Chopper Challenge- Cole Foster

Hey,

  I saw my first episode of Chopper Challenge tonight.I missed Scott Long’s episode over confusion about when it would air. Scott as you know is one of our favorite builders and a good friend. He wasn’t sure himself about the schedule.I am hoping CMT airs it again as Scott did send us pictures of the bike he and his crew built and it is awesome.It’s the “Hulk” bike from the movie of the same name.You can view the photos on this website.

  Cole Foster is another builder and artist I think is amazing. He and a couple of guys make up the “{Salinas Boys”) from, you guessed it, Salinas California. Cole started out building custom cars and hot rods. He focused on that for some 20yrs. and then turned his enormous talent toward motorcycles. Cole builds in the “old school” style and he is really good. He has appeared on Biker Build Off vs Hank Young another favorite of ours.They both built kick ass machines.

  Tonight, Cole was competing in this chooper challenge deal where the format is different yet similar. Each build(episode) has a different builder with a different sponsor. Cole was building for Time Warner Road Runner high speed internet access. A crate is delivered to the builder each week with the main components needed for the build.We were not surprised to see Cole got an S+S Evo engine, a Baker Tranny and a frame. The guys have only 30 days for the build which is the same as the last version of BBO. Cole went right after the frame to customize it the way he wanted.He had two guys helping him both relatively new to his shop.Rico Fodry a builder and friend also chipped in.Big Mike from BMC Choppers came by but we have no idea what, if anything he did. We did notice that since the last time we saw B.M. he has had side burns and part of a beard tatooed on his face.Mike is a funny guy and he did crack a few jokes and then he was gone.

  Cole fabricated the gas tank from aluminum which was neat.The material is light and becomes very easy to work with when heated to about 1100 degrees. The tank was sharp. Cole and the guys fabricated a lot of other parts including the fender and headlight.We really didn’t get to see much of it unfortunately.The differences between the production and direction of this show was very different than BBO. I thought it was well done although the show seemed to focus more on Cole, his wife and the guys more than the building of the motorcycle. That isn’t all bad as I got a good idea of where Cole lives and where he works.I got to see one or two of his amazing cars and I learned more about him than I had known before. Cole is a brilliant, laid back master builder of two wheel and four wheel art. He is a special guy and I can tell you that my knowledge of him is of a very humble, very nice, very talented guy.He is another of the great ones so seeing him do his thing is always cool.The build had a few problems as they all do and it was close to finish in the required time. Cole was exhausted and said he hadn’t had any rest in three days at the end. The engine problems were fixed and the result was a sleek, understated work of art that met the challenge and gave us some insight into what Cole and his work are all about.It was a good time.

  There are nine episodes in this series and each builder is given a specific sponsor to build a bike around. It is a competition but, it is not face to face which allows us to focus on one person and their work.I like that. The show is poorly publicized which is sad because I think it would draw a much larger audience if people knew more about who was building each week and,when we could catch the re-run if we missed the origional episode. S+S is a major sponsor of this event as when they broke for commercial it was about S+S. It’s cool that they are helping bring motorcycle programming back to us.

  It is good that the major parts needed for each build are provided by the sponsors.I don’t think that was the case with BBO so: the builders don’t have to lay out a small fortune themselves.I think that is very cool and very important because these folks run small shops and the costs could be the difference between doing the show and not.

  The show airs(at least for now) every wednesday evening  at 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. e.s.t.Check it out. A great way to spend an hour.

                                                                                      Beach