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Flush off that success, Discovery ordered more episodes of Motorcycle Mania, and Beers asked King to launch a pet project of his, about maverick mechanics turning ordinary vehicles into outrageous machines. Thus, Monster Garage was born, again featuring Jesse James.

Seeing that there was a huge, previously untapped, market for gearhead programming, Beers and King launched Biker Build-Off in 2003. Almost instantly, the show made stars of the late Indian Larry, Billy Lane and others. Custom motorcycles — with their chopped frames, vivid colors and elaborately fabricated pieces — became coveted items for Hollywood celebrities, corporate executives and rebels around the country and around the world. The spirit of individualism and adventure that marked the biker culture started to spread to the mass market as well. Discovery ordered still more seasons of Biker Build-Off.

And slowly, surely, a lean, serene, silvering presence started emerging at the Build-Off events and on the show. The man who'd cut his teeth making propaganda films for the government, then agitprop for the anti-war movement, which led to editing nightly news at local TV stations and eventually to cutting biker videos for one of the biggest magazines in the field, became an unmistakable presence.

It wasn't just that he directed the Biker Build-Off cameras and handed out the trophies, King had a certain air of quiet authority about him. It didn't take long for the custom biker community to anoint him "The Chopper King." And so he is.