Mike has a hard time saying which one is his favorite, but one thing is certain;even though he has a long gray beard, his bikes are much older than he is. His business and passion is restoring vintage motorcycles, 1900-1930 era. A lifelong interest in tinkering with the old machines, getting them running, bringing them to life and on the road again, has grown into a famous supply and restoration center for enthusiasts around the world. A converted dairy barn in a quiet rural area outside of Portland is home to Mike's shop, "The Antique Motorcycle Works." The barn is full of amazing and rare elderly models waiting for Mike's magic touch. Oldies like Thors, Popes, Hendersons, Excelsiors, Super xs, Emblems, as well as Indians and Harley-Davidsons are worked on. He specializes in Americana, but an occasional Vincent beau-ty may get his attention. "In the first two decades of the 20TH century, there were over 200 American motorcycle companies. Only Harley Davidson, founded in 1903, sur-vived." Articulate, with laid-back charm, Mike is a fountain of knowledge on all of them. A tour of the shop with Mike is a class in these classics.

A sparse frame still spotted with aging orange paint sits on the worktable. "A Flying Merkel." Mike explains how they will weld the head and neck, then painstakingly rebuild it. The 1911 bike was "the cat's meow" in the teens, a fast, high quality machine. Someday the sound of its engine will be heard again, the same as it was almost 100 years ago.

The shop has a foundry where parts that can't be repaired or reworked are made. Mike taught himself tool and die making along the way, and experiments with formulas that reproduce the look and patina of old metals. Over 3000 parts in small quantities are made in the shop with meticulous care to authentic detail. For example, before they had electric lights, acetylene tanks were mounted on motorcycles to fuel head and taillights. As parts to these old inventions are hard to come by, molds are made to produce restoration components.

Mike is puzzling over a rare 1914 Harley-Davidson board track racer that he is currently working on. "I've been in touch with Harley-Davidson, and they don't even have a record of it." Many jobs take as much detective work as an anthropologist and as much finesse as a jeweler. Largely self-taught, he not only has to be an expert at the mechanical end, but has collected an extensive library of research material. The shop even reproduces original manuals using paper and fonts of the era. It all started when Mike was a teenager with a '57 British made BSA that he had to work on constantly to keep running. His first American bike was a '48 Indian Chief, and the obsession began. Soon he was fixing motorcycles for friends, and getting into the fine details of restoration. He has just retired from a career with the Post office after 34 years. He was once a manager of engineering, and recently spent a few years as Postmaster at Molalla. His four sons were home schooled where they received quite a unique education in the machine shop as well as in the 3 R's. They went on to college machine tech classes and related careers. Matthew, the eldest, works with Mike. Several employees work on various specialties throughout the shop. Interested high school and college kids are given summer jobs.

Now that he's retired, Mike is spending more time traveling, taking his antiques to shows and events. He is active in The Antique Motorcycle Club, the Oregon Trail Chapter.