TV Biker

by YankeeJim | September 10, 2011 at 04:21 am

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Never run out of gas

I watch Biker Build off and Orange County Chopper like an addict. I have never owned a motorcycle and chances are I never will. Have I wanted one? You bet.

When the subject first came up when I was a teen, my Dad’s response was effective in putting an end to the possibility when he replied: “Why don’t you just get a car?”

I could not believe my ears. At 15 years old, my Dad was “suggesting” that I buy a car. Some things would have to happen first: 1) a job, 2) good grades in school, 3) driver’s license, and 4) personal responsibility. I went on a fast track and within a year I had a 1949 black flathead six cylinder Ford with white Nagahyde interior and an electric trunk.

A couple of friends had cycles and one took me for a ride. He sped off with me on the back hanging on for dear life. The wind swept by my face and I could not speak for fear as he swerved and angled at high speed with my body fully exposed without a helmet. OK, that was enough for me.

Yet, the longing to be in the driver seat with hands on the bars of one of these rumbling bikes gets the best of the macho in me.

My brother-in-law who is ten years my senior bought a Harley upon his retirement. Within a week he crashed it, escaping with minor injuries that disrupted his tennis. Disrupting tennis was the blow that brought him back to his senses.

I watched him and knew that even my 200 pounds would have trouble wrestling to keep the machine upright. They often show bikers drinking at bars before they mount up for a ride. My kidneys couldn’t handle it. “Hey guys, where’s the nearest restroom?”

Settled here in my comfy chair, I can watch the two Pauls’ fight about getting a custom bike built “on time.” All of that quarrelling doesn’t seem to affect product quality. Yet, I wonder sometimes if a customer is driving down the road and that troublesome part gives out and the biker is stranded trying to remember his episode to assess product liability.

As for Biker Build Off, their fast pace design and construction often blows up on the final ride to the award ceremony with their kick gear blowing or their oil tank leaking.

I focus on the seat construction. My idea of a good seat is something like a Beautyrest Mattress.

“Discovery launches family feud, "Chopper" style

By Tim Kenneally

Tue Sep 6, 2011 8:24pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - From the Gosselins to the Hogans to the Armstrongs, cable reality shows have amassed huge audiences as their subjects' family lives have simultaneously unraveled.

But Discovery Channel might be taking it to a whole new level with "American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior," by creating a series specifically around the family tension.

The series was born out of the ashes of "American Chopper," which shuttled back and forth between Discovery and its sibling channel TLC from 2002-10, shortly after the unhappy Paul Jr. was fired from his father's custom motorcycle shop, Orange County Choppers of Newburgh, N.Y.

So how bad have things gotten between the Teutels? As of the recent season 2.5 premiere of the conflict-oriented series "Senior vs. Junior," pretty bad.

As of Monday night's episode, the father and son did manage to settle a $100 million lawsuit, stemming from the son's firing. (The father had taken the son to court in an effort to force him to sell his 20 percent share in the company.)

But this does not seem to signal any happing ending for the Teutel clan.

For starters, the health of the family business appears in question, with elder Teutel getting seriously behind on $12.5 million worth of mortgages for Orange County Choppers' Newburgh, N.Y. headquarters -- the property was foreclosed on last year.

On the show, the decision to default on the loan has been spun as a strategic decision by the elder Teutel to gain better terms with creditors on a sprawling property that has seriously devalued since its purchase, but no resolution to the company's pending housing crisis seems at hand.

Then there's the not-so-warm dynamic between father and son, which -- following the settlement and several years of courtroom bickering-- doesn't appear too close to thawing.

"Maybe we can have some healthy competition now," the father said to the son, who has since spawned his own local motorcycle shop, Paul Jr. Designs.”