Walneck's Classic Cycle Trader - January 2009 - (Page 134)

ABOUT OUR WRITERS TEACHER KNOWS BEST..MIKE BROWN A BY MARK ZIMMERMAN Teacher knows best The Mike Brown Story everything he owned into his VW and headed south to New Orleans and then to Houma, Louisiana. Louisiana wasn’t exactly the land of golden opportunity but Mike did ok. His first stop was in New Orleans where he was hired as a training manager for Taco Bell, a job that wasn’t without its rewards, especially if you enjoy styrofood, but the glitz and glamour of the fast food game soon wore off. Consequently Mike moved to nearby Houma and back into the newspaper game, although this time in the advertising end of the business. At the time Louisiana was hard pressed to find school teachers so Mike, sensing an opportunity, and maybe driven by the long dormant family teaching gene, decided that he’d give it a whirl. He began teaching during the day and furthering his own education at night. Teaching is a lot of things but in most cases it’s not particularly lucrative, so when a local repair shop did a terrible job of servicing his old VW he decided that rather than throw good money after bad, he start repairing the thing himself. One thing led to another and Mike soon made his way to the local V-dub guru a fellow named Travis Teekell. Travis took Mike, under his wing and shortly thereafter, the good Mr. Brown who as well as being a quick study, was a naturally talented mechanic, found himself teaching school during the day, and repairing Volkswagens the rest of the time. During this time motorcycles were placed on the back burner, but by no means forgotten, unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time in the day to do anything more than think about them. Between teaching, repairing Volkswagens and a t some point in our education most of us have had a favorite teacher. A Miss Othmar so to speak, that was able to transform the humdrum of our daily classroom grind from something that was little more than a dull recitation of dusty teaching lessons into an enlightening experience where we actually learned something. Frankly, I’ve never, had a teacher like that, at least not during the root canal that passed for my formal education. But if I had, I hope he/she might have been a lot like Mike Brown. But as I often do, I’m getting ahead of myself so let’s start at the very beginning. Mike’s motorcycling career began with a ubiquitous, and as is generally the case, mechanically suspect mini bike. Always drawn to motorcycles, Mike acquired the bike when he was in sixth grade, and it was in such rough shape that he spent far more time working on it than he ever did riding it. Something that I’m sure was of great relief to his parents. Mike’s early career in education might best be described as checkered, both his parents, and several relatives were educators so naturally, Mike being a normal teenager there was some resistance to the process, but get through it he did. During high school and into college Mike rode a succession of motorcycles, all of which needed a bit of persuasion to keep running. Since he couldn’t afford to have anyone fix the bikes for him he soon learned the rudiments of mechanical self-sufficiency. Freshly graduated from college Mike’s first job was as “Cub reporter” for the Hoosic Falls Standard Press, in Hoosic Falls, NY. Like the mythical Sportster riding reporter in “then came Bronson,” he made his rounds on a bike, but in this case it was a disreputable “Rat” Triumph Chopper. The bike was Brown’s only form of transportation and it served him well, until out of sheer necessity it was replaced by a Volkswagen Super Beatle. During the next few years Mr. Brown worked his way up the editorial food chain, eventually becoming the managing editor of the Washington County (NY) Post, but by 1978 he realized that working for small town newspapers just wasn’t going to cut it. True the hours were long and the pay short, but there were also downsides so when Mike’s uncle offered to put him up, he loaded 134 January 2009 | WALNECK’S CLASSIC CYCLE TRADER® I WALNECKS.COM http://www.WALNECKS.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Walneck's Classic Cycle Trader - January 2009

Classic Cycle - January 2009 Contents American The Buzz with Buzz Walneck 1970 Harley Davidson FXS - Low Rider Motorcycle Tips with Mike Brown 1970 Harley Davidson Super Glide Cal Rayborn’s 1973 HD SRTT 1978 Harley Davidson XR 750 Bench Racing with Mark Zimmerman Events Listings & Advertisements British Chain Anyone? Barber Vintage Review Biker of the Month Parts, Accessories, Want Ads The Art of Dismantling Why Do We Do It, and When? Buffing Metal Old Blue, Deja Blue and the California Hot Rod A Fat Daddy I Call Friend 7th Annual Concours European Teacher Knows Best … Mike Brown The Midnight Whizzer … Mark Zimmerman Madman … Somer Hooker Buzz Japanese Motorbikes & Scooters Memorbilia Antique Cycle Clubs Competition How to Place a Word Ad How to Place a Photo Ad Area Code Directory How to Subscribe Let Us Help with Your Event

Walneck's Classic Cycle Trader - January 2009

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