One thing you will notice if you ever hang out with any of the STREET CHOPPER staff is that we all have our own way of doing things. You could assign a job to Howard, Steve, Greg, or myself, and the task would be handled most likely in one of four different ways. But, whatever the job is -- so long as what we've finished working on operates the way it was intended to and there are no leftover parts -- the slight variations taken along the way to our individual solutions are unimportant.
There are people in the industry whom all of us on staff have had the pleasure to watch at work, and then there are those whom only one of us has met and we pass the information on to the others in the office. The distance between the methods these guys use to complete the same tasks has a broader range than Barry White packin' a tank of helium. Other than hands-on experience, there is no better learning tool than watching a pro at work.
One of the guys we've all hung out with for extended periods of time is Matt Hotch. Matt has helped us out with anything and everything. If we need to pop by his shop to check for air in a spongy-feeling brake, nine times out of 10, Matt just whipped through the job for us as we watched, just to trip up the pace of his day. Not counting the small stuff, Matt has handled a ton of serious work for us. He's created flowing pieces of sheetmetal from raw stock -- and his work is flawless. The one aspect we all mention when talking about his work, is how quickly he can breeze through it. He takes every precaution to prevent scratching any chrome or paint, and he can still fly through a job while making all the necessary fitting-checks along with some you wouldn't even think of.Russ Wernimont is another example. All of us have been aware of his fine work for years, but only one of us has personally witnessed him in action. Steve Bohn came back from his Wernimont-shoot raving about how smooth and natural the guy was at work. One of the little things that blew Steve away was when Russ was getting ready to do a little fender modifi-cation. The methodic yet simple way he transferred the lines from a template to a fender -- in order to cut out a recess to hold a license plate frame and taillight -- seemed almost effortless. Steve told us that watching Russ make the cutout was like watching a kid cut through a piece of craft-paper with scissors. Snip, snip -- done. The cuts were perfect and looked as if they were done with something between a plasma cutter and a laser, but all of it was done with a simple pair of snips.
You probably don't think much about brake lines and the amount of work that it takes to put one together. But, Jeff McGowan of Goodridge put a great deal of thought into every brake line we've ever watched him assemble for us. We've dropped by the Goodridge facility with everything from stock Softails to hard-core choppers, and left with perfectly routed custom brake lines. Jeff goes to work as a tailor armed, at first, with only a tape measure; he measures along a bike's imaginary inseam up the fork legs, inching his way up to the bars and master cylinder. He occasionally plucks the pencil from behind his ear and writes his measurements on a small pad of paper. After extracting the needed items from various parts' bins, Jeff cuts braided line, twists together a few fittings, and strolls out to install our new lines. The creation of a brake line doesn't make for earth-shattering news, but when you take in to account how quickly Jeff works to complete one-off jobs, it's pretty impressive. He can foresee any possible movement one of his lines may take during its life, and ensures that there is zero-chance of any binding or pinching -- you don't mess around when it comes to brakes.
Then, you have the guys who don't have a well-defined specialty, so to speak. Guys such as Tracy Spencer do anything and everything that we, and the rest of the world, throw his way. Tracy changes fluids, fabricates sheetmetal, builds custom bikes and engines to order, and was recently caught installing a set of extra-long buckskin handlebar streamers. Yep, he really can do it all, and we have miles of film to prove it.
If I had to pick three of my top reasons for enjoying my job as much as I do, these would have to be meeting people in the industry, watching them do what they do best, and learning from it. I always learn something while playing the parts of photographer, spectator, and student. There are certain techniques that I have done for many years with great success and had little reason for doing them differently. Many of the tips garnered from watching these guys have not only improved the way I've done them -- they've also dramatically cut the amount of time and work I used to spend doing the same job.If you have similarly skilled friends in or around your area, you might want to drop by and hang out while they work now and then. It's very likely that you'll leave with a better understanding and appreciation of the level of thinking and manual dexterity that can only be honed with years of experience. If you're really lucky, maybe they'll even give you a try at something yourself. Whatever it is, just start out on a piece of scrap -- our little tip to you. See, you've learned something already.