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We’ve all seen the beloved Discovery channel American Chopper shows and countless specials hosted by Jesse James. Who really makes the better chopper: Orange County Choppers on the East Coast or West Coast Choppers in Sunny California?
Weather you like the low slung looks, raw power mechanics, or the individuality each machine represents one thing is certain Choppers are back in a major way. So who wins the battle of supremacy? I must admit that I’m partial to West Coast Choppers as I met Jesse James a few years ago at the Columbus, Ohio Easyrider’s show. I have nothing against the Teutel’s, I just happened to meet Jesse first. In drafting this article I’m finding the facts hard to gather as both companies are privately held. I’m forced to rely more on my gut for this comparison than hard facts.
I think one of the aspects that makes a chopper so special is the one-off custom that each machine represents. Unlike a Harley, there are no two choppers alike – unless of course you’re buying a sellout chopper like a BigDog. (sorry BigDog fans, but there’s nothing but a paint job distinguishing your bike from the next guys) The very mention of the word chopper conjures up thoughts of a small greasy garage where dreams are being sculpted in steel. Having met Jesse some years back (before he was the icon that he is today) I remember that same small shop personality that seemed to ring true in each of his bikes. You knew a West Coast Chopper apart from every other chopper as soon as you saw the rings of bullets around the riser caps and that chrome Maltese cross at the back of the frame. Everything else about a West Coast Chopper was left to Jesse’s imagination. I remember one of the first specials I watched about West Coast Choppers where it showed Jesse on the roller getting the perfect bend to his sheet metal parts. Everything was essentially hand-built to ensure complete customization. Jesse James built West Coast Choppers as a true one off full customization shop. If I were paying that much for a bike, I’d prefer that nobody else have one just like it.
Does anyone remember the first season of American Chopper? Yes they had that small shop feel, but there was just something a little less magical about the Orange County Choppers. I remember thinking as I was watching their first builds, they aren’t doing any custom fabrication, they’re just putting a bunch of preordered parts together. I was turned off of Orange County Choppers from the beginning because it just seemed like they were building a bike that any of us could piece together by flipping through our piles of parts catalogs. Orange County Choppers was definitely missing that one-off custom fabricated touch in their early machines. I’ve been pleased as a viewer of American Chopper to watch the shop grow as they’ve taken the route of custom fabrication to new levels. Today, many of the Orange Country Choppers compete head-to-head with the one-off customizations of West Coast Choppers.
I am like most of you, I just simply love motorcycles. But I can’t help but wonder if I were ever in the shoes to choose between a West Coast Chopper and an Orange County Chopper which way I would lean. Orange County Choppers seem to have become very commercial thanks to Discovery channel, while Jesse James seems a bit preoccupied with his latest Baja quest. Both Orange County Choppers and West Coast Choppers produce some of the finest customs in America; which way do you lean?

(*urls deleted to make post fit*)

I think Jesse James is cool (because he seems like a cool guy, and I like his name). But I hate the whole chopper thing. It's gotten outrageous how they build the bikes now. They make them purely to look cool, and seem like they'd be like the most inpractical bikes to ride.

Here's a nice OCC bike:

Choppers look nice and all but I'd never want to ride one. I'd sell it as soon as I got it (assuming someone wants to give me one).

Here is a WCC bike:

I didn't read your whole post, but I don't give a krap about either of them. Neither one of those shops build innovative bikes. All they really do is figure out new contraptions to put on bikes that you can get impaled on. Along with the fact they are raising the poplularity of bikes and increasing their prices. Everyone and their cousin wants a bike now.

OCC is actually a little worse. Who needs to see a father and son argue for 60 mins ?

The only thing I like about those shows are the tools. If I had tools like that I would never leave the house. (except to look for boobies)

I dunno, I like them for their astetic (sp?) value, but as Cam said, how practical? how would you ride it? How much fun would it be to have a bike thats ripping your back apart after 10 minutes of riding? Im sure there is a market for them, or else there wouldnt be so many shops around, but I find them to be more art then bike.

Haha, same here Mr. Gompers.

I wish I had all those kinds of tools, and all that space to work in. My step-dad and I just cleaned out the garage for our bikes, and got all his tools organized, that's pretty sweet, but if I had the tools they had... damn... I'd never leave the garage, and I'd just put a bed in there so the boobies could come to me...

NorthernPete wrote:I dunno, I like them for their astetic (sp?) value, but as Cam said, how practical? how would you ride it? How much fun would it be to have a bike thats ripping your back apart after 10 minutes of riding? Im sure there is a market for them, or else there wouldnt be so many shops around, but I find them to be more art then bike.

I can agree with that. They are more art than bike. Perhaps the shows could be improved by removing all the dialogue. Or maybe have some sort of narrator like you hear on cooking shows sometimes.

NorthernPete wrote:I dunno, I like them for their astetic (sp?) value, but as Cam said, how practical? how would you ride it? How much fun would it be to have a bike thats ripping your back apart after 10 minutes of riding? Im sure there is a market for them, or else there wouldnt be so many shops around, but I find them to be more art then bike.

*Asthetic

We have an American Ironhorse store right along the same road as the thousands of car dealerships we have in Charleston. Every other commercial (radio or tv) is a dealership commercial.