Topic: Old School

[happyonthunder]

Does anyone else think the tern OLD SCHOOL is being used way too much.
A bunch of new bike builders are building so called old school bikes.
Most of them wouldn't know old school if it bite them in the butt.
Billy Lane  and Indian Larry made beautiful bikes using junk found around the shop
or junk yards.  Not by building custom parts built in a machine shop.

Just my opinion....Happyonthunder

[mcpuffett]

hey happyonthunder it's happening over here on the uk to a lot of comments with old skool and back in the day   mick

[Tim.]

Does anyone else think the tern OLD SCHOOL is being used way too much.
A bunch of new bike builders are building so called old school bikes.
Most of them wouldn't know old school if it bite them in the butt.
Billy Lane  and Indian Larry made beautiful bikes using junk found around the shop
or junk yards.  Not by building custom parts built in a machine shop.

Just my opinion....Happyonthunder

I don't mean to disagree (because I don't, I too believe the term 'old school' is tossed around a lot) but what on earth do Billy Lane or Indian Larry, two people who 99.9999999999999% of the population would never have heard of aside from the Discovery Channel have to do with this?  From the admittedly VERY limited knowledge I have of Indian Larry (or whatever his real name was) I'd tend to equate him with 'old school'.  Sure looked like he'd been around the block a few times.

However, Billy Lane was likely born well after most of the bikes we ride were built.  For the life of me I can't understand what he would have to do with 'old school' or any school at all for that matter.  I don't deny some of these guys profiled on TV have talent - to be sure they seem to - but Billy Lane is about as much 'old school' as I am - and I ain't.  I'm 35, probably older than Lane 

I'd like to make a pact with you and the entire membership of SOHC4 to never utter anything from the following suggested list of banned words/names/phrases:

American Chopper
West Coast Chopper
East Coast Chopper
Western Hemisphere Chopper
Galactic Chopper
Monster Garage
Any person mentioned or profiled more than once on the Discovery Channel or any other TV show (i.e. Jesse James, Billy Lane, Indian Larry etc. etc. etc.)
Any person who has their name associated with a product listed in the Custom Chrome catalog
Said Custom Chrome catalog
Tuttle
Mikey
Size 12
Jay Leno - In deference to Don M
Build or Bust
Kid Rock
Internal throttle
etc...

Feel free to add to the list.  Perhaps I'm alone in my lack of tolerance for most of this nonsense.  There's little that burns my butt more than seeing a bunch of 30 year old twits riding around on $25K piles of chrome and plastic with their Maltese cross West Coast Chopper crest on the back of their $1000 totally useless lambskin leather jacket.

There's a guy at work who has some Yamaha cruiser or other and he has a West Coast Chopper sticker on the rear fender.  The bike is bone-stock, and he wouldn't know his master cylinder from his cylinder.  Without me knowing that it was his bike, he asked me what I thought of it.  I told him.  He hasn't asked since.

[Chris Liston]

Its just the rage now.  None of those guys build anything that I'd consider old school.  Indian Larry maybe (RIP)  About the only guy I like on the Discovery Channel shows is Russel Mitchel, Exile Choppers.  His bikes are just plain awsome looking.  No crazy chrome this and that and 15' front ends.  Just tough looking "old school" I guess bikes. 

My 2cents

[Tim.]

I like the Exile style as well, and don't mean to rain on these guys' parades.  They're being recognized for some excellent work and getting paid.  Nothing against that.  But if I see another $50 t-shirt and $50 hat being worn by another minivan driving suburbanite at a bike show, I'll puke all over Russel's twist-control clutch.

[Gordon]

I'd like to nominate one exception from the list of banned words/names/phrases:

Mikey

He doesn't know squat about building bikes, and he readily admits it.  Plus he's actually entertaining, and he likes one of my favorite bands, Ween. 

[SteveD CB500F]

I understand this thread about as much as you lot must understand Dave's "UK Only" thread on a (very) recent footy match in Istanbul.

