Chopper King - Hugh

 The story of Hugh King and his grand television career spanning four decades has been told over and over. In fact he just completed another adventure for the History Channel in the cold snowy north, but the series is a secret.He has only one motorcycle and it’s this one built by 10 of the greatest builders of our time in a hidden desert location in an old machine shop outside of Laughlin, Nevada and across the Colorado River from Bullhead, Arizona.  “They built the bike under the constraints of a very short deadline,” said Hugh.The master builders included Arlen and Cory Ness, Matt Hotch, Chica, Eddie Trotta, Hank Young, Kendall Johnson, Mitch Bergeron, Russell Mitchell and Joe Martin. Just up ...

This bike represents an upbeat era when choppers were kings and the Discovery Channel made it so. We are going to attempt to tell the story of the bike, the shows, and the esteemed owner, Hugh “The Chopper” King, the producer/director. Hugh actually worked for Easyriders, as the video editor/director, while I watched over the magazines. But he moved on to Original Productions. Motorcycle Mania was the first motorcycle show and I got a call. “Who should I recommend?” Dave Nichols asked. I said Jesse James, and the rest is history. “Tom Beers, the boss of Original Productions, came to me,” Hugh said. “He asked me if I knew anything about motorcycles, and I said I knew everything about motorcycles, ...

What hit the American Motorcycle industry like straight pipes and tire sizzling burn-outs, at 4 in the morning? Television, in the form of Motorcycle Mania one and two. The introduction of chopper building skills and rebel attitude, unleashed broadband, to citizens all over the country, rocked the biker world. Then chopper heaven in the form of Biker Build-offs struck with round two. Who was responsible for this Tsunami boon to our lifestyle? It was Hugh King, the producer/director/writer and editor at large of Original Productions. Hugh felt the crisp freedom and wild wanton wickedness of the chopper industry in 1947 as a Milwaukee youngster, with his nose pressed against his living room window. An older neighborhood wildman, Billy Brody, screamed ...