- [Announcer] Have the aliens really landed?
- Welder.
- [Announcer] Nope. Just a team of unsung chopper legends.
- Think we learned all this from Monster Garage.
- [Announcer] They can take a Harley down
to a wheel and a prayer.
- It looks pretty not friendly.
- [Announcer] But can they put it back together
to create a true monster chopper?
- I give up.
- [Announcer] They're a wild bunch if you cross them.
- I'll hurt you one of these times.
- [Announcer] This show will have you going around
in circles,
flying high and smoking open wide.
- [Announcer 2] Join us now as Jesse
and his g*ng of Maverick Mechanics
rip, grind and burn.
Transforming ordinary street vehicles into monster machines
in the Monster Garage.
[energetic rock music]
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
♪ Monster
- [Announcer 3] This week, an old school challenge.
Take a fully loaded Harley and chop it to pieces.
- Just something that looks like the guy riding it
might kick your a*s.
[whip cracking]
- [Announcer 3] The rules.
The bike absolutely cannot appear to be stock.
[cash register dinging]
But the team can still spend only $5,000 for parts.
[spray can hissing]
Jesse and his world class crew have seven days and nights.
[electronic whirring]
On the first day, they design.
For the next five, they build.
Then on the seventh day, he rides.
[engine roaring]
If successful, they walk away
with a $4,000 set of Mac Tools.
And the clock starts now.
[glass shattering] [flames roaring]
[engine roaring] [energetic rock music]
Motorcycles have actually been turned into choppers
since the early 1900s.
Then in the forties, the Great American Harley got chopped
to fight the Germans.
But it wasn't until the sixties
that chopping bikes became a work of art.
[camera flash clicking]
[motorbike engine roaring] [intense heavy metal music]
To chop this hog,
Jesse James has called on the master builders
who inspired him.
[air whooshing]
- The difference between this team
and the other 49 teams
is this is the first team where
they're not coming on the show trying
to prove something to me.
All these guys came on the show
and it's up to me to prove something to them.
- [Announcer 3] For this first ever monster chopper,
these motorcycle legends will all help design the monster
then build it.
From Seabrook, New Hampshire,
Marc Rowe has been making the best motorcycle frames
for so long,
he built the last one Jesse actually went out and bought.
[tools whirring]
Don Hotop continues to reinvent
the custom motorcycle industry
from his shop in Fort Madison, Iowa.
[energetic rock music] [tools whirring]
Carl Morrow, an engine specialist from Daytona Beach,
can take a stock Harley motor
and turn it into a high performance drag racer.
[energetic rock music] [tools whirring]
Crusty Englishman John Reed, motorcycle pioneer,
now innovates modern bike design in Northern California.
[tools whirring]
And Keith Ball, motorcycle builder and journalist
from Southern California.
He's documented decades of bike history
starting when he was the editor of Easy Riders Magazine.
[air whooshing]
Sketching the chopper is Jamie Seymour.
He may be a quarter of these guys' age,
but he knows how to draw bikes.
[static buzzing] - Well, this is good.
I feel like I'm doing a build with my whole family.
[they laugh]
So we're gonna build a bike.
This is probably the first and only time we'll do this
on Monster Garage.
But I figured it had-
You know, we can't just build cars all the time.
I think we should do it like someone could do it
in their garage.
Basically so someone could see this
and they could see how to do it themselves.
- Okay.
- That Harley's a great bike and I think just taking it
and putting our spin on it
and you know, Carl do the motor,
and Marc probably do some frame stuff.
And Don can do whatever he does.
Detail stuff.
And John can stand back
and tell us how we're doing it wrong.
- So basically we've gotta build a bike,
the same that we used to make 30 years ago,
and stopped making them 30 years ago.
We gotta work our arse off for a week.
- Yeah, but you get tools. - Bitchin'
Bit of box of tools.
Man, that's bitchin'.
- John, you're a big fan of Monster Garage, right?
[they laugh]
Yeah, that's bitchin'.
- John is gonna be that guy on the build,
I can already tell.
- Yeah. - Oh yeah.
- [Announcer 3] Niceties out of the way.
It's time to chop a hog.
- Take it, we'll strip it all the way down.
I think we'll probably end up with just a bare front end,
motor trans and frame
and make it a little bit bar hopper looking.
- Can we cut it up?
- I think so.
Lower it down and maybe instead of shortening the front end,
we could stretch the frame up a little bit, you know,
so it'll drop it down and get that frame rail down
about four and a half inches or so.
- It should have at least 33 degrees right though
to make it look right.
- Okay.
- How about a 21 inch front wheel?
- Yeah. - Kick it out a little bit.
- For sure. - You know.
- [Announcer 3] Right away, they plan to add
the signature feature of a chopper,
increase the bike's rake,
or the angle in which the forks come out from the frame.
