Paul Jr. leaves OCC

Anybody watch American Chopper?
Technically Paul Jr. was fired for real this time, but I think he should have quit a long time ago. Senior is nothing without Paul Jr. Junior was mulling over possibly starting his own company. He should definitely start his own company... it would put OCC out of business.

I used to watch, i fell out of love with the show after a couple of seasons. I think You're right, Paul Sr should have bent over backwards to keep his "cash cow" not to mention his son. Lots of anger in that family. Mikey was my favorite character. Any information on why he was fired?

lets face it after vinny left Paul Jr. wasnt the same. Plus its family they will get back together thats how its works when you destroy your family

The basic idea is....
1) Vinny quit a few years ago because he wasn't getting enough respect
2) Senior fired Junior because Senior wasn't getting enough respect

About Vinny.........
Vinny was the SKILL behind the entire operation. Sure Junior came up with most of the ideas, but in the last several years Junior was getting lazy and not really showing up for work. So when Vinny was still around, Vinny became the one to conceptualize, design, fabricate, electrical wire, and assemble the bikes all by himself. Then (and this is the major issue), Senior and Junior would present the bikes to the customer and receive all of the praise. Vinny threatened to quit and Senior in his pompous attitude said go ahead and leave because we can easily find somebody to replace you.

About Junior.....
He was the BRAINS behind the entire operation. He came up with all of the cool designs, but didn't have the best skills. None the less, he had enough skill to add the finishing touches to the bikes. But basically the success of OCC was due to the incredible imagination of Junior which he translated into cutting edge designs.

About Senior....
He has no skill, no brains, but lots of money. He's essentially the financial backer to the whole operation. Most importantly he is VERY insecure. Over the past several years his insecurity has just been building up as Junior criticizes his actions at every moment. Funny enough, Senior criticizes Junior too, but it just bounces off Junior, wheras criticism really sinks into Senior.

Why Junior was fired.......
We see in this season opener that Senior is attempting to build a bike himself and Junior is totally laying into him and criticizing his lack of skill at every point. On the side bar interviews Junior says to the camera that he needs to keep an eye on his dad or else everything will go to s#%t. Next scene is in the office. Senior calls in Junior and verbally anihilates him picking on small stuff like you never show up to work on time. Junior retorts, but the job still gets done. They both start throwing things at the walls, and Junior storms out and goes home. This time its for real (in the past Junior would just return the next day). Next scene Senior and 5 of his top staff are in a meeting with a new customer regarding a new bike project. Meanwhile Junior is at home on the phone with his lawyer examining his options and saying he wants to start his own company.

Junior should of done this a long time ago. If Junior actually goes through with this... OCC is doomed for failure.

...sorry guys, you can see how much I love the show

I don't know about doomed I think that OCC can bring in plenty of talent even more do to the money they have also Jr can play that he was the man behind everything when he starts up his own company anyway I hadn't watched a show in about a year turn it on and this **** was going on I had to catch the replay 2 hours after anyway we all know the star is Mikey thanks for the rundown though

Junior, this is the wrong time to start a business. Especially a business that nobody needs. In times like these the last guys to get paid are the guys building hotrods and choppers. I dont even think anyone in that shop was especially talented, they had the good fortune of having a TV show drop into their lap and all they had to do was not screw it up. I think they may have over-expanded may may have to pay the price if they didnt save a lot of what they earned.
Side note, a guy in my area was on the "Ax men" show. People would see him in taverns and buy drinks for him and give him all kinds of free s#!t. Unfortunately for him his logging practices were illegal and he didnt get any permits so when the State Dept. of natural resources saw him on TV they busted his ass.

Funny enough that same recent episode finishes with Senior talking about expanding OCC into Europe (without Junior!) LOL. It was really quite amusing, Senior and his top 5 guys sitting in front of a big map of the world pinned to the wall, and one of them was up there with a pointer stick saying hmmm, how about South Africa? And of course he had to point to it because nobody knew where it was.

And you're right, they are lucky that they had the tv show drop in their lap because what it really comes down to is that their corporate customers do not really want a bike at all, they just want an entire one hour episode talking about their corporation so that they get exposure. Almost like its a one hour commercial for the client's company! That's why OCC maintains ownership of the bike after its built. Because nobody wants it.

As for AxMen, I love that show too. Crazy to hear about that guy you mention. What exactly was he doing that was illegal?

Senior also was on "NHL Live!" last week, you might able to find the podcast interview in iTunes or nhl.com. He talked al ittle bit about the episode and other stuff, good interview.

Thanks for the heads up, I just listened to the podcast. Unfortunately nothing new on there, but it is funny that Senior says "there's boxers, there's cage fighters, but then there's these guys (hockey players)"
(says it at 5:35)
listen here

I don't watch the show much. Too much theatrics for me.

I like some of Seniors old school bikes. Can't say I like their other stuff.

I would love to see a show about Zero Engineering. I like the bikes that look like you drove them through the junkyard!

The "Aqua logger" didnt get any permits for pulling those logs out of the river.