Jesse James, the star of Monster Garage and owner of one of the hottest motorcycle shops in the world, West Coast Choppers, decides to get away from it all with his friend Kid Rock.  So the two jump on some brand new bikes and head south of the boarder.  This third installment of motorcycle mania follows Jesse for a year, as builds his new bike full of copper accents, and then takes it on a shake down cruise.

The show is broken roughly into two parts.  The first hour concentrates equally on Jesse James' personal life and the construction of his copper bike.  This part covers his engagement and wedding to porn star Janine Lindemulder, his learning how to work copper, making the saddlebag and gas tank for his new bike, and complaining about the pressures of fame.

The last half an hour has Jesse and Kid Rock heading deep into Mexico on their cycles like a pair of banditos.  It just the two of them, along with a camera crew with lights, a translator, a van to carry all of their stuff, and the occasional police escort.  They head off to Copper Canyon, an appropriate destination after constructing a copper bike, and finish up at the Pacific coast.

This show really left a lot to be desired.  I really had a hard time holding my interest through the whole hour and a half.  I was interesting in the fabrication of the copper bike, but that wasn't the main focus of the show.  Jesse spends a lot of time complaining about all the attention that his fame has brought him. He can't get any peace, with fans showing up at his garage yet he invites a camera crew to his wedding and his daughter's birthday party.  He often bemoans the fact that he can't work because there are too many people around, but then he lets people film his every move as he makes his copper bike.  It is probably in the way this show was edited, but he really came across as a whiner.  At times I wanted to remind him that most of the things that were cutting into his time, appearing on MTV, Conan, and at various trade shows, were choices that he made.  He could have said no and turned down the money.  (At one point he even complains that he doesn't get paid enough though.)  If he didn't want a lot of tourists hanging around the garage, maybe he shouldn't have installed a souvenir shop in it then, and appear outside to sign autographs.

I didn't really care about his marital problems either, which this show also spends a lot of time on.  He and Janine are engaged as the show starts, a mere two months after that met.  They are married in less than a year.  Two months after their wedding, they are already in counseling.  After such a whirlwind romance, is it really that much of a surprise?  Though they are seeing a therapist, six months into the marriage Janine is pregnant, and they are legally separated before the child is born.  This is takes up a good section of the program, and at times it seemed more like a soap opera than a show about motorcycles.
 
There were some highlights to the show.  The sections that actually dealt with constructing motorcycles and some of the technical details on working with copper or how he machined the wheels were very interesting.  I also enjoyed the part where Jesse and Kid Rock (and the crew of about 20) were target shooting with the local police in Mexico.  I got a chuckle when Jesse's voice over said that he and Kid were going to stop for some "authentic Mexican food" and the next scene had them eating french fries.

These scenes were few and far between though.  Overall they weren't able to capture the same rebel outlaw man-with-an-attitude Jesse that appears on Monster Garage.  Maybe this is what Jesse's really like.  In any case, this didn't make a very entertaining show.

Audio:

The 5.1 audio sounded nice.  A lot of the noises from the garage and the music track were thrown to the rear speakers, but other than that they weren't used much.  The dialog came through loud and clear, which is what's important.  There are no subtitles.

Video:

The full frame video looks good for a TV show. The colors are accurate and the flesh tones look real and digital defects are not prevalent.  The image was a little soft in places, but not too bad.  A solid DVD.

Extras:

There are no extras on this disc.

Final Thoughts:

Over all, this wasn't the greatest show.  Jesse spends more time talking about his marriage and how trying it is to be famous, than about cycles and their construction.  If you are a really big fan of Monster Garage, you might want to rent this one, but be prepared to be disappointed.  Casual viewers should just skip it.