When Jesse James and his West Coast Choppers first appeared on the Discovery channel the world got a small taste of what custom motorcycles were all about. The economy was good and many men started to dream about having their own custom motorcycle. Of course many of them being upper middle class soccer dads thought the biker lifestyle as portrayed by the great Jesse was a little too scary for them.
Then the Teutels came along. American Chopper struck a chord with men that Jesse failed to do. It made them spend money. Suddenly every man in American over thirty wanted a custom motorcycle. And those that had the money bought them up in droves. Custom bike shops sprang up in almost every small town in the country and many a custom motorcycle builder thought they had hit pay dirt.