[engine roaring]
- I got a whole ton of copper.
We can make the tank out of copper.
- Or make- - And just weld it.
We don't have to rivet it. We could just weld it.
- What are we gonna do with the motor, Carl?
- We'll make it over. We're gonna bore the cases
and I understand that you will polish the cases?
- Mm-hmm.
- So when that's done, we'll make it 107 cubic inches.
We've got our own proprietary CNC cylinder heads
outta Harley casting.
Yeah, it'll be really a street performance.
It'll have about 114, 15 pounds of torque
and a little more horsepower.
- This is good. - Yeah.
- I just wanna start making stuff.
[intense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] Old school style with a new school engine.
Jesse's done planning a Jekyll and Hyde Monster Chopper.
[intense rock music] [pen squeaking]
[engine roaring]
First, chop nearly every non-essential part off this Harley.
Next, lengthen the force while raking it out
and stretching it up.
The heart of this beast will be
Jesse's custom copper gas tank,
but its soul will hold a stock engine modified
to crank out 115 horses.
[engine roaring]
[engine rumbling]
Day two. [tires screech]
[intense rock music]
Engine expert Carl Morrow's race team
tests the Harley on his mobile dyno system.
[engine roaring]
- It's a dynamometer and it tests horsepower and torque.
[engine revving]
What we're doing here,
we're gonna confirm the horsepower on the stock pipe.
You get a baseline, and then when we get the project done,
we're going to put it back on and see our horsepower gains
and there should be at least 75% increase.
[engine roaring]
- [Announcer 3] The Harley motor tests its 64 horsepower
with 81 pounds of torque.
[engine roaring]
[air whooshing] [energetic rock music]
Now it's time to work.
[static buzzing]
How do you make a 2004 heritage softail look old school?
Tear it apart.
- We like bike seats. [laughs]
Exactly, in a big hurry.
[he laughs]
- [Announcer 3] But these old school chopper dudes
treat the Harley with respect
by making it a delicate tear out.
[energetic rock music] [tools clattering]
- See, John's doing his Orange County Chopper's imitation.
He's ordering parts out of a catalog.
[they laugh] - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[energetic rock music continues]
- Okay, you're free. - Thank you.
[energetic rock music continues]
[parts clicking]
- I think I'm ready to take a shot at it.
- Oh, Keith, be gentle.
- Fire it in.
- [Announcer 3] This chopper will keep few original parts.
Lights, gotta go.
The transmission will change from chain to belt-driven
and the motor will be completely transformed.
- You sure you know what you're doing?
- Absolutely nothing.
- Absolutely nothing at all.
I don't know what I'm doing.
But I'll tell you what, I've really enjoyed-
- Just having a blast doing it.
- Now what are you guys, who are these experts?
- Yeah.
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] This Harley's a softail,
or rear suspended bike.
But early choppers kept their frames as stiff as possible.
- Starting in the very beginning of Harley Davidson.
I mean everybody had rigid frames.
They had no rear suspension.
As you can see, if this was all welded as one piece,
you have no suspension at all.
The whole chopper outlaw image is based on that frame.
And so, when they developed the softail,
the whole notion was to maintain that image.
[intense rock music] [metal parts clinking]
- It's all you guys. It's all you.
There you go.
- [Announcer 3] Completing the total tear down is the motor.
- Yeah. - We're good to go.
- I think Don knows what he's doing.
- Okay.
- Motor's free.
- You got it.
Whoa.
[metal clicking]
- Carl.
- There you go. - There it is, buddy.
We got it out for you.
- Wow, I guess we need to take it right over there.
- Around there.
Hoo-ah.
- Aw.
- Well, I can tell you're still lifting weights, man.
[he laughs]
- Yeah, I just can't bend over anymore.
- Oh yeah.
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] Instead of tossing the stock engine
and buying a new one,
Carl explains his plan for motor modification.
[dramatic boom]
- We're gonna disassemble this engine in its entirety
and we're sending it over to West Coast Choppers
to be polished.
And then we're gonna,
as soon as we get the cases back,
we will set up our boring bar here
and we will bore the cases out
to accept the larger cylinders.
We're gonna use four and an eighth inch cylinder.
It increases cubic inches from 88 cubic inches to 107.
That's what it does.
- [Announcer 3] More cubic inches means plenty
of extra power.
- Just seems like you also brought people.
- Oh yeah.
[metal parts clicking]
- Serge [indistinct] and I can't do anything without 'em.
See here.
[expl*sive boom]
- [Announcer 3] Carl Morrow has dedicated his life
to making stock Harleys rip up the runway.
This bike started out as a 1984 Harley Sportster
and is now the fastest street legal Harley anywhere
maxing out at 183 miles an hour.
It can also lay a 100 foot burnout.
- Oh yeah. Just rip the tire up.
- [Announcer 3] Thanks to Carl's motor modifications.
