Jesse James vs. the Teutuls

The Jesse James/Teutul family showdown starts tonight.

Remember back when choppers were cool? We’re not talking about the groovy machines of the 1970s, we’re talking about 10 years ago, when reality TV was overrun by chrome barges with raked-out front ends.

At the time, one of the biggest stars was bad boy builder Jesse James, who sometimes showed he could put together an actual mean motorcycle if he wanted – see the pictured Honda VTX turned into a cafe racer for proof.

James’s biggest rivals were probably the Teutul family, who founded Orange County Choppers and spent a few years foisting junk “theme” bikes on the public before they started fighting each other.

Now, James, Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. are having a showdown at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas that airs on Discovery in the U.S. tonight and tomorrow night. We’re not sure when you can see it on cable in Canada, but  through the Internet, almost anything is possible…

Of course, the world of televised motorcycle build-offs is pretty dumb. Jesse James compares his competition to pro wrestling, and this is coming from a guy loading a machine gun on the back of a golf cart, so he can shoot zombie targets. But in case some of you would like to see, there’s a video below of James trash-talking his competition.