Tag Archives: trike

American Chopper: Uncharted Territory

1 Oct

October 1, 2012

Uncharted Territory
PJD starts a build for technology company QUBX while OCC assembles and unveils a bike for Wildgame Innovations. Meanwhile, father and son continue their collaboration on a re-vamped version of an old school bike.

The rub: Paulie goes with Nub!

The tension tonight will be built around Paulie, wanting to surprise his father, going to Nub to do the paint instead of a neutral third-party. OHHHH!

In the old days there would be tools thrown, curses screamed, yada yada yada, and today? Hmm, we’ll see.

Paulie’s idea as the show starts is to have Senior’s guy do the base coat and Nub do the details. So far, so good.

“He’s one of the best paint artists I’ve ever seen…. I’ve kind of missed not having him as a painter.” – Senior about Nub. I want to hear what Nub has to say about Senior. He has not been very kind to him in the past episodes.

“We had our moments when the arguments took over. The thing that saved me was that my shop was not in their shop.” – Nub.

The OCC Wildgame bike has a huge pair of antlers on the front. I can’t wait for someone to take a shot at the driver by mistake during deer season. It has arrows and crossbows, a skull, and I’m torn between calling it cool and calling it over-the-top. I’ll have to wait to see the final project.

PJD is doing a bike for QUBX, something or other for your computer. The bike is going to somehow incorporate a tablet, a working tablet, built into the frame. It is harder than it sounds due to the heat and vibration of the motor. And as usual, it is much more interesting to see Paulie and the guys design on the fly than to see OCC work from yet another Jason drawing. It is more creative and, even though the overall vision is Paulie’s, everyone gets input.

BTW- I’ve been unable to find out for sure. Does Vinnie still have his own shop? With his new kids and working at PJD, where would he have time?

9:25: Jason sings. Because that’s what we want to see. He also uses a knife to unwrap freshly painted parts. At this point does he really need to be told not to do that? This guy is always playing to the cameras, acting for the cameras, being the kid in fifth grade who acted like a clown when he thought it would get him some attention. and it works. Around OCC he is the teacher’s pet. Senior loves him.

Paulie brought the tins to Nub, who is a true artist, but it was funny seeing him run his hands over and over and over the tank. It was almost as if he were psychically reading the tank.

At 9:35 we got that weird little 2 minute segment Discovery sticks into a lot of their shows in order to cram in a second set of commercials. On Deadliest Catch it is usually the goofy side of crab fishing. Here it was Jason plugging a company that did some paint effects for them.

The Wildgame bike plays all sorts of animal calls. It is official: the bike just jumped the shark. Senior took the bike out for a test ride and with the huge antlers on the front it looked insane.

Insanely stupid.

And whatever they did on the rear fender looked lousy too.

At 9:42 almost the entire PJD crew was wearing their new light blue t-shirts. Normally I wouldn’t mention that and I don’t hold anything against anyone for merchandising, but the light blue really stood out since they almost always wear black. It was jarring. But the shirts were nice, and in this episode Paulie wore at least four different PJD t-shirts.

The less said about the bizarre Wildgame unveil the better.

So did Senior freak out about Nub doing the paint? Did he explode? Did he throw stuff and scream?

Beats me. They didn’t show it.

NEXT WEEK ON AMERICAN CHOPPER:
I don’t know. Neither Discovery nor TiVo has a description.

American Chopper: Now or Never

25 Sep

September 25, 2012

American Chopper (Season 8)
Now or Never
TV-PG (L)

Brought together by a father-son bike build, Junior and Senior begin to open up. While their relationship grows away from the shop, OCC starts a bike for Wildgame Innovations and PJD unveils a five-wheeled trike for Loopster.

Is it you or is this show far less interesting now that things are all happy and sweet? The show isn’t really about building bikes, it was for a very long time about fighting. Now it is about sweetness?

Anyway, on with the show.

It is the last day of fabrication for the bike the guys are building together. Frankly I prefer to see them build a bike like that, without all the high-tech tools they have in the shops. While I admit I have no skills and the most amazing tool would not help me build a bike, I prefer to see people use their skills rather than lean on a machine.

Both men agree that things went well but, as Senior said, they’ve both been on their best behavior. They are both cautiously optimistic.  They may never be close, but I think both of them expect there to be no animosity, and that may be the best they can ask for.

OCC is (as Jason annoyingly describes) doing a bike for a hunting company, Wildgame, and they crew has a whole bunch of stuff, like crossbows, to play with. Discovery must really think that the fans like Jason. Memo to Discovery- he sucks. Anyway, the bike will have weapons on it, hunting gear, antlers, whatever.

PJD is working on a five-wheeled trike for Loopster. Is that still a trike? Anyway, it’s looking cool.

Meanwhile, Vinnie brought his son to the shop and I have to admit, he is cute. One of his daughters is sick and he hasn’t been in the shop too much.

Senior’s wife stopped in the shop an asked how things are going with Paulie. Or, as some of my readers would say, the producers sent her to the shop to ask how things are going with Paulie and I have to say, it did seem fake. An actress she is not. She suggested that Senior ask Paulie and his wife to a barbecue but Senior thought it was too early. and just by coincidence I am sure, Paulie’s wife had the same idea to invite Senior over. And Paulie’s answer? It is too early.

“People love drama but I think it is a family dynamic that brought the show to where it is today… and I think people really want to see the family get back together.” – Senior. I said last week I am rooting for them to get together, but take away the drama and what’s left? How many shows where they walk down memory lane can we see?

BTW- Paulie’s house? It is a mansion with a huge outdoor pool and a ton of property.

NEXT WEEK
Uncharted Territory
PJD starts a build for technology company QUBX while OCC assembles and unveils a bike for Wildgame Innovations. Meanwhile, father and son continue their collaboration on a re-vamped version of an old school bike.