Caterpillar: Showcase>Dealers>Cat Chopper
Building a Bike Worthy of the Caterpillar Name
Few brands evoke the pride of ownership quite like Caterpillar. The Cat® brand fosters strong emotional appeal and passionate loyalty from both the employees who design, build, sell and support Cat machines, and those who own or aspire to own Cat machines. Caterpillar has taken that legacy of pride in the build and reliability of its equipment and instilled it in the Cat Chopper.
To begin the build and design of the bike, the Teutuls traveled to Peoria, Ill., to visit Caterpillar headquarters and proving grounds where they test drove several pieces of Cat equipment. Of course, it was all for the sake of research, so that they could create a bike that would truly and artistically represent Caterpillar.
The Teutuls brought the inspiration from the plant visit back to their shop in New York and proceeded to make what Paul Jr. calls “the toughest bike built by Orange County Choppers.” The bike features many unique characteristics that you can also see on Cat machines, including Grade 8 bolts and other hardware, sprockets, bucket teeth, and a Track-Type Tractor exhaust.
Upon completion of the Cat Chopper, Caterpillar hosted a private unveiling of the bike for more than 1,000 of its employees in Clayton, N.C. Paul Sr. rode the Cat Chopper through the cheering crowd while employees took photographs and later waited for autographs from the father and son team.
From the initial visit to Peoria to the unveiling in Clayton, two episodes of the building of the bike aired on the Discovery Channel’s hit show “American ChopperTM.” Now the bike takes to the road as it travels from Cat dealer to Cat dealer for open houses, bike rallies and more. Be sure to find out when the Cat Chopper will be at a dealer close to you so you can see the bike that only Caterpillar could inspire.
Tags: Automobile, Interesting, Motorcycle, Television, Transportation, Wishlist
