Jesse James may be known for his custom motorcycles, cars, TV shows, a fast-food restaurant and his own clothing line in Wal-Mart, but few know him as a humble conversationalist.

Recently, I had a chance to talk with him for my radio show, "On the Road With Rocky." As I prepared for the interview, I became seemingly more intimidated with each piece of information I gathered on Jesse.

But once I hit the button and said, "Hello?" a voice came through my headphones and said, "Hey, Rocky, what's up, brother?" and suddenly the anxiety disappeared. I realized he's a fellow motorcyclist and just one of the guys.

All of the questions I spent hours preparing went out the window, and a 15-minute conversation between two people passionate about the sport of motorcycling started to flow. The first thing we talked about was West Coast Choppers, the venture that helped make James the household name that he is today.

He started the business in the basement of his mom's house in 1992. Shortly after he moved his operations to a larger garage and the Discovery Channel picked him up for a documentary called "Motorcycle Mania." The show was such a success that they created "Motorcycle Mania II" and "III."

During these shows, the world got to see James' true talent as a metal fabricator, a skill he picked up in a high school shop class. His love for high-quality toys without having any money fueled his passion for metal fabrication and welding.

It was his love for creating the most obscure choppers and cars that led to a reality show called "Monster Garage." In this series, he created everything from flying cars to lawn mower Mustangs. Each show created a "monster" vehicle. He kept all of the "cool stuff," and the production company retained the remaining vehicles, which eventually sold at an auction.

James noted that in addition to churning out 12 to 14 handcrafted motorcycles per year through West Coast Choppers and producing shows for the Discovery Channel, he launched a new clothing line that caters to the blue-collar worker.

"It seems like manufacturers are interested in making more clothes with less quality to cut costs, and in the end it's the working dude that gets screwed," he said. Jesse James Industrial Wear was created and is available in most Wal-Mart stores.

I was also amused to learn that James has a retro-style hamburger restaurant not too far from his shop in Long Beach, Calif., called Cisco Burger, and it runs entirely on solar energy. He uses biodegradable materials and even delivers in a Toyota Prius Hybrid. I asked him if that cramped his style, and he replied, "Dude, it's done WCC [West Coast Chopper] Style."

This interview went very fast. He talked to me like he would a friend. And he loves to talk. Trying to keep him on subject got to be a task. Before we wrapped up, I asked him about his new Spike TV show, "Jesse James Is a Dead Man." It airs Sunday nights at 10 p.m.

The premise of the show is more than showcasing James doing death-defying stunts. "The show follows me preparing for the stunt -- which can be as hard as the stunt itself," he said. "It's not some cheesy show where they spend most of the hour talking about the stunt and then do it in the final minutes of the show."

From the opening seconds of the interview to our goodbyes (he thanked me), James was simply a real, down-to-earth person on the other end of a phone line.

The interview can be heard in its entirety by going to www.hotmetalharley.com and clicking on the "On the Road With Rocky" link.

Ride and write

Welcome to Pittsburgh Rides, our regular feature on motorcycling. Here we bring you the latest in rides, trends and events, but we need your input. We're looking for voices from the local biking community willing to share (in roughly 500 words) your experiences on the road and what you think is hot on wheels. Send your story or pitch to Weekend editor Scott Mervis at smervis@post-gazette.com.