Why Did Custom Choppers Fall Off

[Jesus X]

A lot of those shows were on the History channel, weren't they?

I'm guessing that when a lot of people started dropping cable, the audience/exposure for those shows dropped. I remember them being something I'd stop and watch if I was channel surfing, as one does with cable, but not something I'd specifically seek out to watch.

History,spike tv(paramount network) and discovery had some and custom car shows too.

 

[MicroBrew]

Anyone remember the 00s-10s and all the custom choppers shows. OCC, Biker Build Off, BiKer Wars, Jessie James, etc…they ruled the world for a decade and then fell off the face of the earth. Some of those guy made cool shit, not those jackass at OcC but I remember a crew in AZ made some sick customs.

everyone had to have the Fat Ass Rear Tire

Yeah I watched all of them. When it comes to the mainstream everything has a shelf life. America is all about fads. After awile people get tired of whatever it is that is popular/trendy at the moment, and they move on to something else.

With Discovery, the OCC show was kinda alright at the start, when there was less drama and more bike 'building'. A lot of critics will say those guys didn't build anything, they just bought stuff off a catalog, but they did custom build many tanks and did some mild customization here and there. The problem for the show began when Discovery started to focus more on the drama, which seemed contrived, because this is Discovery and Realty TV after all. Only later did one learn that a lot of the drama between the dad and son was real because they sued each other and the son started his own thing.

All those OCC bike builds were just a cheap advertising gmmick for companies. That was the whole schtick of the show, but it was peddled as a legit custom build show. They didn't do all that great selling custom bikes to consumers, cause they were impractical, ridiculously overpriced and didn't have a reputation for quality.

 

[MicroBrew]

Always thought these trikes looked bad ass.

Saw a recent interview (on YT) with the builder Russell Mitchel, ...searching YT for it now..

Ok here it is..


Dude says things were going great then in 2007 everything just crashed, demand collapsed. He mentions the economy crash. The 2008 economic crash may have a lot to do with the popularity of these custom bikes falling off the cliff.

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

Bc they looked pretty stupid unless you were 16. Like, yo, why didn't xIzbit become the greatest car customiser the world has ever known?

that "pimp my ride" show was awful. taking beat up cars that could use a new radiator or spark plugs and instead slapping on a 8 foot spoiler that sprays glitter or some nonsense. wait, people might buy that...I'm going to get a patent. nobody steal my idea!

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

that "pimp my ride" show was awful. taking beat up cars that could use a new radiator or spark plugs and instead slapping on a 8 foot spoiler that sprays glitter or some nonsense. wait, people might buy that...I'm going to get a patent. nobody steal my idea!

<Lmaoo><Lmaoo><Lmaoo>

 

[MicroBrew]

that "pimp my ride" show was awful. taking beat up cars that could use a new radiator or spark plugs and instead slapping on a 8 foot spoiler that sprays glitter or some nonsense. wait, people might buy that...I'm going to get a patent. nobody steal my idea!

They also intentionally made the cars look bad, by throwing food/garbage inside the car. They removed paint from cars to make them look crap. One guy who had his car pimped said it took 5 months to get the car done. For that 5 months the owners were without a car.

Contestants siad they didn't own the houses that X-zibit 'surprised' them at. MTV rented out houses, put contestants in and told them to act shocked when Xzibit came.

 

[ralphc1]

The guys who grew up rider or wanting to ride is aging out. You see this in so many hobbies where something will take off when a group comes of age to have disposable income and then when they retire, everything drops off. In the next few years, $5-10k gaming rigs and tv setups are not going to be as uncommon just because you have guys hitting their 40s and 50s that always wanted high end shit. You have other stuff like golf that is falling off a cliff because young people don't golf.

This is the correct motorcycle. It was a Boomer fad that burned out and faded away. They don't have disposable income to blow on stupid bikes, and the younger generations don't want to be Dennis Hopper, although maybe they should.

Every show it was the hardest bike they ever had to build

A lot of those shows were on the History channel, weren't they?

I'm guessing that when a lot of people started dropping cable, the audience/exposure for those shows dropped. I remember them being something I'd stop and watch if I was channel surfing, as one does with cable, but not something I'd specifically seek out to watch.

