Luckily for me I just got a good old regular firm handshake that cracked every knuckle, but I smiled through it and sat down rubbing my hand. His hand came out and as it did, I was just hoping I wasn’t going to get one of those state side multiple hit, slide, and knuckle handshakes as I can’t do them. Once in his office, Jesse arose from his large chair and towered above me, I wished at that point I’d eaten Shredded Wheat for breakfast and done some push ups. So, now I was getting worried and a little apprehensive as come on, I’m just a wee man from the hills of Yorkshire and now I was about to be introduced to Jesse James, a descendant of the original outlaw and by the looks of things so far, he’s bad. The large chained up dog which looked at me like I was a piece of succulent chicken, made me look for hiding places nearby in case I had to run. All sections are set out in what is really a whole block or around 80,000 square feet in downtown Long Beach and are heavily guarded by a huge iron gates which would not look out of place in a prison.Īs I was escorted to Jesse’s office area, I was trying to take it all in as I walked passed cool graffiti walls and several neon signs, the one that stuck in my mind the most was the one saying ‘F*ck Off Mother F*cker’ just outside his door, hardly the greeting I was hoping. There are around 50 employees throughout the business, 5 sheet metal, 3 painters, 4 motorcycle assemblers, 5 frame/fenders (mud-guards for us Brits) and pipes, 4 CNC operators, 4 designers, 2 engineers, 1 laser cutter and then there is shipping, apparel, admin the list goes on. The workshops were enormous, the cars and bikes being built were grand to say the least and the area dedicated to Jesse’s toys was impressive. I don’t like crashing bikes at the best of times but when a motorcycle has taken 12 months of planning and building, it’s totally one of a kind and the only one in the world plus the builder just happens to be built like a brick sh*t house and has a ‘Pay up Sucker’ tattoo, you know no to upset him.Īs I strolled into West Coast Choppers in Long Beach California, there was one thing apparent right from the off and that was everything was huge. If there was one bike I didn’t want to crash, then it had to be this one.
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