American Chopper Observations

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I think these guys are a joke. They have been building bikes for like

3 years and somehow got this reality show. There is something wrong with every bike they build. And what is with all the deadlines? That plot has gotten really thin. I can't believe anyone is really buying those bikes they build. There are too many real bike builders out there to deal with those guys.

I have a different view. I believe they are low end system integrators. The really high skill work is done by others. They take a bunch of prefabbed parts and put them together.

1. Painting gets farmed out
2. Most real welding, the frame, seems to get sent out
3. Any CNC work gets done elsewhere
4. Major components like engines are .. from somewhere else

Most of the show is the kid and father screaming at each other while the kid tries to put the erector set together in time for a show. I can't get excited about that.

I find I'm really not impressed that Pauly can tack parts together with a MIG welder while not utilizing proper safety attire.

Monster Garage is about building something stupid rather than personality driven. I think the older Junkyard Wars were very inventive and creative.. I hate the new episodes of Junkyard Mega Wars..

I'd like to see "Plumbing at your Local Nucler Power Plant" Today we'll be doing a TIG root pass, 7018 cover, and then NDT the whole thing on a critical cooling pipe.. If this weld fails, its not just curtains for the team!" I'm amazed Discovery Networks hasn't hired me as a consultant!

__________________ Note: To reply, replace the word 'spam' embedded in return address with 'mail'. N38.6 W121.4

Hell, I love Monster Garage... by stupid you of course mean silly. There's a hint of that drama/pressure/reality TV crap but you get that just about anywhere on TV these days.

Tim

-- "That's for the courts to decide." - Homer Simpson Website @

I wanted to do this for PBS back in the 80's, maybe its time has come.

C

I hate the show. I'd like to see skilled people demonstrate their techniques, and I have no use *at* *all* for watching them yell at each other. On TLC they have shows that explain the techniques of heart surgery though, but I don't know why.

It's entertainment, not a how-to show.

Get it?

No?

sigh .................

Steve

That some people find it entertaining? Yeah, I get that. To me it's a soap opera filled with acrimony.

Please, lets make that "steamfitting" at the local nuke. To call a proper steamfitter a plumber is an insult of high order. Thanks

JTMcC.

. If this weld fails, its not just

Barry S. wrote:

That's my second biggest problem with the show, they buy components and screw them together. Or as you so nicely wrote their little more than system integrators. They really don't build anything.

I feel this is what 'custom' has come to mean with about everything, the assembly of mass produced parts.

Biggest problem I have with the show? The old mans mouth.

Well, there's always Jerry Springer, Oprah, and rasslin'.

Steve

No matter what you all may think about American Chopper, Monster Garage, etc. I think these programs have ignited a spark of metalworking creativity in the American public not seen since the Industrial Revolution. I now have a couple of friend's teenage sons hanging around my shop trying to experience and learn ANYTHING they can about bikes and any other machinery. This is especially gratifying to me, as I was taken under the wing of an older mentor at the age of 16, and have always wanted to be able to pay it forward. He died 2 years ago, so now it's my turn. Along with my 2 sons, these other 2 young men will be part of my legacy, such as it is. Four present and future members of the metalworking fellowship we all here hold so dear.

RJ

That's great, but it would be better if those shows would teach something. The ealy Junkyard Wars included brief descriptions of techniques. When I try to watch AC it becomes clear very quickly that I'm not going to pick up anything. The Bikes are nice to look at but that's all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL.

For people who want to learn something, there's Nova, Frontline, Uncommon Knowledge, Think Tank, The Open Mind, etc. For woodworking there's New Yankee Workshop. There's also The Joy of Painting for anybody who wants that. I wouldn't mind if there was something useful about metalworking, instead of the "Thick-Headed Guys Yelling at Each Other" show.

I have tried to watch it, and when I see some parts go together I'm at the edge of my seat waiting to see how he's going to line that up so it's perfectly centered and perpendicular before he welds it. Then I sink back into the chair when the camera cuts to some more acrimony.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

You're right, it would be great if the machinery was being built step-by-step in real time, then I would REALLY be watching them. But we seem to live in an instant gratification society that would quickly become bored and turn the channel. I don't think any of us hard core shop types would, but hey, it's coming around. We didn't even used to have THIS. One thing we can do to "improve" these shows is email their sites and the sites of their sponsers to express our opinions.

RJ

I think there is more to it then that. Even though you are building a theme bike, first and foremost, should be the performance and safety whth which the bike can be ridden. Almost all the bikes they build, look like it is all they can do to just get the bike on the road long enough to show it. They are all junk in my opinion and although it is not a how to show, there are right and wrongs, especially when it comes to shop safety. They epitomize some of the worst I have ever seen in craftsman. They build little more then facsimiles of motorcycles. If they were real bike builders, it would not be possible for them to ignore the performance of the bike, it would not be in their nature. They are an embarrassment. There should be s disclaimer at the beginning, saying "This in not meant to be the way you work in a shop, nor meant to be how you build a properly built motorcycle. These bikes are just for show and not meant to be ridden".

I'd really love a show that taught metalworking, but I for one never expected AC to be that show. That would be like expecting Star Trek to teach astronomy. The science (or metalworking/gas engine repair/business operations in the case of American Chopper) is just a backdrop to the human drama. I happen to like the human drama shown on AC, but not every person likes every other person, so clearly it won't appeal to everyone.

However, disliking the show for not meeting goals that it wasn't designed to meet isn't really fair.

A serious understatement, in my opinion. My stepfather and stepbrother were journeyman pipefitters and both considered plumbers to be a lower lifeform. I asked them about this attitude once and my stepbrother said,"Because they put their hands and face where we shit."

Garrett Fulton