Orange County Choppers bikes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents |
[edit] Customer Bikes
Customer bikes are built for and generally to the specifications of a particular customer. Customers use the bikes for promotional purposes at tradeshows or auction them off as a charity fundraiser.
[edit] NAPA
Built for NAPA auto parts, the frame is a basic 7up rigid custom, which was heavily modified. One crucial modification which put the whole project in jeopardy involved the backbone, which was too small for the motor picked for this bike. This meant that to make the bike work, the team would have to come up with an inventive solution. Vinnie's first idea called for the notching of the frame to make room for the motor. This change was necessary as the bike could not be ridden without the frame being altered. This was rejected as the notching would compromise the frame's integrity. That idea was replaced with something that would solve the frame issues and allow them to have a gas tank with the legal amount of fuel in it. They removed the existing backbone and replaced it with a piece of 1/4 inch steel tube.
[edit] Carroll Shelby
Built for racing designer Carroll Shelby it has a sleek and cobra-like gas tank and Shelby cobra emblem sets. The bike was the last bike to receive fabrication in the old shop, and the first to be put together in the new. New York Governor George Pataki visits the crew at their new headquarters during the episode. When the bike comes back from the paint shop, they discover a major problem with the motor just hours before it has to be shipped to Las Vegas. They forge ahead, and the bike is completed just in time for the SEMA bike show.
[edit] Dixie Chopper
The lawn mower company Dixie Chopper (which bills itself as manufacturing the world's "fastest" lawn mower) hired OCC to build a bike as a promo for their own line of lawnmowers, thinking the humor of the word "chopper" (which is both a well-known slang term for motorcycle, as well as related to its lawn mowers – which, of course, chop up grass) would be humorous enough to move product and promote company recognition. The bike uses a Dixie a lawn mower engine which, after modification, provides enough power to be suitable for a motorcycle engine.
[edit] Statue of Liberty Bike
Commissioned by CEO Richard W. Stocks, of Gold Leaf Corporation who also performed restoration work on the Statue of Liberty and maintains artifacts from it, and asked to build a bike dedicated to the statue and freedom. The kicker was they were given a few choice artifacts from the statue itself to incorporate into the bike (a cable that lit the torch became the shifter, for example), and the entire bike was plated in copper from the actual statue itself. The bike currently resides in the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL
[edit] Lincoln Mark LT
Commissioned to promote the Mark LT. Paul Jr. was the major fabricator on the project, and focused heavily on mimicking key design features of the truck in the bike, as they were building the bike solely as a sales device for the truck. Modelling the gas tank after the LT's distinctive grill, using a color combination of paint and seat leather that is available in the truck production model, patterning the handlebars after the truck's steering wheel, essentially every feature was in some way connected to the truck.
[edit] New York Jets
Built at the request of the New York Jets approached Orange County Choppers for unveiling opening day at Giants Stadium. The bike is unique in how uneventful it's build was. It is not particularly complex, with no extreme fabrication, paint work, or cutting close to deadlines.
[edit] Others
Additionally, OCC has produced bikes on-air for Davis Love III, Sam's Club, the New York Yankee, NASA, David Mann,Wendy's, Sunoco, Bill Murray, Eragon, Go Daddy, Flowjet, Hewlett-Packard, GoFast, Peavey, Russell Crowe, the Kansas City Royals, Case Cutlery, Caterpillar Inc., and the Iowa Farm Bureau.
[edit] Theme Bikes
Unlike customer bikes, theme bikes are constructed for no one in particular and remain in the OCC collection.
[edit] Fire Bike
The Fire Bike was created by everyone at OCC, the project holding more emotional weight with its ties to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was, as Paul Teutul Sr. put it, "not just an Orange County Chopper, it's a New York City Chopper." This bike follows Orange County Choppers around to most of their shows and is consistently a big hit.