- Well I think the secret to making a bike fast,
Carl's got all the little secrets.
It's not about the big motor,
big pistons and stuff like that.
It's all the little tiny things.
- [Announcer 3] And Carl started breaking speed records
over 30 years ago.
- Well I set a record with a street bike
at 122 mile per hour in a quarter mile.
Later that year averaged out to 160
and set two records at Bonneville in 1972 on gasoline.
- [Announcer 3] Carl's need for speed reputation
caught the eye of a reckless young builder.
- I was a pretty wild kid when I met Carl.
You know, drinking and fighting, and you know, lawlessness.
I just remember a lot of times ending up the day
at Carl's shop.
- Jesse's always been bright
and he has learned a lot in the last 10 years.
Probably more than most have learned in a lifetime.
- I don't know if he's like a father figure
or like he reminds me of every one of my football coaches.
You know, where like they're a total jerk
but you totally love them.
[static buzzing]
- You can hear it complaining.
It's coming undone.
[metal parts clicking] Oh, there we go.
- The bike's down to its bare bones
but even the frame won't go untouched.
- But cut it down here
where it's sh**ting straight off this tube at that angle.
- Yeah, I gotcha. - Then it's natural, mm-hmm.
Right to the front where you gotta cope that.
- Yeah.
- And then we will whack these off straight in line
with this, Marc.
- Yeah, we'll cut all that out.
- And then cut this and we'll lay that shelf down
so it's flat.
And then when we'll make a seat-
- The old school was your sheet metal like this, you know,
box it all in afterwards.
- Yeah.
He is the frame guy. - Really.
- He's the last person I ever bought a frame from.
- Wait a minute, the last one?
- When I sit-
Yeah, the last was that single down tube one.
- And general consensus seems to be
just to make 'em straight,
go out a few inches, up a few inches,
and you stick to that conventional old school chop 'em up.
[expl*sive boom]
- [Announcer 3] Marc Rowe is in the Monster Garage
for one reason.
Style.
- Marc kind of, you know, took that whole pro street look
and made it like a work of art.
He's awesome.
Like some of the funny cars that he's built
to the bikes he's built,
the frames he made are what inspired me
to make my own frames.
- [Announcer 3] After 30 years
of inspiring new bike builders,
Marc now seeks new ways to improve his craft.
- You know, you make the same thing all the time,
you get bored.
I like to do the design part and the AutoCAD work
and things like that.
Like to create something new and then run it through
and after that I kind of lose interest in it, you know.
- But this whole piece Marc made out of solid billet
so that we can get better air flow.
Take a look inside.
[upbeat rock music]
- They probably know me as the guy,
if I can't fix it, then it can't be fixed.
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] By the end of the day,
the old timers prove they can still do some damage.
- Well, we kept everything that we wanted
and we threw the rest of it over there.
- Yeah.
- There is a couple of nuts and bolts left.
- Normally it would take a minimum of 40 days.
- [Announcer 3] But these builders have only four more days
to get their wheel spinning.
Monster Garage factoid.
For its 60th anniversary,
the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally had 633,000 bikers
in attendance.
[intense rock music]
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
[engine roaring]
- [Announcer 3] Day three.
These bike pros have kept only two major parts
from their Harley,
leaving plenty of custom chopping to be done.
- Let me just be serious for just one minute.
This is the only time I'm gonna be serious in this time.
Yeah, no listen.
Yeah, I watched you guys yesterday.
You've lots and lots of talented people there.
Where I can see stopping down is on parts,
getting the parts through.
We've gotta stop and decide what we want now,
order it now and get it.
- Sure. Just try to condense it.
Give us a Reader's Digest version of that.
- Okay.
I'll give you a version now.
We need to get parts today.
- You already said- - Don't procrastinate.
We need parts to get now. - You said-
- Okay, let's do it then. - We're not children.
[tense music]
- [Announcer 3] Looks like the Geritol hasn't quite
kicked in this morning.
[air whooshing]
Grumpy morning underway.
John takes out some aggression on the Harley stock frame.
[saw whirring] [intense rock music]
Jesse, still busted up from his NASCAR crash,
hobbles in to start his custom gas tank.
[saw whirring] [intense rock music]
First step, cut pieces of copper.
Next, stretch the metal with an echoed craft former
to give them some shape.
- I think it's pretty cool
that I just got this machine yesterday.
[he laughs]
It's like I always had it. [laughs]
[saw whirring]
- Yeah.
[saw whirring]
- Gas tank.
[tool clatters]
- [Announcer 3] One hammer for shaping
and another for finishing,
Jesse's planishing hammer smooths out
the early stages of the tank.
[metal grinding] [energetic rock music]
[spray can hissing]
[air whooshing]
- It's too flat.
It needs more- [blows raspberry]
Needs more shape.