We had a thread on language differences once, with translation.  Maybe someone could write a UK (or European) translation of what the hell tintin is on about.  I've never heard of ANY of these people/clubs/cultural events 

[Raul CB750K1]

I was living in Us back in 2002 when Discovery Channel broadcasted for the first time the Motorcycle Mania I and II. I admit that I liked them, and that even have them downloaded from the internet. They were programs about a bike builder from CA called Jesse James that build expensive choppers. Then it became fashion and he was hired for doing another program called "Monster Garage", where a team transform ordinary cars into machines (like a van into a trash truck, or a Porsche into a golf ball harvester). Then they gave it another turn and released the "biker build-off", where to bike builders contested for building a bike to win a contest. I saw only a couple of them, the Orange County Choppers, where I freaked out with the inmaturity of the son, and the Bourget, that I liked a lot. That guy is building nice bikes in my opinion. But it is true that Billy Lane's MissBehavin was a more "old school" chopper.

Anyway, like the old post about tatoos, once they become fashion it's not counterculture anymore, it's business. I'm also tired of bullets, celtic crosses, skulls, flame paint. They are different to be like everybody else.


Raul

[Vatch]

Yeah, I don't care for the term either. 

These "choppers" being built on these shows are not choppers, they're custom builds.  As the name chopper suggests the bike is a chopped version of a stock bike.  Ironically, at least to me, is that these new "choppers" are bad in terms of performance, unless you're riding in a straight line.  "Old School" choppers (at least in the US) were born after the second world war when US soldiers came back from the Europeon theatre and wanted better performing bikes, like the lighter Europeon bikes.  So they took the heavy American bikes of the time, Indians and Harleys with big full fenders, and removed anything that was not necessary for the bike to run in an effort to drop weight. Off went front fenders, seat rails, mirrors, big headlights, turn signals, big seats, front brakes, etc.  The "look" was born out of a desire for performance.

Next time someone says they want an old school look for their bike hand them a hack-saw, a six-pack of beer, a butane torch, and some cans pf spray paint.  Have at it.

 

[pmpski_1]

I have to admit, watching Jesse James building a gas tank by hand had something to do with me getting into motorcycles. I wanted an old car to build and drive, but didn't have money or space for it. As I was watching Mr James, the lightbulb above my head fizzled and the rest is history.

I personally don't like the bikes that they build, but I have an awesome amount of respect for the skills that these guys posess. Except for the Tuetels. They seem more like a mail-order-snap-together-logo-topper sort of organization to me.

SteveD: I don't know if you have Discovery Channel in the UK. I don't know what to compare it to. Basically it's a television channel that shows more "educational" type content. Science, technology, sociology, etc. In the last couple of years they've started showing more reality shows. Here are links to some of the shows that folks are talking about:

American Chopper:
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/amchopper/amchopper.html

Biker Build Off:
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/bike/bike.html

Monster Garage:
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/monstergarage/monstergarage.html

And your main source for all the Maltese Cross WCC Logo gear that you need to look really cool, West Coast Choppers: http://www.westcoastchoppers.com  (Still, I have to give props to Jesse James!

[douglascoolgrey]

I thought the Maltese Cross was the cross firefighters use for their union logos. Isn't JJ's cross an Iron Cross or a German Cross? I'm pretty sure the Celtic cross is the one with a circle around it, also known as the ionic cross or the Presbyterian Cross.

I'd post pictures, but I feel pretty stupid having written this post in the first place.

--DG
(slowly working my way to 100 posts)

[dusterdude]

hang in there doug,you`ll make it

[don_m]

I respecfully request you remove Jay Leno from your "Banned List".  While I don't watch his show, (nor any similar talk show), he is a really neat guy in person.  As we both ride a lot of classic bikes, (especially Brit), in So Cal, we often cross paths although I'm sure he doesn't know my name.  He is open, friendly & helpful to anyone.  At the Rock Store one day a guy couldn't get his old Indian to light.  Jay jumped on the kicker many times, got down on his knees in the dirt to access the battery & wiring, then went inside to round uo some wire & connected the Indian to his own bike.  When that didn't work he pushed the Indian down the road, while a large crowd of modern type stood around & gaped, but offered no help.  He declined my offer to get my hands dirty but I did help push.
Cheers, Don Psycle Madden.

