American Chopper: Tribute to David Mann

In this episode of American Chopper, Orange County Choppers build a bike to dedicate to a hero of theirs, David Mann. Paul Sr. received a call from Easyrider’s magazine letting him know that David was very ill and in the hospital battling emphysema. He decided to build a bike to present to David to lift his spirits and to thank him for being such an inspiration to him and the biker community.

David Mann was an artist to say the least. He painted with a sort of magical whimsy in all of his paintings. He painted of many things, but was admired in the biker’s community worldwide for his paintings in Easyrider’s magazine. Mann had his paintings published for so many years that Rick Petco recalls seeing them in his dad’s issues of the magazine.

The build began with a vision and theme, like they all do, and a very talented artist named Leticia from JB Grafix came on to create a very unique flame design that would flow throughout the bike. She uses different sized burs and tips to etch a flame design into the bare metal. They decide to carry the flame work right through the handlebars. Leticia started off by taking pictures of the bike. The guys were then ready to begin the assembly of the bike and ran into a problem with the exhaust. They had two exhaust pipes running one on top of the other right under the tranny but the lowest exhaust laid too low to the ground and there was not enough clearance. Easy fix…they just raised both exhaust up an inch and all was fine.

On day two, Paul Sr. received another call, this time from Mike Lichter, a photographer for Easyrider magazine, notifying Paul Sr. of David’ passing. It was evident that Paul Sr. was upset over the news and he shared it with Paulie and Rick. Paul Sr. thought that he would have pulled through and would be able to see his bike. David said he was feeling good about the recognition. Even though David wouldn’t get to see the bike, they were going to continue the build.

It was a somber mood around the shop but Rick, Vinnie, Paulie and Paul Sr. wanted to make the best possible bike. They finished fabrication and got the bike ready to go out to paint the next day.

Orange County Choppers commissioned an artist, Kristina, to paint the bike with David Mann riding it. Paul Sr.’s plan for it is to publish around 3,000 of them and sell them to help out David’s family with outstanding bills since he didn’t have any medical insurance. Kristina will paint this image and called it his final ride into the mountains.

Ok, Rock and Roll Baby, the plan for paint. David Mann’s signature will go on the back fender and his logo on the oil tank. So Mikee fumbles into the show finally. I love this guy. He promptly spills Vinnies good cup of coffee and uses Paulie's t-shirt to mop up the mess. The parts are sent out to paint and they call it a day.

That night Paulie, Mikee, and Paul Sr. start a fire to burn up some extra construction stuff and Paul Sr. asks Mikee if he’s got any gas, Mikee says “Paulie’s got gas”, well someone did because they finally got the fire started and the boys kept throwing anything flammable on it. Spray paint, alcohol and so the flames went. Mikee jokes and starts singing Kumbaya. What a dork. Paul Sr. reflects on how similar he and David Mann are. They both fought addiction and says that it robbed him of time with his kids. He goes on to say how grateful he is to have his kids near him again and have a relationship with them.

The next day, Paul Sr. is getting fed up with how long it is taking the paint to get done so he cuts the job short and has the parts picked up. Done or not. They pass the work on to Ralph Estrada, a custom painter that works from his garage. Since OCC likes the flame work of Leticia’s, they have her continue work on it as well. Back at JB Grafix, Justin painted the whole gas tank and didn’t allow any room for Leticia to work. He did it while she was out of the shop and Paul Sr. is totally pissed. Ralph stripped the tank and started over.

The process is really involved and time consuming to create this flame work. Leticia explains how she does it. She first paints a base coat of orange, sometimes red and yellow, and then etches the design in the paint. It creates movement of the flames by making highs and lows in the paint. It seems like this is going to take forever. They bring the frame and forks in a couple days later. Vinnie was gone at his kid’s first birthday, so Christian is brought up from the dungeon to help with the assembly. The goal is to have the bike ready for Daytona.

The team returns Monday and Leticia has added David’s logo to the oil tank and is looks awesome. While assembling and following a disaster with a bolt threading, Vinnie knocks a full can of oil in his cart. For the second time, they use one of Paulie’s shirts to mop up the mess. Assembly continues and final details are taken care of the next day. It starts up great. Two days later Kristina returns to paint the details on the finished bike and Paul Sr. makes sure she doesn’t miss a detail. They take it over to publish in Clifton, NJ and has the copies run off.

Biketoberfest 2004, Paulie and Paul Sr. ride in to Daytona and present the bike to Jackie, David’s wife and some of David’s close friends in Tacoma State Park. Jackie was obviously moved and in awe of the bike when it rolled up beside her. She embraces Paul Sr. and is really blown away. Then Paul Sr. presented the painting and she adds that it has David’s dreamy, surreal style to it and he would be proud.

The final ride back into Daytona was a tribute to Indian Larry and David Mann and the rode off. Live to Ride…Ride to Live!

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