- Joined
- Jul 12, 2008
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Hello all! This site has been one of my favs for the longest time now. I have been lurking around for a while now but I finally got up the nerve to intro myself. My name is Tony but everyone calls me PoppaShango. My world is all about bikes. I assembled bikes in California for a company called FEDCO back in the 80's. I did that among other things for several years. I then learned a lot about car restoration from my father and we restored cars for a few years. As time went by I got away from working with bikes and cars and started working as a merchandiser, then I remodeled supermarkets. From there I began to design the layouts of the products and shelving and progressed into Data Analysis.
I moved to Canada about 4 years ago and got married. While I was waiting for my permanent residency, I was pretty much a stay at home dad. I built my own garage during that time which was not the easiest thing to do during the winter months..lol. I was shingling the roof in 30 below, but I had to finish that thing to move on to more important work which I still wasn't aware of what that would be. When I got my residency, it was time to find a job. The company I worked for in the states is an international company so I could have went back easily, but I felt that I didn't want to sit behind a desk anymore. One day I saw an ad looking for a bike builder for a local chain store. I figured that I would enjoy that as much I did years ago. So I took the job and quickly found out what time can do to you! I ached for weeks, my wrists were killing me and they still do to this day. But I was having a blast! I still am.
One day my wife and I were shopping at an antique mall and I saw an old bike. I can't even remember what it was, but it was a ladies balloon tire bike. I took it home that day and decided to show my stepson all the parts of the bike and how they worked. In no time flat we had the bike completely torn down. I decided that we would repaint the bike and re-assemble it. So about two weeks later it was done and I had it sitting in the garage (now my hobby shop) and a passer-by saw the bike and wanted it. So I sold it for a fair price and I was hooked. I started building bikes and looking for more to restore. I looked for information on bikes and came upon this site. WOW...this is where I want to be!
Now I build/restore/and going to try ratting bicycles. Any of the bikes I sell pretty much funds the next project or two. I am sure most of you have been there. I guided my son while he built a Lowrider he always wanted and I built myself a cruiser at the same time. At this moment I am sitting on twelve bikes projects. Things have been going pretty good so I opened a website where people can check out the project bikes and if they see something they like they can contact me. I try to find bikes anywhere I can. I have bought a couple at the local co-op and in the spirit of good fortune I took a bike that my son and completely refurbished and donated there. It's a wonderful program so I always try to refer people there when they are looking for good reliable transportation. It was my good fortune that the garage package I got on sale that day came with a walk in attic. So I can keep bikes on standby up there.
At any rate I have gone on waaaaay tooo long. So once again I want to say hello to everyone, awesome bikes here, and best wishes to all.
Poppa
I moved to Canada about 4 years ago and got married. While I was waiting for my permanent residency, I was pretty much a stay at home dad. I built my own garage during that time which was not the easiest thing to do during the winter months..lol. I was shingling the roof in 30 below, but I had to finish that thing to move on to more important work which I still wasn't aware of what that would be. When I got my residency, it was time to find a job. The company I worked for in the states is an international company so I could have went back easily, but I felt that I didn't want to sit behind a desk anymore. One day I saw an ad looking for a bike builder for a local chain store. I figured that I would enjoy that as much I did years ago. So I took the job and quickly found out what time can do to you! I ached for weeks, my wrists were killing me and they still do to this day. But I was having a blast! I still am.
One day my wife and I were shopping at an antique mall and I saw an old bike. I can't even remember what it was, but it was a ladies balloon tire bike. I took it home that day and decided to show my stepson all the parts of the bike and how they worked. In no time flat we had the bike completely torn down. I decided that we would repaint the bike and re-assemble it. So about two weeks later it was done and I had it sitting in the garage (now my hobby shop) and a passer-by saw the bike and wanted it. So I sold it for a fair price and I was hooked. I started building bikes and looking for more to restore. I looked for information on bikes and came upon this site. WOW...this is where I want to be!
Now I build/restore/and going to try ratting bicycles. Any of the bikes I sell pretty much funds the next project or two. I am sure most of you have been there. I guided my son while he built a Lowrider he always wanted and I built myself a cruiser at the same time. At this moment I am sitting on twelve bikes projects. Things have been going pretty good so I opened a website where people can check out the project bikes and if they see something they like they can contact me. I try to find bikes anywhere I can. I have bought a couple at the local co-op and in the spirit of good fortune I took a bike that my son and completely refurbished and donated there. It's a wonderful program so I always try to refer people there when they are looking for good reliable transportation. It was my good fortune that the garage package I got on sale that day came with a walk in attic. So I can keep bikes on standby up there.
At any rate I have gone on waaaaay tooo long. So once again I want to say hello to everyone, awesome bikes here, and best wishes to all.
Poppa
