Watched the final Biker Build Off wrap up last night and a little of the earlier reruns. All of the choppers looked the part except a few stood out for being a bit more well engineered. The majority were just variations or more of the same old chopper theme, well executed perhaps but still just choppers. But some stood out. The Lakewood Special, for instance, used a leaf spring rear suspension and a very old design theme that looked like it took some thought. One had a friction drive. Don’t know how well that would actually work but you certainly don’t see that every day. Matt Hotch, I’ve already talked about.
The other thing that stood out was the difference between shops that built them. Some were guys playing the part, long hair maybe, bodies covered in ink, trying to out crude the next guy. Some were a bit more thoughtful and actually did some real design work.
What quickly becomes apparent is why you see a lot of chopper build offs like this and no sportbike buildoffs. These bikes are all appearance, period. Some may ride ok, they may go pretty quick in a straight line but no one that I’m aware of took any handling characteristics into condsideration. There was only minimal thought given to whether a rider could actually ride it without pain. One bike had a stylish but tiny gas tank with two big carbs that limited mileage to a ridiculously short range. Paint and polish don’t mean a lot when you’re carving through a sweeper. These bikes are all about being parked, not ridden.
The sole requirement to successfully complete the competition was to have a running bike after 10 days. Then the winner was chosen by popular vote. The quick way to raise the bar on these build offs would be to create a competition at the end that had a drag strip and road course as the first step. Horsepower and engineering would enter into it, you know, could they build real motorcycles? How fast does it stop? That I’d like to see. The magazines have big comparisons, some drags have the requirement that you drive your car in a street environment before racing to prove your “street” car can actually survive in that role. Why not do this for bikes? Give the guys more than 10 days, maybe a month or two. I wonder how many shops would actually be up to the task even with that time. It would certainly be a different set of shops. Hmm… Discovery Channel, are you listening?
James - Whybike.com says
We do have a televised competition like what you propose, with the exception of the 10 day/2month requirement. It is called “Motorcycle Grand Prix”. The trouble is, it is a lot more entertaining watching some “long-hair” pound a piece of metal and wrestle with rediculously long forks than to watch a bike on a dyno with some clean-cut labcoat making notes on a clipboard.
kneeslider says
That’s very true, but the price of admission for that competition is a wee bit on the high side. I was thinking more along the lines of smaller shops. I think it could be done. Look at what shows up in Cycle World magazine when they highlight American Flyers or some other homebuilt bikes. People are building them now, we just need some incentive and the promise of publicity to get them going. Instead of all these guys wanting to build choppers it might ignite the desire to really learn about motorcycle mechanics and dynamics and start a bunch of garage builders on a new career. Some 16 or 18 year olds that like to weld and go to the races could benefit by seeing the possibilities. Who knows, maybe the celebrities would start looking for custom built sportbikes. Maybe I’m dreaming, but I like the idea.
hoyt says
The Discovery Channel’s website provides links to log feedback. You can suggest builders you would like to see go against one another in future “buildoffs”.
The Kneeslider readers would probably tune in if a sport bike or cafe racer were built….
Acme Rocketbike
American Cafe Racers
Performance Machine (Roland Sands – successful road racer)
…all of the above shops are capable. Acme and ACR have been posted on the Kneeslider. Performance Machine has the potential to build something wild with their equipment and former road racer at the helm.
Choppers, Sportbikes, & Cafe Racers would all benefit from this new direction….
-choppers would know what a corner looks like
-sportbikes would have more style.
-The Discovery Channel could turn around from their Hollywood approach and explore the engineering of motorcycles more in depth.
-the OEM’s, after seeing sportbikes getting more style, in-turn create better products. [example as it pertians to the current custom scene: Victory Hammer]
Everyone wins !
Log your requests at:
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/bike/talk/talk.html
or
http://discovery.infopop.net/1/OpenTopic?a=frm&s=6941912904&f=524104084