OCC tiging Alum.

[TOMWELDS]

I was watching those boys tiging 2" alum. No beveling to speak of, that i noticed. What are your guys opinions? Im not a tig guy but i kinda questioned there welds on a part so vital to safety.

BTW...it was the show on the NY Yankee bike.

[Roospike]

All i know is its about time OCC got a real "weldor" working there , looking foward to see how much they start to show the welds on the bikes now . Through all of OCC from start to now they keep getting bigger and better welders , but all you ever see them do with the bigger welders is tack this, tack that . Dont see much of them running a bead .So maybe with the new "weldor" working there we might get to see more of what we tune in for .

[TOMWELDS]

Help wanted: weldor that can run a bead...lol

[pullerguy]

I was shaking my head last nite also they were welding the riser's and handle bars the most important welds and no beval to speak of. the strength will only be as strong as the weld. they gained nothing by useing the thicker metal. safty first.

[TOMWELDS]

I pictured hitting a pothole and seeing someone flying thru the air with 2 aluminum baseball bats in there hands...L

[Wheat]

Was wondering the same thing. Hoping to see the hour after hour tape footage of the learning curve trying to tame the "animal" aluminum...All I can say is welcome to my world. They make it look like they know what they were doing welding up and grinding down beads on mild steel all the time. You think Paul Sr. has no patience now, wait till he screams at Paulie for taking too long welding up aluminum projects....

[MadMax]

I saw the bats they were making, but didn't see how they were welding them. My opinion is, it's not THAT structural. It's critical, but no need to do root passes and what not. If they got say 1/4" of penetration and good fusion, would it be that big of a deal? I mean when you're riding your not yanking on the bars for dear life.

Personally I think its plenty strong enough. I soldered on a steering neck of a bicycle to the steering stem, and the it took a good couple months for it to break, lol. I think if solder can hold up that long, then whatever way they welded is more then acceptable.

-Max.

[Trent Combs]

I saw the bats they were making, but didn't see how they were welding them. My opinion is, it's not THAT structural. It's critical, but no need to do root passes and what not. If they got say 1/4" of penetration and good fusion, would it be that big of a deal? I mean when you're riding your not yanking on the bars for dear life.

Personally I think its plenty strong enough. I soldered on a steering neck of a bicycle to the steering stem, and the it took a good couple months for it to break, lol. I think if solder can hold up that long, then whatever way they welded is more then acceptable.

-Max.

The potential for disaster with a 700+ lb motorcycle at 70+ mph is a wee bit higher than encountered on a bicycle. The stresses when accelerating, cornering and braking are substantial. Perhaps OCC should build bicycles instead......

[Broccoli1]

I mean when you're riding your not yanking on the bars for dear life.

Only when they fall off

[scott-885]

I dont think it realy matters on any of the theme bikes they build cause there never gonna get ridden by anybody but them and if they crash then maybe it will be a lesson learned. Now as far as the production based bikes that are ridden and baught by your average man I hope to god they are doing it right. But then again why fix it if it aint broke?

[MadMax]

The potential for disaster with a 700+ lb motorcycle at 70+ mph is a wee bit higher than encountered on a bicycle. The stresses when accelerating, cornering and braking are substantial. Perhaps OCC should build bicycles instead......

This is true. BUT, what is the breaking point of aluminum? Though aluminum is much more sensitive, even a crappy weld can still be strong. Assuming the weld was good on these bars, I see no reason to start beveling and what not. I'm not 100% sure of the strength from aluminum, but I know the average peice of steel is around 70ksi correct? Do you think that even 1/10th of those forces are being applied to it? All I am saying is while it could of been better, sometimes theres no need for overkill, lol. Maybe this isn't the place to say it, and I am not one to cut corners, but it's not a huge deal. If you could see some of the welding on some dirtbikes I have seen, you'd poop your pants. BUT it still stands up to the rigors of motocross, which see's forces WAY beyond any streetbike will.

Just my $0.02 though...

-Max

[TOMWELDS]

I think Scott nailed it.....who the ****'s gonna be riding it anyway...L

[Trent Combs]

Gotta disagree with you, Max. There is no excuse for "pros" cutting corners on $50K street bikes. I have a little background with dirt bikes - I was a factory sponsored racer in the late 70s and spent time in Japan testing new bikes to the point of failure. I've probably broken more motorcycles than you have ridden.
It's the mass and speed of a Harley that creates the force. Couple that with the tiny suspension travel on a "custom" like the typical OCC chopper, and you WILL break things. Hard-mount the components and you'll break more. Add more horsepower and engineer the contraption for form, not function, and away you go.
OCC is entertainment - pure and simple. Their bikes are art. They are not designed to be taken out and ridden. Many things on the show are the product of writers and producers, and the viewer MUST BE ABLE TO RECOGNISE IT AS ENTERTAINMENT. It's NOT a welding show - it's the Osbournes meets Monster Garage.
Their welds MAY hold. They MAY not. Proper preparation would improve the chances that they would hold. Paul Sr tries (on occasion) to get that through Paulie's thick head.....high drama!

[TOMWELDS]

Ive seen the bikes in person. Though they are impressive, to say the least, the welds look like poo-poo. The chrome plating was a disapointment too as its rusted in the pits of the welds.

[MadMax]

Gotta disagree with you, Max. There is no excuse for "pros" cutting corners on $50K street bikes. I have a little background with dirt bikes - I was a factory sponsored racer in the late 70s and spent time in Japan testing new bikes to the point of failure. I've probably broken more motorcycles than you have ridden.
It's the mass and speed of a Harley that creates the force. Couple that with the tiny suspension travel on a "custom" like the typical OCC chopper, and you WILL break things. Hard-mount the components and you'll break more. Add more horsepower and engineer the contraption for form, not function, and away you go.
OCC is entertainment - pure and simple. Their bikes are art. They are not designed to be taken out and ridden. Many things on the show are the product of writers and producers, and the viewer MUST BE ABLE TO RECOGNISE IT AS ENTERTAINMENT. It's NOT a welding show - it's the Osbournes meets Monster Garage.
Their welds MAY hold. They MAY not. Proper preparation would improve the chances that they would hold. Paul Sr tries (on occasion) to get that through Paulie's thick head.....high drama!

I assume you have seen some other brands of bikes out there? Many don't have quality welds. The thing is they're not weldors, they're fabricators. We (as in weldors on the board) would do the job according to say AWS standards, where as they go by what gets the job done. I don't neccesarily agree that what they do is right, but it's all over the place now a days. As far as bikes of today opposed to the bikes back when you raced (much respect for you, I wouldn't wanna race back then ) the quality is much better. BUT, I personally feel that the weld they layed on their handlebars won't see any force like a dirtbike coming from 20 feet up in the air will see, yet some of the welds on these MX bikes aren't top of the line either. I'd bet all my tools that you could yank on those bars as hard as you could and it wouldn't break.

REGARDLESS: I still woulnd't ride one of their RV length bikes anyways Out of curiosity, what bike's were you riding in the 70's? I've watched old videos of the guys in the 70's and wouldn't want to ride one of those bikes for much more then 10 minutes, lol. Those courses were flat out rough, and riding a dual shock bike packin 6" of travel is not my idea of fun