There’s a School in Bloomington, MN that has a well known class, you don’t see anywhere else. This class consists of custom motorcycles, custom fabrication, a ton of fun and learning, and a pretty kickass teacher heading it all up, named Kevin Baas.
Kevin has been into bikes from a very young age, and is the founder of Kennedy’s Chopper Class. Being a certified teacher, and a killer fabricator mates the 2 skills required to make a class with a bunch of teenagers that probably started out having short attention spans work like a well oiled machine and turn out some really RAD custom chops and bobs.
Since we all know education systems have limited budgets that are already allotted to different areas, the chopper class does it a different way. Kevin is a very well known and connected person in the motorcycle world whether it be from his own business Bass Metal Craft (www.baasmetalcraft.com), or attending various bike events and appearing in every second magazine with either one of his super rad creations or a Chopper class build. He uses the contacts he has made in the business to donate many of the parts used in class builds. Companies like S&S, Drag Specialities, Vtwin, etc regularly give back to making sure the roots of motorcycling keeps on by donating to the class.
Just like everyone reading this I too really wish there was a class like this when I was going to school (I prolly would have been there more!), but there wasn’t. These kids have an amazing opportunity to learn from an already legendary craftsman like Kevin, shown in the exceptional finished products that emerge from the classroom.
Just recently the class finished up one of their most high profile builds which was for the cover of the Drag Specialities “Old Book”, a catalog that only deals with Flatties, Knucks, Pans, and Shovels. I have to tell you I’ve seen the finished bike and it is so rad I wish I had it parked in my driveway so I could admire and abuse it all day everyday. What a wicked way for the kids and Kevin to make their mark in history seeing as how the book publication will be seen and used by every dealer and shop in the world for years and years to come.
So this is a brief rundown on the well oiled, and amazing humanitarian class which is the Chopper Class. In a time where everyone thinks the true manual hands on Craftsman is losing ground to the computer age, Kevin Bass is doing what he can by training and moulding a fresh group of Craftsman that will keep the hands on working world alive, not to mention keep them coming to class everyday! I myself am a professional Tradesman for a living who deals with young apprentices everyday and definitely know how difficult working with a teenager can be sometimes. In a time where video games and plain old laziness take over the youngster fairly quick, what Kevin does is a feat right up there beside invoking peace on earth, ha ha.
To wrap this up I want to take my hat off, give 2 thumbs up, a high 5, basically give Kevin every possible good kudo for devoting his career to passing on various crafts to the youngsters coming up in this world. It is an amazing thing that will affect these kids for the rest of their lives in a very positive way.
Hopefully one day I will be able to meet Kevin, shake his hand, and say thank you for doing such a kickass job with the youth of this generation,.. Hell, I’d like to quit my job and go back to Chopper Class FULLTIME!
Check out and keep glued to www.kennedychopperclass.com to see the next killer bike to come out of the shop at Kennedy High School.
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