The chopper was built as a tribute to the firefighters who died in the World Trade Center disaster on September 11th, 2001. The custom paint job features the number "343" on the rear fender, representing the number of firefighters who died while saving civilians that day. It also features, as the very last part attached to the bike, a piece of steel that was recovered from Ground Zero. Paul Jr. welded the piece, which resembles a large rivet with the end opposite the head very jagged, onto a bracket made from diamond plate which was then attached to a cavity on top of the gas tank. This was done when the bike was presented to the firemen at one of the New York fire stations at the end of the episode.
During the New York Jets Bike episode, the Fire Bike was damaged during a highway accident. It was the New York City Fire Department that arrived to help and took special care in recovering the bike which was later repaired.
[edit] Lance Armstrong
After a visit to Nike headquarters, the American Chopper crew sets out to build a bike honoring seven-time winner of the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong, and his Lance Armstrong Foundation. Numerous custom parts were fabricated, including a prominent cover plate with 5 stars to symbolize Lance's 5 victories, which had to be altered when he won his 6th. The fuel tank follows the lines of Lance's riding helmet, and its paint scheme is the yellow and black of the Livestrong Foundation. Lance has come back to do a commercial for future seasons of American Chopper. In the commercial he races back to his hotel room, hears the whirring of buzzing metalwork behind the door, and finds the Teutuls (Mikey, Junior, and Senior) with his newly Chopper'ed bike (featuring sharp spokes, a fuel tank-like protrusion for some reason, etc).
[edit] Black Widow Bike
Paul Teutul Jr. was the primary designer and fabricator on this bike. The Black Widow Bike was the bike central to the first two episodes of American Chopper. This bike was the first sign to fans of American Chopper of Paul Jr.'s obsession with spiders and spider webs.
[edit] I, Robot Bike
I, Robot star Will Smith visited Orange County Choppers to share his view of how the bike should look. Orange County Choppers used exclusive development artwork and sketches of the robots provided by the film's producers to lay out a sleek, futuristic, robotic looking bike. Finally, the Teutuls presented the bike in a red carpet affair for the premiere of I, Robot. This bike also makes an appearance in the American Chopper 2: Full Throttle video game, though is referred to as the 'Future Bike'.[citation needed]
[edit] Christmas Bike
This bike had a special rarely seen father/son build team of Mikey and Paul Sr. Paul Teutul Sr. and Mike Teutul came together in this Season 2 episode of American Chopper to build Santa Claus's sleigh as a chopper.
In this build the father and son team focused more on superficial factors like the antlers, paint job, and sleigh look as opposed to the power of the engine or electronics. Although not as serious of a technical episode as some are, the Christmas Bike episode ended on a nice note with Paul Sr. and Mikey entertaining some kids with their new creation. The main members of the build were Sr., Mikey, Rick Petko, and Mike Campo. All would regroup for the Santa's Sleigh the following year.
[edit] Cody's old school project
Based around a Harley Davidson replica frame, it has an 88ci (cubic inch) pan head motor that delivers 40 horsepower through a chain drive to the back wheel. It also features a springer front end, sportster style tank, old style ape hanger handlebars and foot clutch/suicide shift. Detailing includes a deep maroon paint job and gold-leaf accenting. Most of the fabrication on this bike was done by OCC's former student intern, Cody Connolly, as a joint project with Paul Sr. Despite the bike being presented to Cody at the end of the episode, it was later returned to OCC where it remains on display at the OCC retail store[1]
[edit] Comanche Bike
Designed and fabricated by Paul Teutul Jr. and named after the RAH-66 Comanche Helicopter. The Comanche Bike was debuted at an event to which the Teutuls flew in on a Bell 206 helicopter, an entrance which required major set-up, leaving only Vinnie DiMartino to fix massive problems with the engine. In the last seconds (quite literally), Vinnie and the crew he had called in got the bike started up, and released it to the public with great success.
