American Chopper is an American reality television series that airs on Discovery Channel, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. The series centers on Paul Teutul Sr., and his son Paul Teutul Jr., who manufacture custom chopper-style motorcycles. Orange County Choppers is in Newburgh, New York. The contrasting work and creative styles of the father-and-son team and their resulting verbal arguments were the series' hallmark until 2008 when an explosive argument led to Paul Jr.'s termination and departure to start a competing chopper company, Paul Jr. Designs.
A custom motorcycle is a motorcycle with stylistic and/or structural changes to the 'standard' mass-produced machine offered by major manufacturers. Custom motorcycles might be unique, or built in limited quantities. While individual motorcyclists have altered the appearance of their machines since the first days of motorcycling, the first individualized motorcycles specifically labeled 'Custom' appeared in the late 1950s, around the same time as the term was applied to custom cars.
Bicycle culture can refer to a mainstream culture that supports the use of bicycles or to a subculture. Although "bike culture" is often used to refer to various forms of associated fashion, it is erroneous to call fashion in and of itself a culture.
Paul Michael Teutul is one of the stars of the American reality television series American Chopper, also starring his father. Teutul was the chief designer and fabricator. Prior to this, he was head of the rail shop at Orange County Ironworks. He is the founder of Paul Jr. Designs, which manufactures custom motorcycles and sells branded clothing. Teutul, along with his father and younger brother Michael, became celebrities when they became the focus of a reality television series American Chopper on Discovery Channel in 2002.
The Raleigh Chopper is a bicycle for children / young adults, manufactured and marketed by the Raleigh Bicycle Company of Nottingham, England. The unique design became a cultural icon and is fondly remembered by many who grew up in that period. The design was influenced by dragsters, "chopped" motorcycles, beach buggies, and even chariots, as can be seen on the centre page of the 1969 Raleigh US catalogue. The bicycle has featured in many movies and TV series. MK1 models were produced from 1968 to 1972, MK2 models were produced from 1972 to 1983 and MK3 models were produced from 2004 to 2012 and sold through to 2018.
West Coast Choppers (WCC) is a brand that began selling screen-printed T-shirts and stickers with the company's Iron cross/Maltese cross logo while founder and "master marketer" Jesse James was finishing high school, packaging the accoutrements of the chopper lifestyle long before any actual West Coast Choppers customs had been ordered or sold. Even after the company did begin building custom choppers, 60% of revenue still came from sales of WCC-branded marketing tie-ins such as clothing, beverages and tools. Yearly sales of approximately 12–15 motorcycles at prices of around US$150,000 each actually lost money for the company, but attracted positive attention. Publicizing the names of celebrity clients, including Shaquille O'Neal, Kid Rock, Keanu Reeves, Ty Law of the Denver Broncos, wrestling star Bill Goldberg, actor Tyson Beckford, and NFL running back Jamal Anderson, was a central feature of the WCC marketing strategy. The other key to this strategy was the star power of Jesse James, presented mainly through television on the Discovery Channel in the Motorcycle Mania series and the 2002–2006 series Monster Garage.
David Mann was a California graphic artist whose paintings celebrated biker culture, and choppers. Called "the biker world's artist-in-residence," his images are ubiquitous in biker clubhouses and garages, on motorcycle gas tanks, tattoos, and on T-shirts and other memorabilia associated with biker culture. Choppers have been built based on the bikes first imagined in a David Mann painting.
William David Lane is an American builder of custom motorcycles, owner of Choppers Inc. in Melbourne, Florida, known for his 2009 conviction and imprisonment in Florida for a drunk-driving incident in 2006, where Lane's driving caused the death of another biker/moped
In the market, there is a wide variety of types of motorcycles, each with unique characteristics and features. Models vary according to the specific needs of each user, such as standard, cruiser, touring, sports, off-road, dual-purpose, scooters, etc. Often, some types like sport touring are considered as an additional category or integrated with touring.
The Black Label Bike Club (BLBC) is an international freak/mutant bicycle organization specializing in tall bikes and choppers.
A chopper bicycle is a highly customized bicycle whose design, construction and style is similar to that of a chopper-style motorcycle.
Cyclecide is an American bicycle club based in San Francisco, California, composed of clowns, altered bikes, and a traveling show called "The Bike Rodeo", which is a public performance, and not a bicycle rodeo, a children's bicycle safety clinic.
C.H.U.N.K. 666 is a tall bike and chopper bicycle club based in Portland, Oregon and Brooklyn, New York. They formed in the early 1990s and were active into the 2000s.
Design Squad is an American reality competition television series targeted towards children ages 10–13. Contestants are high school students who design and build machines to compete for a $10,000 college scholarship from Intel.
The Honda Fury was the first production chopper from a major motorcycle manufacturer (Honda). In a break with tradition, the Fury was the first chopper to have an anti-lock braking system The Fury's styling has been likened to custom-made choppers from Paul Teutul Sr. or Arlen Ness. The Fury has been sold not only in North America, but internationally as well, although in some markets Honda eschewed the Fury name and offered the bike simply by its model ID: VT1300CX.
A wheelie bike, also called a dragster, muscle bike, high-riser, spyder bike or banana bike, is a type of stylized children's bicycle designed in the 1960s to resemble a chopper motorcycle and characterized by ape hanger handlebars, a banana seat with sissy bar, and small wheels. Notable examples include the Schwinn Sting-Ray and Krate lines and the Raleigh Chopper line. Other notable manufacturers and retailers that offered models include AMF, CCM, Columbia, Huffy, Iverson, J. C. Penney, Malvern Star, Monark, Murray, Ross, Sears, and Vindec.
Motivate LLC is a company based in New York City that services bicycle sharing systems and other urban services in North America.
J&P Cycles, Inc. was founded by John and Jill Parham in 1979. It sells motorcycle components, apparel, and gear for the American V-twin motorcycle rider. Owned by Comoto Holdings, the company operates online and has retail outlets in Ormond Beach, Florida, Anamosa, Iowa, Sturgis, South Dakota, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Taylor, Michigan.