[metal clatters]
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] Carl crunches some numbers
to see how fast this monster will fly.
- So the top speed would be-
- Well it's way too too fast. - It'd be about-
- It'd be about 168. - Yeah.
- You know what that means? - Right.
- The RPM.
[he laughs]
- He'll by flying - I can't imagine Jesse
cruising around 168.
[intense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] To get him going that fast,
Serge starts to take apart the engine.
[electric guitar screeching]
- We're gonna bore the cases out so we can put
our bigger four and eighth inch bore cylinders.
[metal grinding]
That's gonna make it 107 cubic inches.
Once we get done machining it for that,
we're gonna take and machine out the cam cavity here
for our 600 left cams that we're gonna install.
[tense rock music]
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] When rebuilding a frame,
start with the classic goose neck
and work your way back.
[tense rock music continues]
With Marc's garage fabricated jig,
they can determine the new goose neck's placement and angle.
- 35.
- Well then the total array can be 38.
[tools whirring]
Roughly around there.
I'm wondering about the angle.
Is the angle right though?
That's the top of the tube.
- So you have this really ugly stock casting here.
Well what we're doing is replacing the stock casting
with a really nice machined steel neck that's real clean
that we can weld the tubes up to.
And Marc Rowe is a frame builder.
He's a professional at that.
So we're gonna really have a beautiful frame
when we're finished.
[expl*sive boom]
- [Announcer 3] There are bike experts
and then there's Keith Ball.
[intense rock music]
- He's a gatekeeper of the motorcycle industry.
And how long was he the editor of Easy Riders?
Like 25 or 30 years.
- I got to oversee the entire industry
and that was kind of an interesting perspective.
And unlike a lot of journalists,
I was actually involved too. [camera flash clicking]
I rode, I built bikes.
- [Announcer 3] While writing for the chopper rag,
Keith met an unknown bike builder
that went by the name of Jesse James.
- I liked his attitude.
He wasn't messing around.
I always tried to to work with him
and promote him through Easy Riders at the time.
- [Announcer 3] Keith left Easy Riders
to write fictional books about the outlaw lifestyle
and run the website bikernet.com.
- He's kind of I think that father figure too, you know,
that's been around and kind of coached me
and let me know when I was doing good
and let me know when I was [metal clattering] up.
I think he's just an outlaw.
Some people try to be that and and try to act like that
but unless it's in your blood, you know, you can't be it.
It's definitely in Keith's blood.
[intense rock music]
[engine rumbling]
- You know, this has really been a pleasure
to be able to work with guys I've known for 30 years.
- [Announcer 3] Looks like old school is getting a visit
from new school.
[shutters bang open] [intense rock music]
The mad men of Metal Militia.
[engines buzzing]
- Yahoo.
I wish my Harley'd run like that.
- [laughs] Yeah.
Unbelievable. [laughs]
- [Announcer 3] After smoking up the garage,
the Militia invites the builders
to check them outdoors after work.
[air whooshing]
- Alright, do it.
- [Announcer 3] Carl and the team
send their bored out cylinder casings
for an overnight polish.
Parts go out. Parts come in.
- This is engine jewelry.
There is such a thing.
- [Announcer 3] Carl's got his cleaned up cylinder heads.
[air whooshing]
After only a few hours work,
Jesse eyeballs the placement of his half finished tank.
- Yep.
- Yeah. - All right.
- He's laughing at you.
- I didn't even wanna criticize him, you know.
- Why not?
- Well look at his success and look at mine.
- [Announcer 3] They may be older and slower,
but they're quick to judge Jesse's tank.
- A little discrepancy going on a while ago
about Jesse's tank.
We were all looking at it,
not really liking it all that much, so.
[tools clattering] [air whooshing]
The word watermelon came up.
I don't know where that came from, but I heard that.
[intense rock music] [tools whirring]
- [Announcer 3] Relax, boys.
If there's something this man knows,
it's how to piss people off
and prove himself right in the long run.
[air whooshing]
The day's nearly done and so is Marc's frame modification.
- Basically all we did was take the stock goose neck off,
we cut it off here and we cut it off below these mounts
so that we could run this tube down
and catch the tangent point of this radius.
We ended up going up four inches
because that brought the plane of the seat in line.
And we stretched it out three inches
and we raked it to 35 degrees
and we have five degree,
a three degree tree coming.
So the total break will be 38.
Well it's gonna be something else.
I just don't know what that fuel tank's gonna look like.
[intense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] The work's done,
so why not head over and check out
the Militia's favorite way to fly.
[air whooshing]
[intense rock music] [engine buzzing]
- [Announcer 3] These stuntmen travel the globe
performing the sickest stunt demos
while dominating extreme sports competitions.
- The bottom line, the Metal Militia's pretty much
the most hardcore dirt bikers in action sports.
