Whether you enjoy the format or not, those are some talented and gifted folks. I like the water lathe. A local machine shop here has one and it's just wild to think you can get water pressure high enough to cut steel like it's butter, but it sure does and very accurately too, thanks to CNC. Fun to watch!

-gb-

American Chopper is one of my favorite shows on television; I've been watching it for years now....and to be perfectly honest, I don't have the slightest interest in motorcycles whatsoever (and I guarantee I wouldn't ride one). But I love the craftsmanship, the fabrication, the ideas, and the beauty of the things they make, and I really can appreciate the process they go through. But mostly, I like the soap-opera-ness of the show. LOL! :-P

As for the scripted one-on-one interviews, they don't bother me a bit. I've always assumed they were scripted to move the storyline along WITHOUT having to resort to v.o. narration. If you go back and watch the first couple of one-shot docs (before American Chopper was a regular series) you'll notice that they have a v.o. on them, and it almost acts as a barrier between the viewer and the on-screen subjects. The non-narrated shows are more "real" but could easily be hard-to-follow; IMHO the scripted one-on-one interviews provide that linear functionality without having to resort to narration.

2¢

I like the show, but as a rider, I would hate to ride one of those customs for any distance. They are hard tails mostly with no rear shock. Good for slow cruising the blvd for women on a Friday night, bad for your kidneys and back.

The only one I saw with a rear shock was the police special for NYPD.

I have several friends that are motorcycle riders (mostly harleys), but one friend in particular had a hardtail S&S chopper with ape hangers that he put 27,000 miles on in two years.

So it's not that they can't be ridden; it's just a question of how committed you are to riding the bike. LOL!

How could anyone watch this show and deny that we share common ancestors with gorillas?

I remember reading that Hal Roach, who directed the Little Rascals back in the 30s, did so by telling the kids to make faces that they what worked out a name for ahead of time. So he would give a kid a direction like, "OK Alfalfa, make the bratty face" and that's how he got them to act as much as they did

I wonder if they have the same kind of system on American Chopper "OK now tell us what your concerns about this bike are . . ."

I haven't watched this show in over a year. I guess I grew out of it.

heath

I love American Chopper. We get it over here in the UK on Discovery, currently on its third series and on the Gillette bike...

There is a spin of which is called Southern Chopper, Man I can't stand that program, yet it’s in the same format, and produced by the same people. Maybe it’s their accents I just can't adjust to.

Cheers,

I wondered what A.C. in the O.C. would play like in other countries...

heath

Because you're watching the O.C.?!? Tell me it isn't so!

Orange County in New York is where American Chopper is filmed.

heath

hello stephen,

i second that

greetings

I look at Harleys' and their clones (V-Twin choppers and Asian knockoffs) they way I view Arnold Schwartznegger...
over rated, over paid and way over the hill.

If God granted just one machine on earth a soul, it would be a Ducati.
But I love Hondas too.

American Chopper - Behind the scenes special!
 

American Chopper Discovery Promo Outtakes