fun really but, not as interesting as the 'Mudmen'.
Now we have ice truckers, pawn stars, axe men, gold diggers, storage wars and all the other rediculous reality TV shows. Got rid off SAT TV for a while and just watch the soaps.
 
Rugged Path said:
Most of OCC bikes ended in boardrooms as advertizing decoration. No one knows what happened to those sold off for charity but, at the prices they probably went for, they also ended in glass cabinets.
Some that travelled by road to exhibitions had minor breakdowns and others taken out of the trailer difficult to start.

It was just a bit of (American style) fun really but, not as interesting as the 'Mudmen'.
Now we have ice truckers, pawn stars, axe men, gold diggers, storage wars and all the other rediculous reality TV shows. Got rid off SAT TV for a while and just watch the soaps.
Click to expand...

It started out as a real custom bike business, not something created for TV. Most of the bikes they built are being ridden on the road, all you see are the feature bikes made for TV.

Thanks for your knowledgeable input though :thumb
 
falloffalot said:
Went to occ last year place was amazing but the prices were to high for items and the staff uninformed/unhelpful. Dissapointed that you could'nt see bikes being worked on, all closed off.Out there on holiday to see friends and built this visit in but it left me feeling a bit cheated.
Click to expand...

I was also there in July last year with my wife. I thought the bikes on display were monstrous pastiches of real choppers. The merchandise didn't seem particularly expensive though and they had some very cheap leather jackets.

There was also a viewing area, more of a corridor really, which gave a view of the workshop - not that there was anything terribly interesting going on when we were there.
 
Junior working on a bike, something goes wrong don't tell senior. Senior finds out, he starts shouting, they all fall out, other guy tries to patch things up, thick brother answers phone and takes the bins out. Not watched it in a while but is that still the same foremat for every episode ?
 
one thing that sticks in my mind is junior drilling clean through a tyre when he was drilling a mudguard, class engineering at its best.:D
 
Used to really enjoy OCC but the past few series the only interesting thing was the family drama, the bikes became boring. Junior setting up on his own almost brought back the old feeling but it was always just corporate bikes, they should have stuck to building bikes for the normal customers and showing those on the show. As with everything else it got to big and self important and ruined it.
 
+1 here. Used to really enjoy the show in the beginning but it's just become boring over the last few series. I was never that taken with the style of bike but did enjoy the creative engineering in the beginning. For the past few years it's been more about bolting pits together and relying on a paint job to make it interesting.
 
my mate went last year and showed me some of the pics of bikes in the showroom... they were shit... the worst was the space shuttle bike. looked like it had been put together with giant lego bricks by a blind 5 year old
 
all good things come to an end, makes me wonder how this crap lasted as long as it did...!

:hide
 
i've only seen a few episodes, but didn't really see the attraction of watching some very averagely engineered and madly stupid bikes being hammered together by a family of retards.

the most talented people on the show were the outsourced specialists, like the painters.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I didn't like it, but cant get it out of my mind !
Replies
7
Views
1,024
Micky
Micky
MIKE R
Recommendations for a Good Independent Mechanic in the N.W wanted
Replies
0
Views
1,038
MIKE R
MIKE R
Wapping
First go with the Motorrad Connected app…..
3 4 5
Replies
84
Views
7,672
Wapping
Wapping
My 95 gs stops running while riding in the rain please help.
Replies
13
Views
2,387
theoneandonly
theoneandonly
  • Locked
Garmin Express wont let me change the target folder for downloading maps
Replies
15
Views
5,058
Wapping
Wapping


Back
Top Bottom