1) He lives in a big, bright pink house. Yep! Pink. Like definitely not burgundy. It’s a little known fact that seems to amuse most of our customers. A motorcycle mechanic who lives in a pink house?! Who’da thunk! When he and his family first moved to Ashley, they purchased a ‘Queen Ann’ Victorian home that was built in 1901 and need of a major uplift. They decided to restore it to its proper era, so pink with pops of yellows, teals, and reds it was. He recently retouched all of the paint, which explains the pink drippings on his belts, boots, and somehow- elbows.
2) He loves sports of all sorts. Whatever sport is in season, John religiously follows said sport. While all motorcycle-related sports will always take precedent in his heart, he holds no bias when nothing two-wheeled is on the tube. Football. Basketball. Baseball. Rugby. You name it, he watches it.
3) He’s broken 9 bones on bikes. The first accident occurred while he was riding his TT500. A car didn’t see him while making a left hand turn and nailed him dead on. Thankfully, he reacted quickly enough to pull up his leg or it likely would have been lost entirely in the accident. He ended up breaking 4 toes and 3 bones in his ankle. The second accident occurred after the line of vehicles in front of him came to a sudden and unexpected stop. He was unable to brake quickly enough and ran right into the back of a Voltswagon bus. This resulted in degloving (yes- *cringe* -degloving) his pinky finger and breaking both his neck and right arm.
4) He makes the best damn egg noodles that money can’t buy. This was one of his mother’s, Nellie, specialty dishes and John’s favorite as a kid. Determined to do his mama proud and longing for the taste of a familiar comfort food, John has spent many years perfecting his recipe to do his mom’s egg noodles some justice. It is a family favorite that each of his kids look forward to every Thanksgiving.
5) He has ridden to 38 different states on his 1968 XLCH900. In his younger years, he had a contract with an employer that stated both parties would give 6 months notice if either wanted to end the employment agreement. He was laid off, and consequently was given 6 months severance pay. He took that money and lived out many people’s dreams: he rode all over the United States. Literally. There were only 12 states he didn’t make it to on his XL! (He now jokes that he’ll have to make it to those states in a motor home these days.)