All of the above are probably correct. The television shows wanted some drama so they set short deadlines and they also created friction between workers and families. The Teutuls were a prime example. Paul Sr was building modest choppers as a sideline to his steel sales business. When his son started building bikes with him, his son wanted to build some theme bikes. Discovery Channel was transitioning from being a science based channel to a wider range of entertainment. They started running car shows and motorcycle shows. While many people probably enjoyed watching things being built, the producers wanted drama. I suspect they noticed some friction between father and son and cultivated that. It might have started as faked animosity but it eventually developed into a real problem as both Sr and Jr thought they were more important.

I never enjoyed the drama. I liked to see the designs of the bikes but I was disappointed in how they looked a few years later. The show claimed the bikes were built for clients but many of them remained at OCC. They didn't age well. American Hot Rod with Boyd Coddington was another custom car show with forced deadlines and people knocking heads. All of these shows were directed at gearheads but there are fewer and fewer of us as time goes by. Not as many younger people are interested in these shows. The auction shows were very big and custom vehicles were bringing big money. As collectors got older or died, their collections were sold and the market was saturated at the same time there were fewer buyers so prices dropped. I don't know if they even televise them anymore. People were nostalgic for the cars of their youth. The cars of the 80s and 90s don't seem to have many fans.

 

[Bald1]

Because they suck as bikes. A buddy built one from the ground up and it just sat for the most part other than being in a few bike shows. Meanwhile his wife and him rode the wheels off their other scoots. He ended up almost giving it away.

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

All of the above are probably correct. The television shows wanted some drama so they set short deadlines and they also created friction between workers and families. The Teutuls were a prime example. Paul Sr was building modest choppers as a sideline to his steel sales business. When his son started building bikes with him, his son wanted to build some theme bikes. Discovery Channel was transitioning from being a science based channel to a wider range of entertainment. They started running car shows and motorcycle shows. While many people probably enjoyed watching things being built, the producers wanted drama. I suspect they noticed some friction between father and son and cultivated that. It might have started as faked animosity but it eventually developed into a real problem as both Sr and Jr thought they were more important.

I never enjoyed the drama. I liked to see the designs of the bikes but I was disappointed in how they looked a few years later. The show claimed the bikes were built for clients but many of them remained at OCC. They didn't age well. American Hot Rod with Boyd Coddington was another custom car show with forced deadlines and people knocking heads. All of these shows were directed at gearheads but there are fewer and fewer of us as time goes by. Not as many younger people are interested in these shows. The auction shows were very big and custom vehicles were bringing big money. As collectors got older or died, their collections were sold and the market was saturated at the same time there were fewer buyers so prices dropped. I don't know if they even televise them anymore. People were nostalgic for the cars of their youth. The cars of the 80s and 90s don't seem to have many fans.

Even people born in the early 80's who are getting to that stage of life where they have some extra cash and can have those types of purchases are still dreaming of a 70 Chevlle or a 69 Mach 1 instead of something from the 80's or 90's.

 

[Jesus X]

<Lmaoo><Lmaoo><Lmaoo>

The pimp my ride ice cream truck they built on that show actually operated in long beach CA for a few years folks would see it here.

 

[I Am Legion]

Impractical, uncomfortable and expensive. They bring peanuts at the auction. 60k bikes doing 5-6k if they sell at all. I dug them, but they were replaced by custom "baggers". They were more easy to ride for distances.

 

[cmw43]

I always thought that the 2008 recession slowed down the motorcycle market. It put a lot of dealerships out of business. I would imagine it hurt the bike market even more for $30k+++ motorcycles

That was the year Sons of Anarchy came out to throw bikes a lifeline.

 

[Tankeray]

That dude Jesse James was married to Sandra Bullock and decided to ruin that marriage by cheating on her with a porn star. What an idiot.

And those shows sucked ass.

This- what asshole cheats on Sandra fucking Bullock….dude is a complete fuck stick

 

[Night Owl]

Motor Trend has a lot of good custom car shows without all the drama. Texas Metal and Iron Resurrection are probably my favorite shows right now.

 

[Plutoburn]

Vast majority of the people I've seen riding them are people who had their best years in the 80s and act/dress like it's still that decade.

 

[MicroBrew]

Impractical, uncomfortable and expensive. They bring peanuts at the auction. 60k bikes doing 5-6k if they sell at all. I dug them, but they were replaced by custom "baggers". They were more easy to ride for distances.

Those style of baggers are ugly, especially the ones with a big ass front wheel.