BILL CRONIN ’ S
POW MIA BIKE
My love of motorcycles must have started when I was 6 or 7 , watching the men across the street working on and riding their bikes . Actually , they were only teenagers , but , they looked like men to me at the time .
The first bike I ever built was when I was 13 . I was the only one in the neighborhood that had a Schwinn bicycle with a Briggs and Stratton motor ! But my Dad was not happy when he got home and saw what I had done to his lawn mower . He made me put the engine back on the mower . But for the better part of one day , I had a motorcycle !
Fast forward to 1997 . I was working in Cumberland , IN , at a cycle repair shop . Repairing everyone else ’ s motorcycle but mine . I did not own one at the time . One of the customers had financial trouble and could not pick up all the parts he had ordered . The owner just wanted to get these parts gone . So , he asked if I would be interested in any of them . This is when I purchased the rear tire and oil tank . They went into my closet for several years . And I kept adding more and more parts along the way . There were more parts than clothes in my closet .
In 2008 , I ordered a frame , front end , gas tank and 3 fender blanks . This is when I started building this motorcycle . Almost 80 % of the parts that I purchased , I had to fabricate myself to fit the frame that I had changed . In 2010 I purchased the motor , transmission and drive side .
The bike was all I did whenever I had any spare time . Evenings , weekends you name it , I was in my garage . This is when I decided , being a Viet Nam veteran , I wanted to dedicate this bike to all veterans , past and present . Including POW ’ s , MIA ’ s and nurses . I did not want any of them to be forgotten like we were when we came home from the war .
Before I moved to where I am now , I was retired and living on a fixed income . Anything I needed to buy or have done , I had to save my money till I had what was needed . Parts kept going up faster than I could earn the money . After I moved here , I was side lined with health problems . I had a quadruple heart bypass done . Then about a year later I had to have an artificial heart valve replacement .
I am now 71 years of age and feeling very healthy and happy . I thank the Lord every day for everything He has shown and taught me . I am able to work out every other day with my weights and exercise equipment . The Lord not only gave me my health , but , the talent to build this bike . It has been a labor of love .
-Bill Cronin
Photographer : Mark Freeland , Mark Freeland Photography ,, 317-507-0193 , mfreelandphoto @ comcast . net
8 THUNDER ROADS MAGAZINE LOUISIANA