BUILD Moto Mentor Program well underway;
One month left for teams in their 90-day BUILD
Six teams of local high school students and their bike-building
mentors are two months into restoration of vintage motorcycles through a moto-mentor program, founded this year by The Iron Horse Hotel. Giving students the opportunity to learn vintage bike restoration while developing important life skills, the nation’s only high-end boutique hotel catering to motorcycle enthusiasts serves as the conduit for connecting the teams of experienced mentors with local high school students. Together the teams were given $2000 and 90 days to rebuild vintage Honda CB or CL 160’s. As of mid-April, the program includes only five schools, leaving a cliffhanger for the remaining teams on how to collectively work together to complete the sixth bike. The build commences on May 15. Catch the building, excitement and drama from our six teams via YouTube:
BUILD Half-Way Point Video Teams and bikes to be judged in five categories at The Iron Horse Hotel on June 2nd. Each team has the opportunity to win prizes in various categories at the BUILD event at The Iron Horse Hotel, held on Thursday, June 2nd, kicking off the hotel’s Bike Night season. Prizes will also be awarded in the following categories: ‘Fastest Bike,’ based on a dyno competition
held on-site, Best ‘Art Bike,’ judged by industry veterans, ‘MilVinMoto Best of Show,’ and ‘Best Documentation,’ presented to the team that captures the best documentation of their build.
A ‘Crowd Favorite’ award will also be given, the winner selected from a social-media driven vote on Facebook.
Growing the program and sharing it through displays
Upon voting completion, the six bikes will begin a ‘summer tour’ of displays throughout the region. They will be raced by the teams’ Mentors at Road America’s June 10-12th Vintage Motorcycle Classic. From there, the bikes will be shown in two street shows, Chicago’s ‘Mods vs Rockers’ Vintage Motorcycle and Scooter Rally on June 17-18th and Milwaukee’s ‘Rockerbox’ Street Festival on August 6th. Discovery World (http://www.discoveryworld.org/)
serves as the program’s exclusive museum exhibit, where the bikes will be displayed from June 20th through July. Besides showcasing the bikes themselves, the BUILD display will feature program background, imagery of this year’s build and information about how other schools, mentors and sponsors can get involved in 2012 and beyond. BUILD not only builds bikes, but confidence and important life skills “With overwhelming support and positive feedback our first year including sponsorship from Markel Motorcycle and Discovery World and numerous donors, it’s our intention to grow this program in the coming years,” said Tim Dixon, owner of The Iron Horse Hotel.” With so many shop classes throughout the country disappearing, we’re hoping dynamic displays of the
program will inspire others to join in, both locally and on a national level. We’re not only building bikes; we’re teaching valuable life skills to students.” Three of the six bikes were funded privately, with The Iron Horse Hotel sponsoring funds for the remaining three. These three bikes will be auctioned off in August with proceeds going back into the BUILD program. For up-to-date details on the project and to view photography and video of the entire
process, ‘like’ and ‘share’ the BUILD Facebook page at facebook.com/Buildmoto. For BUILD sponsorship information and to learn more about how to get involved in the program, please
contact Company B for The Iron Horse Hotel at 414.750.7298.