[dusterdude]

yea leno has been building cars and bikes longer than most of us

[Tim.]

I respecfully request you remove Jay Leno from your "Banned List".  While I don't watch his show, (nor any similar talk show), he is a really neat guy in person.  As we both ride a lot of classic bikes, (especially Brit), in So Cal, we often cross paths although I'm sure he doesn't know my name.  He is open, friendly & helpful to anyone.  At the Rock Store one day a guy couldn't get his old Indian to light.  Jay jumped on the kicker many times, got down on his knees in the dirt to access the battery & wiring, then went inside to round uo some wire & connected the Indian to his own bike.  When that didn't work he pushed the Indian down the road, while a large crowd of modern type stood around & gaped, but offered no help.  He declined my offer to get my hands dirty but I did help push.
Cheers, Don Psycle Madden.

Agreed - he got lumped in the mix through association with the Tuttles (talk about the ugliest bike ever built  )

[Tim.]

I understand this thread about as much as you lot must understand Dave's "UK Only" thread on a (very) recent footy match in Istanbul.

We had a thread on language differences once, with translation.  Maybe someone could write a UK (or European) translation of what the hell tintin is on about.  I've never heard of ANY of these people/clubs/cultural events 

See, the only shows that North Americans produce that aren't knock-offs of BBC programming are shows about cars and bikes.  The difference is apparantly those creative minds in the UK have better things to do than copy our nonsense.  Although, a lot of this started with Junkyard Wars, which if I recall was a BBC program.

[Zeke]

Sorry Tintin:

I don't care what t-shirt Joe Jackass is wearing -- who cares!

All I know is that any good bike builder deserves credit for making cool engines with two wheels.  They might not be as cool as our SOHC, but I love a custom bike whether it's "old school" or new school.

How about the bike the Detroit Brothers did on one of the bike build-off shows?  that was kickass.

Whatever, there's always gonna be fads and we're obviously not the type of folks that are into fads.  TV helps spread fads.  But I'll say that there really isn't anything on TV I'd rather watch than folks working/building motorcycles.

Zeke

[Raul CB750K1]

I agree with Zeke. Those biker programs are entertaining to say the least. Even if I wouldn't buy any of their custom choppers, you can learn a lot of things.

I also like a german program called Motorvision. They have the modern car and bikes, and once a week they have the classic program with classic cars and bikes. I can speak a little german so I understand a great part of it, but even with the volume off it's very entertaining to see.

Raul

[jgary]

I just love the looks of those bikes Hank Young builds. 

J.

[Bobby]

When I started my CB750 "Project X', my intention was to hotrod and customize the iron with the parts and technologies available back in the '70's.  Why?  I'm not exactly sure.  My wife certainly thinks I'm brain damaged.  I can't call it a mid-life crisis (I am 45) because I still need adult supervision.  I think it was due to finding the CB at a Yard Sale and deciding to rebuild it they way I would have liked to back when I was a teenager.  'Project X' currently resides (in pieces) at my buddy's Go-Kart shop.  His 20-something year old son and friends go on about how "Old School" my project is.  However, "Old School" to these youngsters is like Van Halen's "Running with the Devil"...  Sigh.       

Words that should replace "Old School" -

Far Out
Boss
Groovy
Right On
Psychedelic

[neckyzips]

i will have to sat that at least jessy james, before tv, did actualy build his own parts... by hand. and until he started hanging out with kid rock, still had my respect. now the west coast pukes... pure tv b.s anyone could build one of their bikes with the parts resourses the discovery chanel has allowed them. im just waiting to see carpy on there, no theres a bloke with some style!