Incline students create custom cycle
Incline High School students Tyler Cribbs, 14, left, D.J. Velazquez, 17, Trevor Hudson, 16, Addison Granger, 14, and Josh Phillips, 17, on Thursday show off the custom roadster they built in their auto class with the help of Paramount Custom Cycles in Reno.
At Incline Village High School, working on a hog is part of the curriculum.
Incline Village students unveiled Thursday a custom-made 2008 Paramount Roadster they constructed in their auto class with the help of Paramount Custom Cycles.
The bike has the school colors, green and gold, and will be sold for more than $20,000, which will be used to sustain the program at the school.
“You get this warm, little, fuzzy feeling inside hearing that thing fire-up and knowing you got to build it,” said senior Josh Phillips of Incline Village.
The students worked alongside Aaron Greene, a famous motorcycle builder and owner of Paramount. As an Incline Village alumnus, Greene said he wanted to show students who might not get straight A’s they can still lead successful careers.
“They relate more to me,” said Greene, adding that he was a lot like the auto class students in high school. “I wasn’t in the brainy classes. I was kind of a grease-ball mechanic, but I still built a company.”
With Incline Village auto shop teacher Bryan Thornton, Greene helped supervise the construction of the motorcycle. Once the students constructed the bike, it was deconstructed and sent to Paramount for final construction and to be painted.
“It was like watching a master at work,” said sophomore Trevor Hudson, of Incline Village. “He’s a great teacher and taught me a lot in the short time we built this bike.”
Greene, 32, was the youngest person to enter the International Master Bike Builders Association Hall of Fame when he was inducted in 2006.
Assistant Principal Kevin Taylor said the project was a success for students because it helped them get motivated and interested in school.
“When you walk into that class you see a lot of energy because kids are interested, they’re working together, they’re hands are getting dirty,” Taylor said. “Anybody can walk into that class and realize that kids are having fun.”
The students weren’t the only ones who had fun building the bike.
“It’s like riding a motorcycle and finding the difference between being the driver and being the luggage,” said teacher Thornton. “You get an appreciation for how people put bikes together and why they do it.”
The bike is available for purchase through Paramount
This article originally appeared in Reno Gazette-Journal.
