Choppers!!!
Again, in reference to Manufacturing Week I attended this tuesday; Yeah, nothing says Excellence in Manufacturing like a hot, expensive MOTORCYCLE.
Yeah, it brings people around, yeah, it makes a splash, but does it have anything to do with what you’re trying to sell? I think not.
Now, I use SolidWorks, and it’s an awesome design package. Hell, I’m trying to get it to be standardized companywide. Do I get a motorcycle for this? No. Should I? No.
And while we’re on the subject:
Orange County Choppers? Yeah, right.
Look, give me a huge supply of comped tools, a big workshop, a film crew, a big budget, and a high profile customer, as well as suppliers anxious to give me shit to see their brand on TV? Man, I bet I could build a chopper. No, I’m not saying the show isn’t fun to watch, on the few occasions I’ve caught it, I’m not saying they don’t do a nice job; but seriously. This isn’t anything like the real world.
Now: Give them a budget of four grand. Give them a small cramped shop, and fifteen inexperienced workers. Give them twenty-four hours, and a pickup truck load of used parts that are marginal at best, and let them produce a reliable, nice looking chopper out of that. Then I’ll be impressed. Because, in the real world, there are tight budgets, hard deadlines, and you often have to work with old, bad tools and substandard components, and you have to make do.
“Oh, I took a lot of money and a great shop and skilled crew and I MANAGED to make a chopper, but some old bastard had to yell at everyone a lot to make it happen” Sheesh. Big Fucking Deal.
Interesting.
They used an Indian motor rather than an S&S…
Reminds me of that ‘New Yankee Workshop’ on PBS. Here’s a guy with at least $50,000 worth of tools & equipment- a lot of it probably comped- and “Here’s where to send your money for plans so YOU can build this, too!”