Don't Touch the Bikes of Sons of Anarchy Getting to Know the Real Stars of the Show
by Jason Giacchino
When it comes to prime time motorcycle programming, you really can't do any better than FX's original series Sons of Anarchy. And when it comes to motorcycles, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO) bikes receive some seriously high ratings.
Created by Kurt Sutter, SOA is a serial drama about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating out of Charming, a fictional town in Northern California. Sons of Anarchy premiered on September 3, 2008 and has just begun airing its fourth season. Attracting an average of 4.9 million viewers per week, SOA is FX's highest rated series ever (even more popular than Terriers).
The show doesn't serve merely as "bike porn" with a bit of story added in, but rather focuses on its characters and their ongoing development with cool bikes serving as the icing on the cake. But let's face it, the bikes are some darn fine icing.
So just what are those cruisers seen tooling around Charming on 4.9 million TV sets each week? The answer is a surprisingly wide base of OEM bikes (mostly Harley-Davidsons), given various cosmetic and ergonomic updates to appeal to the personalities of the characters and the specific body type of the actors playing them.
From an H-D Tri Glide fitted with accommodation for a faux oxygen tank to a quarter-fairing equipped Dyna ridden by Ron Perlman as Clay Morrow, the following clip features the show's motorcycle mechanic John Landon as he demonstrates some of the unique mods that turn stock motorcycles into extensions of the characters on the show.
Charming California may be fictional and the characters of the Sons of Anarchy club as well, but the bikes themselves are as real as they come.
Check out this video clip:
http://www.hulu.com/dailymotion/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fvideo%2Fxkunrs_sons-of-anarchy-bike-mechanic_shortfilms/embed/gpHUjcZD-ZYU_SVQKxOdzw
