They say time flies when you're having fun...but time just flies no matter fricken what! My last blog post was in August, so clearly we've lost a little track of that time.
2022 was a landmark year in more ways that we could have ever dreamed of! It began with our first bike show in our own local Milwaukee. In March Mama Tried opened up our mind's capacity for so much more. We met a world of people we didn't know how to reach other than social media. A community of people sharing our passion and full of grit.
From Mama Tried we learned of the Handbuilt Show. So in April we trekked to Austin where we met the same type of people and our family grew a little more. We also had a surprise engagement while we were there at the shittiest little Airbnb you could imagine. The memories out weighed the dump and the experience Revival put on was worth the horrible Ikea-like bed.
June brought us to Chicago and MotoBlot and now our family was growing in our own backyard. This music and bike show was the highlight of our summer. Chi-town knows how to party and they did not disappoint us! Many more new friends and reuniting with a few from Handbuilt and M.T.
Then, finally to Glory Daze in Pittsburgh where it started to become like a reunion. It's been an exhilarating way to see the country!
After a crazy year of travel and raising our only baby together, (our golden retriever Clutch) we found our first launch pad. In November, Never Ending Cycles finally busted out of our 3.5 car garage into about 2000 square feet! Our powder coat room is as big as the entirety of the space we were squeezing into. Somedays, it is scary as hell! Having the overhead we didn't have before, we channel Kevin Costner and keep hearing "If you built it they will come". Gratefully, our community is growing yet again! What a thrill to have people just pop in because they were in the neighborhood and they had heard of us from someone else.
So now, not are we only building resto-mod vintage motorcycles, we have increased our motorcycle repair. We also get to offer powder coating not just to the clients we're building for, but people working on their own bikes, trucks and cars.
One of the biggest changes to our year was our NEC crew! We have five incredible humans that like to spend some of their spare time helping out and learning from Ben. We even had our first official work Christmas party complete with a trivia match and white elephant exchange. We happen to have the coolest neighbors...Brewfinity, a local brewer and taproom that hosted us.
2023 will prove to be a big year again as we grow our local community, plan a wedding, get a kid ready for college and become empty nesters. We are planning our first big event which will be a cancer benefit with music, food trucks and a car and bike show. We're prepping for more shows and ready for what this new building brings us.
We have to thank all of our clients and the amazing people in the custom and vintage bike world. The culture we're part of inspires us everyday to just keep doing the next right thing even when we're scared, tired or frustrated. Here's to embarking on more adventures together in this next year and making lots of noise! Happy New Year!
Powder Coat Department
Chuck and his creepy white elephant gift that now circulates the shop to scare whoever finds her each day.
The BMW department has grown significantly this year!
Working hard...to not eat bolts and steal parts.
One of the many resto Beemers of the year.
The shop truck and shop dog...nothing more American than that!
Getting ready for our July celebration!
The NEC team! Lorrae, a 25 year old bad ass chick we met at Mama Tried and wanted to learn more so she can work on her own XS650. Nick, a friend who uses his time in the shop as therapy and his bowling fund and makes us laugh every minute he's there. And our newest addition, Chuck Garric, a now dear friend and lead bass player for Alice Cooper and Beasto Blanco. He loves custom bikes and staying hands on when not touring. Not pictured is John, our neighbor and firefighter, also known as the carb guy and Kevin who found us through a neighborhood app. We couldn't do without this crew now!
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