American Chopper's Teutul Jr. returns Memorial Bike to 9/11 memorial

Paul Teutul Jr., whose custom motorcycle shop, Paul Jr Designs, was filmed for the popular reality series ‟American Choppers,” is keeping busy despite his show's recent cancellation.

The famous bike builder was on hand Monday at the 9/11 visitors center in lower Manhattan to celebrate the return of the World Trade Center Memorial Chopper, which was damaged by flooding from Hurricane Sandy.

PJD had been commissioned to build the the custom motorcycle last year, and its design was inspired by the current World Trade Center site. Among the bike's striking features are "a front wheel crafted from hand-poured glass to evoke the form of the 1 World Trade Center [tower]," and "a ribbed gas tank that parallels the white spire of the [WTC's] transportation hub."

Teutul Jr. originally presented the bike to the visitors center in October 2011 for public display. After the chopper had been damaged from flooding during Hurricane Sandy, PJD crew retrieved it to fix the damage. ‟Recovered the @Sept11Memorial bike. What a mess!" he tweeted earlier in November.

On Monday, Teutul returned the motorcycle to the 9/11 visitors center, where he was joined by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. At the event, he tweeted a photo of himself with Cuomo and Daniel Tishman, co-chairman of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum's board of directors, who had commissioned him to build the custom motorcycle.

Both Teutul Jr. and Cuomo spoke at the event, and according to a communications representative with the National September 11 Memorial & Musuem, Cuomo spoke about how the restored motorcycle represented New York City's ability to bounce back in the face of adversity.

If you want to see the 9/11 Memorial Bike, episode 13 of season 4 of "American Chopper: Senior vs Junior" features Teutul Jr. and his crew working on the custom chopper.

[Source: Newsday]