[edit] POW/MIA Bike
During a bike show at the Javits Center Paul Sr. met two Vietnam War veterans. An idea brewed in Paul's mind for several months before deciding to make a theme bike centered around the POW/MIAs of the Vietnam War. The entire American Chopper gang made a trip to Washington D.C. and visited the Vietnam Memorial Wall, Rick Petko even taking a rubbing of a relative whose name was on the wall. In a rare turn of events, Paul Sr. took charge of the project, as opposed to his son, as Senior felt a closer tie to the veterans from his generation. Senior took Mike Teutul, Rick Petko, and Mike Campo into the crew for the bike. The bike featured massive custom fabrication on nearly every piece, the crew incorporating the phrase "POW/MIA" and the POW/MIA logo wherever they could. They even bought a custom Jeri Springer front end with POW/MIA memorabilia embedded in the metal.
[edit] Mikey's Blues Bike
Mike Teutul made his entrance into the world of custom bike building with this blues-themed chopper. Originally to be helped by his brother, Paul Teutul Jr., he eventually grows fed up with his brother's lack of assistance on the project and enlists various members of the Orange County Choppers staff. The wheels were spoked with gold spokes and their inside edges muraled with musical notes. In addition, all along the bike are painted images representative of various famous bluesmen such as B. B. King, Robert Johnson, Taj Mahal, Tom Waits and Gatemouth Brown
[edit] Junior's Dream Bike
It is the third in a series of "web-themed" bikes conceived and designed by Paul Teutul, Jr. The bike is covered front to back with cold rolled round bar webbing, each section of the bike has an individually tailored piece of webbing. The bike is notable for having a "ghost tank" in place of a gas tank, using webbing built in the shape of a gas tank. (A small gas tank was built into the oil tank in front of the rear wheel.) Vinny DiMartino constructed the headlight, Junior made the rear fender and the ghost tank, where Rick Petko created the oil tank and the scoop at the front.
[edit] Others
Additionally, OCC has produced on-air a Jet Bike, Mikey and Vinnie's Bike, Rat Bike, Police Bike, Junior's Dream Bike, Lucy Bike, Military Bikes, Talladega Bike, Spider-Man Bike, Clown Bike, Flash Bike, True Blue Bike, and Rick's Dream Bike.
[edit] Off-air projects
OCC also works on theme projects which are not featured on the television show.
The popularity of American Chopper led the United States Air Force to commission a $150,000 "Air Force Bike", first put on public display in March 2005. The motorcycle is ten feet long and is modeled after the F-22 Raptor, complete with Air Force symbol rims, riveted gas tank, Raptor exhausts and rear-view mirrors in the shape of jets. Air Force recruiters commissioned it as a public outreach tool.[2][3]
Other theme customers include Solidworks, the United States Army , the United States Air Force , PEZ Candy , the Big Gulp Bike for 7-Eleven stores , Cherokee Nation , Learjet , Airgas , Criss Angel Mindfreak , Speedco , Riptide , a flower Bike , Reeve , SLR , Werner Trucking , a Hemi bike for Chrysler , Miami Heat , SealMaster , Bass Pro Shops , and University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Rebels[4]
[edit] Old school series
Paul Senior's love of the style led him to create a number of Old School style choppers including 10-Up old School, Greeny, Maroon and Gold , Orange Bobber , The Blue Bomber , Little Red , Old School Vette , Orange Knucklehead , Pitchfork , Triumph Flames , and Sunshine. The Greeny model is available for purchase from the production series.
[edit] FANtasy series
In recognition of the shows growing fanbase, a contest was held to select fans which would receive custom built bikes. Winners were visted by the designers and asked to describe their dream bike. Winners include Jeff Clegg's Corporal Punishment, Susan Morisset's Female Snake Bike, Joseph McClendon's Custom Hog, and Bryan King's Vertebrae Trike.
[edit] Production Bikes
OCC was in the business of building custom motocycles for individuals before it gained fame building themed projects or was featured on television. OCC has returned to that business while incorporating some of the designs that made them famous. The Web production bike is inspired by the Black Widow theme bike and other bikes which have incorporated spider webs into the design.[5] The Greeny is an old-school style chopper designed by Paul Senior.[6]. The OCC Original includes many of the design elements that have made OCC famous including the heavy frame, wide back tire and wide rake on the front forks.[7] The splitback features a unique split gas tank originally concevied from theme bikes on the show.[8] A T-Rex Softail and a T-Rex Rigit were also available in the production series in the past.
