The Business Journal of Phoenix - 3:44 PM MST Mondayby Ty YoungThe Business Journal
The crew from motorcycle-building reality show "Orange County Choppers" may not know what an embedded microprocessor is, but that's not stopping them from building a motorcycle with that theme.
Two of the three stars of the hit Discovery Channel show were in Chandler Monday touring the Intel Corp. complex to prepare for one of their next choppers. Shortly after their day-long tour, Paulie Teutel Sr. and Mikey Teutel popped into a meeting with about 500 Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) designers to announce a partnership with Intel to build a custom motorcycle with integrated embedded microprocessor technology.
"You're all getting raises," said Mikey Teutel, the joker of the father-sons mechanic trio. "The bad part is that we had to layoff half of you to pay for it."
The bike build will air on the Discovery Channel as early as May. The Intel-themed bike will be unveiled at the Embedded Systems Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. in April.
The Chandler site is considered the headquarters of Intel's embedded microprocessor design division and one of 17 worldwide, said Joe Jensen, general manager of the embedded markets division.
Often overlooked by the public when compared with notebook, PC and network technology, the division will get some much-needed marketing as a result of the partnership, he said.
"It's a fun way of getting the word out," Jensen said. "It's a fun thing to do. We're not going to have much of a marketing budget for the embedded division."
The partnership also celebrates Intel's 30th year making embedded microprocessors, which are found in ATMs, ultrasound machines, network printers and automotive DVD players, among many other items.
Unearthing the buried chips from the unseen and displaying them on a motorcycle is typical for the mission of OCC, said Paulie Teutel Sr.
"The thing that keeps us fresh and new is that we keep bringing new ideas out to our audience," he said. "On that level, we can help each other."
This is the second partnership forged with a member of the Valley tech community. On Saturday, the OCC crew will unveil its custom motorcycle built with GoDaddy.com of Scottsdale. The bike will be displayed at the Maxim Magazine Super Bowl party. The televised build will air on the Discovery Channel in early February, an OCC spokesperson said.
OCC, located in upstate New York, has made a career based around building custom themed bikes for people like Lance Armstrong and Billy Joel, for sports teams such as the New York Jets and for causes including the New York City Fire Department.
Although their choppers can fetch up to $1 million at auction, the Teutels are known more for their on-screen antics and fighting more than their bikes.
Turning to the technology field for inspiration makes sense, the senior Teutel said.
"There is a lot of technology that we rely on every day in our lives and to build bikes," he said.
One fan in the audience of chip designers shook as he got to ask a question of his favorite reality show stars.
"How many doors do you guys break and are there any broken doors now here at Intel?" he asked, getting a laugh out of the two Teutels.
