What the heck is with all these custom bike builders popping up everywhere???? are these WEST COAST CHOPPERS?

wannabes? i mean almost every corner you look, everybody who can weld is making "custom cycles"?

I live about 1 mile from WCC in Long Beach and back in 98 I talked to Jessie and then he wanted only 40k for a Diablo bike, i thought that was high then. Now if hes in the shop, you can bet your sweet donkey he gets over 80k a piece now.

Dont know i was building bike before Jessie was born
And dont scatter in 450 miles or cost 80 to 100K

did you see that video he flew apart in less than 1000 miles and he was bragging on it The other one on follow up didnt last a year

a bike I built in 1973 is still running in NC

People have been building custom bikes, choppers especially, for a long time (well before West Coast Choppers). It is a lucrative business and there is a large niche to fill. WCC didn't become nationally known until it showed up on the Discovery Channel. Hence the popularity, and there is nothing wrong with this. There are other fabricators, designers, and builders that create bikes just ask good or better than WCC all over the world, but especially here in the United States.

The reason that there is a huge niche to fill, now, is due to the popularity of these few featured bike builders/shops such as OCC and WCC. A lot of people want a piece of the custom market. Some people just want a motorcycle, so they may not buy a custom, but they'll buy something.

The same phenomenon has and is occuring with car/truck/suv customization shops. Including roadster custom shops.

You know what they say --"Build them and they will come"...
I think that it is just one of those thing where the demand is there and if you can build something that there is a demand for then do it.. The only thing that most people who buy the "knock-offs" don't realize is that the $30,000 that they spent to look like they were cool won't be worth half of that when everybody on the street is riding one and nobody wants to look like "cookies from the same cookie cutter" mold if ya know what I mean... I prefer true custom built bikes not custom bike shops that build "production" custom bikes...

Just my opinion

It's simply the marketing phenominom of a fad or cycle. A few years ago,motorcycling was on the rise, HD was having record sales and OCC became a mega hit. Even little old church ladies could be seen with an OCC T shirt. Naturally every machinist/welder/wrench thought there was money to be made in the custom bike business. However, you're now on the sagging end. Lots of guy's, including big companies like weld racing, have gone belly up. The big custom trade show in Cinci was probably off in attendance 1/3 this year. Like every business cycle after the peak, comes the valley. The sheet metal space ships have passed the baton to bobbers and now to custom baggers. But with new EPA rules and even more coming in 2010 the heyday is over. Only the strong will survive... but that's capitalism (with a little govt regs added).

If you can't design and build your own(without following the lastest trends) ride a less expensive stock bike, and spend the money you save on a 6 month road trip.