[engine buzzing]
I would say Monster Garage and the Metal Militia
were kind of a match made in heaven.
[intense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] The metal militia's 18 riders
have performed in dozens of countries,
six motion pictures, countless music videos,
and are swamped by fans worldwide.
And the only one with a college degree
never gets a chance to use it.
[intense rock music]
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
[laid back electronic music] [engines roaring]
- [Announcer 3] Day four.
The chopper to be is all framed up
with nowhere to go.
- Ball's in your court, Carl.
Hurry up and get that engine done.
[he laughs]
- Well, all we're waiting for now is West Coast Choppers.
As soon as they bring the cases back,
we're ready to put it together.
- And John, you can grind.
- I'll do anything that's needed.
But at the moment, my main thing, this has to be done
and I want it to look dead nice.
- Yeah. - So.
- Well, it sure looks sharp now.
[metal clattering] - Let's go.
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] True to his word,
the Englishman grinds away factory powder coating.
- Now possibly see what you think is interesting about this.
[tool hissing]
- [Announcer 3] And finds time to philosophize.
- A lot of people come on these shows
so they can show how much they know.
I come on this show to find out how much these guys know.
So we have to gain from the experience.
And this is, you know, very experienced.
[dramatic boom]
- [Announcer 3] Believe it or not,
this irritable Englishman
has been a bike celebrity for decades.
[engine rumbling]
- It's amazing. I can't believe it.
There's so much detail on it everywhere.
John, how much is something like this worth?
- I'm not even gonna tell you.
[she laughs]
- [Announcer 3] This unique style may have put him
on the BBC.
But it also changed the life of none other than Jesse James.
- The reason why he's here is
when I was about eight years old,
they had a big bike show at a Long Beach Convention Center
my dad took me to.
And I saw this bike that was a Yamaha
that had crazy billet wheels, you know,
that and it had all this airbrush, all this stuff.
And it's the bike that I saw
that made me wanna start building bikes.
That sure as hell don't make him a nice person.
- Catch me at a bad time, I'm gonna hurt you seriously.
But then he made a mistake of telling me
that he was in the bathroom one day
and he saw a picture of my bikes
and it changed his life.
And that's a wrong thing to tell me.
I think we're friends really
in a funny sort of way, you know.
[engine rumbling]
- [Announcer 3] When not tormenting his pals,
John locks himself in his home studio
creating bike accessory prototypes
for parts manufacturer Custom Chrome.
- If I make a part,
man, people who went into a shop on their own
and they looked at all the mirrors and everything
and they say, "I want that one."
And it gives me a perverted sense of pleasure.
Could you go away? I'm trying to get on with some work here.
I'm trying to make this look interesting.
[tools whirring]
- [Announcer 3] If John's worried about looks,
he shouldn't have bothered.
Jesse's got it covered.
[intense rock music]
- Well, we got the wheels from West Coast Choppers.
This is an 18200. Jesse James signature wheel.
That's a beautiful wheel.
[metal clicking]
- [Announcer 3] Along with the wheels,
several other parts arrive
including a vital engine component.
[tense electronic music] [tools whirring]
- Finally got these cases back from [indistinct].
- [Announcer 3] These casings were drilled then polished,
and are finally ready for assembly.
To match the new frame,
this chopper will reveal a signature chopper style,
longer front forks.
[tools whirring] - 48 to 56.
- 6. Figure eight inch over.
That'll give her some length.
- [Announcer 3] Jesse's back from a trip to the doctor
with bad news about an ankle that won't heal.
- This is actually gonna get [indistinct] tomorrow though.
- I re-broke the bone in my ankle.
- [Announcer 3] Re-broke an ankle or not,
there's a tank that needs to be done in two days.
- I like how they don't like it.
That's how I know it's gonna be good.
- What? - They don't like it.
[static buzzing]
- The word watermelon came up.
[echoing] Watermelon.
[static buzzing] - They're old.
Welding a fuel tank together is pretty critical
'cause any kind of porosity or carbon
or crap in the weld will make it leak.
- That's bad.
- Yeah, you get an air bubble in the weld on this,
then gas is just gonna pour out of it.
[slow rock music]
Unwind your little coals.
Then when it's all welded together,
it's the same type of metal,
so it won't even have a mark there.
It'll be all polished and smooth
and you won't even be able to tell it was welded.
That's 'cause I'm got good learning.
[intense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] The tank is starting to look like
it'll hold some gas.
But Jesse's just getting started.
[metal grinding]
- Could wear that.
[he laughs]
- Mom, Dad, Colonel Fielding.
Hello. Jesse, you are so great.
[upbeat, relaxing music]
Welder.
No, no work's getting done.
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] After a long day of chopping hogs,
Jesse calls a meeting of the minds.
- No, don't put a front fender on it.
- No. - If we're gonna-
- Hey, I'll make something real different for you.
