Cruiser Blog

OK, so how many of you out there watched American Chopper Live: The Revenge last night? The first installment of the four-way biker build-off that aired on the Discovery Channel introduced the players, provided a little insight into the build process, and allowed the general public to view the custom motorcycles for the first time so they could vote on a winner. What do you think the outcome will be this time?

Drama has always fueled American Chopper, so why should the shows that will mark the end of an era be any different? JJ was his usual defiant self, serving as the loudest advocate for his skills (which he has plenty) but once again relying on a lifeline from friends in the industry to see the project to fruition. (Bert Baker is a true genius when it comes to motorcycle transmissions!) He also didn’t play by the rules, which is no surprise, but try making your own deadlines in the business world and see if clients don’t walk right out the front door. Richard Rawlings and Aaron Kaufman built a clean bike but it’s very vanilla and doesn’t demonstrate much creativity, but we’ll give them credit for proving that it does indeed ride. Paul Jr. Designs seemed to play it safe, building a bike pretty much in the vein of everything else that comes out of their shop, an ultra-sized theme bike with a healthy stretch between the wheels and heavily raked front end. Senior and the OCC crew actually built a bike this time, surprising everyone with a motorcycle that deviates from the bikes they generally create, blending sporting aesthetics with an industrial-strength girder fork.

Do you have a favorite? We do. Whether this will turn into a popularity contest or will actually reward the crew who built the best bike, who knows, but we’ll find out tonight. By the time Lynyrd Skynyrd is belting out “Freebird” on the stage in Vegas, the winner will be celebrating their win onstage, Discovery will be exulting over the exposure it received for its bevy of moto-related shows and its rating boost, and plans to entice the Teutuls out of semi-retirement for TV for Biker Build-Off III “Avenging the Revenge” will already be in the works. We say let sleeping dogs lie as the formula has been beaten into the ground. But we don’t run a TV show either, so what do we know? Only that like a million other people, we’ll probably be tuned in tonight to see who wins this charade.
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