Jesse James is a TV star and sells custom choppers to the likes of Shaq and Kid Rock. In a motorcycle market dominated by heavy-metal heavyweights like Honda, Kawasaki, and Harley-Davidson, how does Jesse James do it? Buzz and attitude. He found a niche--handmade custom bikes--and then used television, print, and word of mouth to build a community of enthusiasts who love everything from his bad-ass biker image to his legendary name (he's a descendant of the famous outlaw). Even if you can pony up Jesse's $50,000 to $150,000 asking price, you'll still have to wait to mount up. Average build time is about a year. And if you tick Jesse off by trying to bribe your way to the top of the production schedule, well, then, no bike for you. A case in point: Limp Bizkit's front man, Fred Durst. Despite getting a glowing reference from a previous West Coast Choppers client, supermodel and FOJ Tyson Beckford, Durst was turned down. Seems the rock star tried to buy his way to the top of Jesse's production schedule. Durst was politely told to go away. Says James: "I only build bikes for cool people." Why would anyone pay that kind of money, wait that kind of wait, and put up with that kind of attitude? To be fair, Jesse James's bikes are flat-out sweet rides. He's taking an iconoclastic approach to building his brand that's more than just motorcycles. He's selling a lifestyle that anyone can buy into with his shirts and belt buckles. As a kid, James certainly tried to live up to his name. "I sure had a fondness for other people's stuff," he says. It was that fondness that put him on a first-name basis with much of the Long Beach police and made him a regular visitor at the California Youth Authority, the state's juvenile-detention agency. "I was always the kid that little old ladies were afraid of," says James. "I had to learn right and wrong the hard way." |
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