- I'm in the fender business.
I don't wanna put a fender on it.
- You ain't gonna have a fender.
[Jesse laughs]
Just make something to get rid of these.
- No, let's take those off 'cause-
- No, you take this-
- Stop and listen to me. - Sit over there.
Come in here in the middle of the day.
- Oh, just take it off.
- You think John forgot his medicine at home or something?
[they laugh]
- [Announcer 3] Four days in the garage
and we have a cranky Brit,
a skeptical crew, Jesse re-breaking limbs
and only two days left to finish the bike.
[lights click off]
- [Announcer 3] Day five greets the builders
with a ton of parts from Custom Chrome.
[air whooshing]
Now they have a ton of work to do.
- More parts. More parts.
[energetic rock music]
- [Announcer 3] So the boys start building a bike.
The Harley is finally looking like a chopper.
And with this morning delivery,
Carl can make it growl like one.
- Well this is the cylinder head
that's gonna go on our 107 inch motor.
This looks almost like chrome.
[intense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] Larger cylinder heads
crank more combustion energy through the engine.
[cougar roaring]
And Jesse, after spending days shaping a tank,
decides to hack it apart.
- So I'm gonna cut this in half 'cause I can't get it,
the hammer inside there to hammer it
and make it all perfect and straight.
So it's easier just to cut it in half
and finish the sides and then re-weld it
and then just finish that one weld down the center, so.
[tank clatters] [intense rock music]
[tools whirring]
[tools whirring]
- [Announcer 3] The longer front forks are in the garage
and ready for assembly.
[tools whirring]
- Now we're finally putting the front end together.
[tense rock music]
- Got the break on the right side here.
All right.
- [Announcer 3] The one of a kind monster chopper
comes together for the very first time.
- Gonna look good.
[expl*sive boom]
- [Announcer 3] This mild mannered bike builder
is about to receive some rare praise from Jesse.
- Now we're pretty good.
- I think Don is probably the best bike builder
in the world.
I think pound for pound as far as details
and doing a solid 100%, you know, bike that works
and it'll work forever.
- My bike's got a lot of detail.
I mean it's just every little thing.
It's fit and finished.
Sometimes I think it takes me a little bit longer
to build a bike sometimes because of that
'cause I get a little fussy.
[energetic rock music] [tires screeching]
- [Announcer 3] Whether it's fussiness
or just plain high quality hard work,
Don is one of Jesse's inspirations.
- Giving credit where credit's due, you know.
There's a lot of people that have influenced me
over the last, you know, 15, 18 years
when I got my first Harley
and he's definitely one of them, you know.
Seeing pictures of his bike
and you know, reading through old issues of Easy Riders
and finding out who he was, you know.
Don Speed and Custom, who's this guy?
- [Announcer 3] And after all these years,
Jesse invited Don to this build
so he could work with one of his heroes.
- Kind of had seen him at the trade shows
and we talked and stuff.
But that's about as far as it goes.
[intense rock music]
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] As the chopper continues taking shape
in the garage,
Carl's ready to add something vital.
- Get it set in.
There we go.
Come down just a little bit.
- Hey, we learned all this from Monster Garage.
- [Announcer 3] The team reinstalls the swing arm,
keeping this chopper a softail.
While the quiet New Hampshireite
scraps together a motor mount to match his neck gusset.
- Top motor mount.
[metal scraping]
Put it together like that.
[intense rock music]
[live band playing rock music]
- [Announcer 3] Hours before the engine's wired
to make noise,
there's a band that makes Jesse grumpy.
[guitar strumming]
- Hey you guys, beat it. You're giving me a headache.
That's it.
See you guys.
This is an American bandstand.
- Hey, did you unplug us for some reason?
- Play music that's gonna make us work better
and not worse.
[upbeat western music]
[tense rock music]
- This is like real work.
It's hard, you know.
So much stuff has been done in the motorcycle industry
that it's hard to do something different.
That thing's gonna be a nice bike.
I'm gonna have fun riding it.
- [Announcer 3] Jesse likes it.
But will the team be impressed with his handiwork?
- What do you think? Whole top.
- Yeah! - I like it.
- It doesn't look that good. - I ain't even lying to you.
[Jesse laughs] See.
- That's good.
- That's a heritage softail, man.
Looks like the guy riding it might kick your a*s.
- [Announcer 3] This chopper is getting loaded.
But the only one leaving tracks
is Carl's 200 mile an hour racing sun.
- [Announcer 2] Will this team of old school legends
get their monster together in time?
- And we'll see what happens.
- [Announcer 2] Or will John continue to beat his seat?
- It hasn't changed.
- [Announcer 2] Don't you change either.
We'll be right back.
[intense rock music]
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
[engines buzzing] [slow electronic music]
- [Announcer 3] It's the final day of the chopper build
and there's electricity in the air.
