It's rather unfortunate. A LONG time ago, for those of us that can remember West Coast Choppers, Jesse James was actually a skilled builder. He was one of the few who actually made a bike from the ground up - welded his own frame together, rolled his own gas tanks, etc. You could really appreciate the talent needed to fabricate a great deal of the parts by hand. I used to make all my custom bike parts by hand as well, so I know the amount of work that went into it.
If you get good, stand out, win a couple of big shows and events, like Rats-Hole or something, you get noticed. He became well-known, and eventually a television "celebrity". The bike-building industry took off. Heck, if it weren't for the fat-tire wars of the late 90's, early 2000's, tire prices for bikes wouldn't be as low as they are today. Hell, I remember when a Metzeler 250 was $700, for crying out loud. Unfortunately, the reality tv shows presented us with a great deal of drama and crap. OCC are really nothing more than bike "assemblers", rather than builders. In the industry we call them cake-decorators. Any retard can get a set of instructions and build a bike. All you're doing is bolting parts together, slapping paint on it and away you go.
I believe the fame, etc, just kind of went to his head. Whatever the reason, I dunno, he went downhill. No one takes him seriously, he's in the news for whatever drama is the flavour of the day or makes for what the media believes will sell television air time, and there you go. My personal opinion is that he is indeed a sell-out, and has become quite a fake, trying merely to capitalize on his status as barely a B-lister. I suppose there are those who still buy his products for this very reason - those are the same losers who wear "Sons of Anarchy" gear and think they are cool members of the biker community. Maybe his guns are good. Maybe someone finds them attractive and valued for the price. Not me.
I do, however, remember when he was the real deal. He used to be quite good at it.
Cannon
