Chopper build off revenge

[ronaldrwl]

Anybody watch? Was disappointing for me to see 2 sport bikes (kinda), 1 concept museum bike (Jr.) and one basic chopper (Gas Monkey). Of the 4 bikes I think GM was the only safe bike to ride. I've read Jesse James' bike had problems, JR's was very difficult to ride and I'm not sure about Sr's sport/chopper hybrid space shuttle bike.

[Troublco]

Most of them have gotten past building bikes that could actually be ridden, and most of what they're doing looks like it's for the shock value alone. Too bad, any of them could build an amazing bike if they weren't so wrapped up in the showmanship. Seems to me they ought to concentrate on building a real bike, and not something that'll never really be used. I'm not a big OCC fan, but at least their older bikes were usable as bikes.

[glock21]

Im glad junior won again based on looks. Senior and jesses bike looked similar and gm bike was just nice and clean. If i was to choose a bike for me it would have been gas monkeys bike.

[BPTactical]

Having seen OCC "production" bikes firsthand I can tell you I would rather take my chances on a Schwinn with a lawnmower engine duct taped to it. Utter garbage.
"Builders"? Not OCC, they open the Custom Chrome and Drag Specialties catalog and bolt on crap. The only thing that gets the custom fab work is the theme bikes.
JJ is a true "builder", the man can take a pile of metal and turn it into something remarkable. Why he went the "sport bike" route is beyond me.
GM? I haven't seen enough from them but so far I dig their style.
But the principle must have opened his mouth to JJ, he had a look of "I'm gonna pull off your head and piss down the hole" on his face. His body language-he was ready to romp.
And if you know anything of JJ's past, he has no problem romping.

[ray1970]

[goFyourself] A bunch of "cartoon" bikes.

[dwalker460]

I watched it. JMHO, but Jesse is the only one who actually "built" a bike.
Gas Monkeys bike was kinda cool, but it was more of a basic any idiot in a garage could do it sort of thing.Not my style, but I apprecciatte what they tried, but failed, to do.
I dont get Jr's bikes at all. I mean the theme bike thing is old news and it is seriously just cake decorating. They do not build or modify frames, or engines, or anythign. They do a little sheet metal work, fire up the CNC waterjet or mill and bolt the crap it spews out on the bike. That thing he built is the same thing he does every single time- big front wheel, fat rear wheel, low and swoopy with good "flow" and a bunch of shit hung on it.
I think Sr can build nice bikes that can be ridden, but he is a businessman and knows that end of day, its about selling bikes. That thing his guys built, because he didnt do jack shit on it, was cool but just looked heavy, and honestly it reminded me of the Magpul Ronin. But at least he TRIED to do something original.
JJ- dude I would rock that thing all over. I am a cafe sort of guy, and I appreciate streefighters and that thing rocks. Yeah it wasnt a chopper, but fuck man, the dude has built hundreds of those since he was 19. I get what he was going for. Beull was close, but never really hit the mark. Jesse did what he wanted to do- take a racebike motor, stick just enough metal on it to ride it, and make it look bad ass. I can literally see myself riding the piss out of that bike. Love the low bars, love that he built pretty much everything on the bike, with the exception of the motor. Think it is bad as hell that he took a block of 4130, forged it into a transmission housing, and built the frame off of it. That is just out there man.

But then, I am the sort of dude that has a cafe'd GT550 two-stroke triple in the corner of my shop...

[rondog]

I tried to watch that shit last night, couldn't even make it 5 minutes.

Guess I'm from the old school. I prefer taking an old tired or wrecked stocker, and then building it into a basic chopper. Something that goes good, steers good, handles good, and STOPS good! If it looks good too, well, that's a plus. But ya gotta do it yourself, "checkbook choppers" don't impress me whatsoever.

I feel the same about street rods. Something that someone else built up, or something that was built with a pile of catalogs, that's just a custom car. A real street rod, IMO, was built by the owner by scrounging junkyards and swap meets, trading parts or labor for what ya need, and making parts with a welder, lathe and milling machine.

This is my brothers' car, a '34 Ford 5-window coupe. A real one, he bought it from an old lady back in '58-'60 or so, and I doubt there's a half-dozen catalog parts on it. For that matter, he built it long before the internet (most was done before push-button phones!), and there were only a handful of parts catalogs anyway.

This is a swap meet/junkyard/machine shop car, built with what he could come up with, has a 1961 401 Buick Nailhead engine in it, built to the hilt. He even made the progressive throttle linkage for the two Carter AFB's on it, and built the headers a piece at a time. Those Laker wheel covers? Found 'em at a garage sale for $5. He does wish now that he'd kept the original flathead V8 that was in it, but in the early 60's they went different directions.

All steel, not a speck of bondo on it. Painted in 1975 and still looks like new. He does have all the hood/cowl parts, they're just removed for this photo. Only original parts left are the running boards, they're still in good shape and he's too cheap to buy repros. But if he found somebody that had a set of NOS ones......

This, by God, is a Street Rod! Not a fiberglass copy built with catalog parts and a Chevy 350. And yes, he drives it. A lot.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/rinselman/erles%20coupe/Coupe22.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/rinselman/erles%20coupe/Coupe1.jpg

[kidicarus13]

It seems to me it's all about interpretation of "Buiker Build Off". Everyone likes different things, comes from a different background, the builders specialize in different types of modifying, etc. It's all for TV ratings- who cares. They are called "custom" bikes for a reason. BTW: I wanted to see the completed bikes last night but I could hardly stand the host, the damn background music, and Lynyrd Skynyrd blew!

[dwalker460]

That was not Lynard Skynard, it was some tired ass group of has beens trying to play on the namesake

[cofi]

That was not Lynard Skynard, it was some tired ass group of has beens trying to play on the namesake
glad I wasn't the only one who thought that I ff right through it......of all the bikes I really liked the pink gas monkey bike I'm not a big chopper guy but it just looked "right" to me

[rondog]

Lynyrd Skynyrd. Is there any original members left? Maybe Gary Rossington and Billy Powell?

[palepainter]

Rick Medlocke was playing guitar for them as well. Not an original Skynyrd member, but a rock star in his own rights.

The show sucked. I watched the last 20 min maybe. Glad it is the end of the entire era.

[funkymonkey1111]

i alway enjoyed Indian Larry's motorcycles. He seemed like a drama-free guy to me. Who knows if that was really true, but I enjoyed looking at his creations. I remember the early days when they'd show JJ building a gas tank with a hammer--that was amazing craftsmanship to me. the OCC guys always used pre-made tanks it seemed.

[drift_g35]

I stopped by the Gas Monkey shop when I was down in dallas. Its a hole in the wall. I probably have more tools than they do in my garage. However, Aaron is a genius. Getting to see the stuff first hand definitely made me appreciate the show knowing that he takes pride in his work. Im glad they beat JJ and OCC, I just wish they would have beat jr. as well. The Gas Monkey crew is also the nicest group of guys. They dropped what they were doing to show me around the shop, And talk to me about my interest in cars.

[ronaldrwl]

I stopped by the Gas Monkey shop when I was down in dallas. Its a hole in the wall. I probably have more tools than they do in my garage. However, Aaron is a genius. Getting to see the stuff first hand definitely made me appreciate the show knowing that he takes pride in his work. Im glad they beat JJ and OCC, I just wish they would have beat jr. as well. The Gas Monkey crew is also the nicest group of guys. They dropped what they were doing to show me around the shop, And talk to me about my interest in cars.

Wow, that's pretty cool. Their garage does look like a hole but they seem to be having fun.