[electricity buzzing] And underfoot.
[metal clicking]
- John, get your a*s off my wiring harness.
[static buzzing]
- So Don, can I help you with the wiring at all?
- Oh, I'm anxious to drill some holes
in that nice frame that Marc welded up.
- Oh God.
- Let me get you a drill.
- Are we ready to rock?
- Let's do it. On the other side.
- [Announcer 3] The final morning is underway.
Even John wants to get down to business.
[energetic rock music]
- Don't mess with me this time.
Come and mess with me me after 12
and then mess me with me, and I'll mess with you then.
[energetic rock music]
- It'd be good if we get that haul right.
- Right to there.
- [Announcer 3] The journalist pin cushions the frame
to run wires.
While Don preps the stock wiring harness
originally intended for a fuel injected motor.
- The new ignition module is for a carburetted model.
It has two small plugs, which this doesn't have.
So we can't find a harness for such,
so I'm just gonna build it.
- When we crank this, I want it to start the first time.
Or they promised they'd all beat my a*s.
[tools whirring] [they laugh]
- [Announcer 3] A chopper can't be wired
until the parts are mounted.
And John still hasn't customized a coil mount from scratch.
- How you doing John?
- I'm just getting anxious is all.
- I am as well. I can't get any any faster.
[air whooshing] [energetic rock music]
- [Announcer 3] These builders aren't used
to monster style deadlines.
But they push ahead on all fronts.
- Well we got the carburetor, the typhoon,
our all billet carburetor we're going to install.
It's made out of a solid five
and a three quarter square block of aluminum.
And it's a constant velocity carburetor,
which means it's two inches.
But if the engine doesn't call for it,
it's a vacuum that it will not open up all the way
until it needs it.
So it'll be a small carburetor until it's a big one.
See that needle jet?
And it just opens up as it needs it.
[energetic rock music]
- [Announcer 3] For the build's final day,
the wounded welder arrives late.
[speaking in Spanish]
- My ribs hurt and I'm all tired
and I see that and I'm just like, whoa.
That's why I'm doing this.
That looks cool.
- [Announcer 3] Right away, the team looks to Jesse
for a decision on handlebars.
- Do you want to just make another set?
- They need to be like right here.
[tense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] Monkey bars it is.
[air whooshing]
The gorilla says take the 16 inch apes
and make 'em eight.
[metal clinking]
[intense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] John has finished his custom coil mount
but there's no rest for the ornery.
- Hey John.
You can do that seat pan if you want.
- Okay.
[metal clanging] [calm jazz music]
- [Announcer 3] Handlebars are quickly installed
and Jesse checks their placement.
Even though there's only a few hours to go,
Jesse's still pushing the team to make improvements.
- Well, if you want.
- No, we gotta go. It's gotta go way up.
- Wait there.
- Like, at least that much more.
- Okay.
- Because that's gonna hit you
right in the center of your butt crack.
It's gonna be really uncomfortable.
- Okay.
- Let's cut that off, straight up.
Straight up from the axle.
Actually this can hang off, you know.
So this is right here?
Yeah, take those off.
I got another set we'll try.
- Here you go.
- Should we put a cover on that bell drive?
I kind of like them just all open like that.
So it looks like if you crashed, it'd gnaw your ankle off.
- [laughs] It's old school.
- It hasn't changed. - What hasn't changed?
- That. It's gotta come way up like curved.
- Yeah, but this still-
- You need like this much more on it.
Two inches more on the back. - Think so?
- Yeah.
[energetic rock music]
- Yeah. - No, no.
Just right off of here.
Take it up right off of here and over.
- But we got all the hydraulic lines hooked up.
So if there's no leaks, we got brakes,
we got the clutch, transmission's full of fluid.
So we're getting close.
- This is the bike of my dreams.
Built by good friends that I've made since I got here.
[he laughs] [he exhales]
[metal whirring] [intense rock music]
- [Announcer 3] The moment has come.
The tank of Jesse's dreams is finally finished.
[intense rock music continues]
- It looks pretty not friendly.
I like it.
[air whooshing]
- This is old school with new school technology.
The design is basically old school,
but the actual technology used in it is all new school.
- [Announcer 3] It may have some new school elements,
but this bike represents what choppers are all about.
Streamlined, cut down, only the essential
and completely gnarly.
- I kinda like it all mismatched.
It's more chopper looking.
- I just assumed spray it all clear.
Yeah.
Oh, it's a good looking bike.
- Wired, exactly what this [indistinct].
[intense rock music]
- Are these the right ones?
- Hey?
[intense rock music continues]
[air whooshing]
- [Announcer 3] With time running out,
it's Carl's turn to strut his stuff.
- Well this is the first test on the system.
We'll see what happens.
- All right. Monster Garage is gonna hear some noise.
