Bloomington

A few years back we did a book with one of our local motorcycle celebrities: Kevin Bass. As you probably know, Kevin teaches shop class at Kennedy high school in Bloomington, Minnesota, just south of Minneapolis. Of course, the class that Kevin teaches isn’t just any class, the class Kevin teaches is the one I wish they offered when I was in high school – Chopper Building.

Kevin’s book, introduced in 2006, sold well enough, but like all books it eventually went out of print. And that might be the end of this story, except that used copies of Kevin’s book are currently selling for as much as eighty dollars on ebay. Which made my entrepreneurial brain think that maybe it would be a good thing to bring Kevin’s Bobber book back, with some updates and revisions of course.

Back by popular demand, look for a revised Bobber book in the spring of 2011.

The new and revised edition of How to Build an Old Skool Bobber will have at least 2 new assembly sequences, some new and simplified wiring diagrams, and new bikes in the Gallery section. I’ve given a long-time employee, Deb Shade, the job of organizing Kevin’s images. Early in December Deb and I took a trip to Kevin’s house to pick up some digital images and to talk about what else we need to bring this book together.

Kevin’s personal shop looks a lot like a two car garage. The kind where normal people park cars, kids’ bikes and lawn mowers. There are some bikes in Kevin’s garage of course, but these are bikes for big kids. And the walls are “decorated” with more old motorcycle stuff than you can imagine. While Kevin and Deb worked on an inventory of new material, I spent my time scanning the bench and walls, admiring everything from complete Flathead and Knucklehead motors to the proverbial head gaskets hangin’ on a nail.

Editor Deb Shade and Kevin Bass, hard at work on the revised edition of Kevin’s How to Build an Old Skool Bobber book.

Amidst the chaos of parts and motorcycle stuff, there’s a Shovelhead Chopper, almost finished, a bike Kevin is assembling in his spare time(?) for an overseas customer. Apparently teaching full time, fabricating part time, attending a whole raft of events each year, and raising a family with three small boys, just isn’t quite enough for Kevin.

Check ‘em out, two genuinely old and genuinely made-in-Milwaukee V-twins, with a nice backdrop of very interesting old motorcycle parts.

At any rate, Deb and I enjoyed a very productive visit with Kevin along with a couple of bottles of Grain Belt. We did collect most of the material needed to assemble the revised book, which means that with any luck this one might be one time – something new and different for Wolfgang. Look for Kevin’s new book in April of the New Year.

In addition to teaching, fabricating, attending events and raising three boys, Kevin does complete bike builds – this Shovelhead chopper is his latest project.