As most who know me will know, I love American Chopper (shown on Discovery here in the UK) but at the end of the current series the unthinkable happens - Vinnie Dimartino leaves - and he is closely followed by Cody Connelly. Since I heard about this back in September/October I had a feeling that they would be working together somehow. Their on screen friendship has grown over the years and it is obvious there is respect between the two.

In the past few weeks their plans have started to appear on the Internet and their new business venture is about to start  - V Force Customs. Although they are still fitting out their new shop, it looks like it could be quite impressive, with a huge double front window to the assembly area and a classic epoxy floor - watch as they tour the shop along with other typical Vinnie/Cody videos here.  The new shop also appears to be in between the current OCC shop and their all new ‘world headquarters’.

Hopefully they will be picked up by one of the networks and have their own TV series…..after all Vinnie was really the brains behind the recent Orange County Choppers bike builds and Cody was a good all rounder with enthusiasm to learn. I wish them both well for future, and it will also be interesting to see what happens at OCC now both Vinnie and Cody have escaped.

Today is a sad day for my Sky TV viewing as Disney turned off ABC1 in the UK at 12 noon. I had just watched 2 episodes of Home Improvement (one of my favourite sitcoms from the 90’s) when the channel just went off the air. Not having seen any on-air announcements of the channels demise I thought my Sky box or TV had broken initially, but checking online (specifically at Digital Spy) led me to the unfortunate conclusion that ABC1 was no more. It seems a very odd thing to do to close down a channel without any mention to the loyal views, and feels like a bit of a slap in face from Disney.

Now I have to go hunting again to find a channel that shows all my favourites - Home Improvement, 8 Simple Rules (and I still think Matt reminds me of Rory in this show) as well as In Justice and Hope and Faith. Perhaps the soon to be launched Virgin 1 will take these shows when it launches next week?