[intense electronic music]
That cool?
[engine roaring]
[engine shutting down]
- Wow.
- All right. Cool. - Yeah.
- Growl.
- Sounds like a Carl's Speed Shop motor.
- That's music to my ears really.
This kind of music I kind of like.
- There you go, this is really-
- [Announcer 3] To complete their build,
the team places their final mod.
A custom sissy bar just for the injured Jesse.
[he laughs] [tense rock music]
[he laughs]
[they laugh]
- I don't want the filter on yet.
We'll do that after the dial.
- That a six piece?
- Yeah it is.
That's perfect.
[they laugh]
- That's good.
[they laugh]
- [Announcer 3] Now the bike finishes where it started,
on the dyno to see how many horses it gained
in the Monster Garage.
[static buzzing]
- Well, it'll be 112, 115 horsepower.
[intense rock music] [engine rumbling]
[engine roaring]
- [Announcer 3] What can a little technology
from Florida get you?
Almost double the horsepower
on a totally reconstructed build of a lifetime.
- 115.
- 115. - I told you.
- Unbelievable.
[air whooshing] [slow rock music]
- I have so much respect for all these guys.
My career in Monster Garage probably wouldn't even exist
if it wasn't for guys like Keith putting me in magazines
and Marc Rowe giving me a deal on frames
so I could build bikes that went on magazines.
And guys like John Reed that, you know,
got me deals at Custom Chrome
and let me meet people in Europe
that gave me new ideas, you know.
And guys like Hotop that told me what I was doing wrong.
And guys like Carl
that let me come in and work on my motor at night for free.
It's pretty humbling.
- It's the generation.
- [indistinct]
- Yes.
- Don. Carl.
- Oh yeah. Jesse.
- Keith.
- Where's John?
[they laugh]
- Thanks guys. It was my pleasure.
Mac Tools.
Monster Garage CD.
Good job.
- You too, John.
- It's okay. It's okay.
[they laugh]
- Damn mastermind.
- Cool.
Episode number 50 in the bag.
- [Announcer 3] Build cost tally.
Hard cash, $3,250.
Freebie value, $25,682 and 30 cents.
Vehicle cost, $17,000.
Grand total, $45,932.
[intense rock music]
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
[tense rock music]
- Black.
[spray can hissing]
- I haven't painted a bike in a while.
I used to paint every bike I built.
All the ones I built in my garage.
[tense rock music continues] [spray can hissing]
- We'll let that set up for a little bit,
for 20 minutes, and then we'll clear.
[spray can hissing]
[cougar roaring]
[intense rock music]
- [Frankie] Hey Schwag, guess what.
- [Schwag] Frankie, is that you?
- [Frankie] Who else would it be, Schwag?
Of course it's me.
- [Schwag] Frankie Whiteside back again
for another monster challenge.
- [Frankie] Nice to be here, big Schwag.
Now that the monster's all painted up,
it's time to take her out for a ride.
- [Schwag] She sure looks purdy, Frankie.
- [Frankie] It's not just how she looks, Schwag,
it's also how she runs.
- [Schwag] Frankie, she's running smooth.
- [Frankie] Where are we headed today, Schwag?
- [Schwag] We're staying right here
on the streets of the good old LBC.
- [Frankie] Schwag, did you know,
Long Beach was founded way back in 1882?
- [Schwag] You don't say, Frankie.
You got any other edifications you want
to throw my way, buddy?
- [Frankie] Schwagman, Long Beach takes up
and has a population of nearly a half a million people.
- [Schwag] But only one Jesse James.
And only one brand new old school chopper.
- [Frankie] You gotta be kidding me, Schwag.
- [Schwag] Hey, that's my line, Frankie.
Let's just watch this baby cruise.
[intense rock music]
- It's a great project
because it shows people what they can do
with their stock bike.
Showing stuff like stretching and raking a stock frame
and doing it right and doing it so it's straight
and runs true and goes down the highway perfect.
Making a simple nice little gas tank that isn't gonna crack
and you know, motor trans, you know, all that stuff.
I think it's good to show people that simple stuff.
You know, sure we can do radical,
you know, half million dollar bikes,
but it's kind of, you know, not everybody can afford that.
And I think this is good to show stuff, you know,
compacted into five days and showing the stuff you can do.
[intense rock music]
- [Frankie] Long Beach has seen a lot of choppers
in its day, Schwag.
But it's never seen one like this.
- [Schwag] And it'll never see one like it again.
'Cause Jesse's got no time for bikes that aren't chopped,
schools that aren't old
or leaving the streets of Long Beach.
He's got metal to burn, sparks to fly!
The next Monster Garage Challenge is what, Frankie?
- [Frankie] Just around the bend!
[intense rock music]
[choral hum]
[uplifting chime chiming]
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04x09 - Old School Chopper
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A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine."
A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine."