Award Winning Motorcycles and Cars

I am very proud of the bikes I have been involved with. Some started off as bits and pieces, others we're new and became unique, while others still just needed some finishing touches.  

My bikes have appeared in...
My bikes have been in three shows/events, including the Barrington Concours d'Elegance and they have won their class 100 percent of the time. 

See them here.

What follows are past and present projects. Please be in touch if you'd like to be a part of a project or have your bike join the fold. 

1962 BMW R69S

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1962 BMW R69S

This bike was the zenith of my collecting experience. Over the last 25 years I have assembled a collection of world class motorcycles; seldom do you have the chance to acquire a bike of this quality, history and provenance.

This is the first year of what was to be known as BMW’s “Rolls Royce” of motorcycles, the boxer twin 600cc machine. Famous for its Earles-Fork front end and horizontally opposed Boxer Engine these were the smoothest and most dependable of all European motorcycles. Amazingly, this is a matched number bike with only just over 35,000 miles from leaving the factory and just over 600 miles since its restoration.
 
This motorcycle was restored from a good running, low mileage original.  The bike came from an older man who had owned it since 1963 and was well maintained. The frame and fork were powder coated and all sheet metal was professionally done in black single stage urethane.  Pinstripes are hand brushed.  All seals, rubber parts, tires, bushings and bearings were replaced. Some chrome re-plated, polished all aluminum parts, re-laced and polished the rims which are original and in excellent condition, as is the proper Denfeld leather, dual seat. Rare “S” adjustable steering damper.

Re-built carburetors, re-wired all the electricals, and replaced many parts. Speedometer has not been touched.  Mufflers are period correct accessories.  No detail missed, right down to the frame mounted air pump. Brakes, grips, pegs are all new.  Pistons are new first oversize, valves reground 600 miles ago. It runs quiet and pulls strong and thus no reason to disassemble a good running engine. Bike usually starts first kick and runs like a Swiss watch, shifts, stops and handles beautifully.  It was built in 1961 so does not have the R69S fender tag which is period correct.  Everything works as original, correct, and no disappointments. 

Bike was a part of a large, private collection of an avid BMW connoisseur for approximately 7 years where it was put on display and well pampered in a climate controlled "museum." Was cleaned and detailed regularly. It has not even been wet for washing for the last 15 to 20 years. 
​
This bike won both the Paragon Chicago Motorcycle Show and the
Barrington Concours (the “Pebble Beach of the Midwest").
​
Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners Member #7839 

Ducati
Sport Classic 1000S


"New Vintage" 

This bike represents the best of both worlds—iconic classic café racer styling that Ducati made famous in the 1970s like the single headlight and racing stripe right down the middle—all part of the same minimalist look blended with contemporary performance of the famous tubular Trellis frame, chrome wire wheels with black chromed aluminum rims and slotted Brembo brakes.
 
Specifications
 
SUSPENSION
Front: High performance Marzocchi 43 mm upside-down front forks in brushed aluminum
Rear: Twin, high-performance fully adjustable Sachs shocks.
 
BRAKES
Front: Brembo 2 x 320 mm semi-floating discs, floating caliper 2-piston, 2-sintered pads

Rear: Brembo 245 mm disc, 1-piston floating caliper, 2- sintered pads
 
INSTRUMENTS
White backed/retro lettered speedometer and rev counter with chrome trim
 
ENGINE
Type L-twin cylinder, 2 valves per cylinder Desmodromic; air cooled

Fuel injection Marelli electronic fuel injection, 45 mm throttle body

Displacement 992 cc
Bore x Stroke 94 x 71.5 mm
Compression Ratio 10.01:1

Horsepower: 92 hp @ 8000 rpm
Torque: 67.3 lb-ft @ 6000 rpm

ADDITIONAL CUSTOMIZATIONS
Paul Smart racing windscreen

Termignoni pipes

Black carbon fiber front LED turn-signals integrated into the front fairing

120 db hidden air horns

Black powdercoated rear fender eliminator that’s ¼ the weight as the original

Open cam belts with black anodized rollers

Origin Story

I love bikes. In fact, I’m generally attracted to and frequently intrigued by machines of all sorts. Such an admission is likely shared by you if you are reading this. Also likely common is the long enduring nature of such interests—stemming from childhood for many of us. I grew up tinkering, taking things apart, drawing, fabricating all sorts of things and building lots of models.
 
What may be a bit different for me is that as an 11 year old boy almost every model I built was while I was in a hospital. I wasn’t sick but my grandmother was—very much so. She and my mother had raised me until that point. (My folks had divorced before my first birthday and my father went back to his agrarian roots on a farm a thousand miles away.) Since my mom had to work full time I grew up becoming close with my grandmother.
 
 My mom could not afford child care. So every day after school I was in my grandmother’s hospital room. This was quite unusual for this era as when children were generally forbidden from going up to inpatient rooms. But, considering the circumstances and my general quietness, an exception was made, and I became somewhat of a fixture until my mom would come and pick me up every evening once she got off work.
 
After school each school day I would arrive and tell my grandmother all about my day. She would then rest and I would finish my homework. Then, I would start to work on my “current build.” I became very proficient with an Exacto knife, Testors glue, tiny paint bottles and thin brushes. There was never a rush to finish. A model never came home until it was finished. I got to know Revell’s merchandise by heart. So, while I built, I learned how things went together and by abstraction how they would work if made of steel and rubber rather than plastic and glue.
 
In fact, I would explain with pride (and imagined expertise) to my grandmother, and the doctors and nurses, what it was I was building, why certain points were pretty tricky to get just right, and finally, once finished, I would unveil it. The kind medical staff would “ooh-and-ahh,” but every time—no matter the quality (or lack thereof) of my build—my grandmother would say it’s “simply beautiful.”
 
Now, fast forward 41 years, all that time in the hospital, must have made an influence on my career as I went on to work in hospital settings, for twenty years—in private practice, as a service chief, as a researcher, and as an associate hospital administrator. I also founded a non-profit organization dedicated to global health matters and I remain full time in clinical research in orthopedics, rehabilitation and sports medicine.
 
Of course in my spare time I have been designing, fixing, restoring, customizing, building or otherwise wrenching on some sort of bike or car. (In fact it has developed into a sideline LLC called STOUTengineering.)​

"Ton-Up Bobber"
​H-D Iron 883

New 2012 Harley-Davidson 883 Iron
883cc Air-cooled Evolution V-Twin engine (aka Blockhead) with aluminum heads and cylinders

Electronic fuel injection

Black powder-coated cylinders, cylinder heads and rocker covers

Chrome pushrods

Classic 3.3 gallon tapered peanut fuel tank, finished by hand

Vintage style H-D lettering on both sides

Side-mounted license plate

Hidden electronics/wiring

Black cast aluminum wheels

New Michelin Scorcher Tires with  exclusive deep-cut tread design

Beautiful, custom quality flat-black paint (two times thicker than other bikes)

Numerous one of a kind, hand-milled and handmade features

Custom powder coated parts throughout

Roland Sands Design Café 39mm Clip-Ons mounted to the front forks The aluminum bars are dimple milled to allow  for stock wiring to cleanly exit stock switch housings with a fixed 5 degree down angle, black anodized

Roland Sands Design Café Gauge and Headlight Re-locator

Eliminated stock headlight visor/eyebrow

Custom cut and powder coated  transmission pulley cover with clear cover to expose the gear

Vance & Hines Short Shot black exhaust 

Custom mapped ECM and DYNO Tune

Roland Sands Design Black Ops two tone black finish gas cap with Laser engraved Roland Sands Design

K&N 63 Series AirCharger® Intake Kit and Air Cleaner

Spiegler smoke cables with titanium-end brake lines

Drilled and powder-coated belt cover

Finned Derby cover with H-D logo

Paaschburg & Wunderlich Futura black housing with smoked lenses rear LED signals

Paaschburg & Wunderlich Tubo black aluminum housing front turn signals in custom built and powder coated mounting

Trick Roland Sands Design gauge relocation

Micro LED tail light set-up

Custom rear shocks

Old school bar-end mirrors

Cross-drilled disk brakes, front and back

Please note that we are now only doing commissioned projects and builds. 

​Please be in touch and we can discuss your project. 

We are combining a team to build the Buell-STOUT-Ronan.  A one-off custom comission. Here are the drafts. If you have a proper doner Buell we can get started or we can source one. Please be in touch as to what specs you desire.

This is our latest project "Double Espresso"

The project name is an homage to the signature Ducati twin (or desmo), hence "double" and its reconfiguration as an Italian cafe racer.

There are a number of details and Easter eggs with this special Stout Edition “Double Espresso” Ducati, like the thin pinstripe that represents the colors of the Italian flag running along the top of the tank and tail, the designer’s name in classic Ducati font blacked-out in the carbon fiber fork covers, and a tiny homage to Stout edition by the ignition. People don’t realize the attention to detail unless they come up to it when parked—like the word “Ducati” barely visible on the tank, or the fact it is matte film, not painted (and redone four times until it was perfect). Even the key fob is a classic nod to the Ducati’s heritage.
 
Double Espresso was featured at The Milwaukee Builders’ Invitational and the Ultimate Builders Competition at the Chicago International Motorcycle Show. The project name is an homage to the signature Ducati twin (or desmo), hence "double" and its reconfiguration as an Italian cafe racer. The thread stitching everything together was to have a café racer that was a bit different than the rest.
 
I sourced bits and pieces from all over the US, as well as Berlin and Italy (of course), and had to fab others. None was easy or quick. Lots of ideas simply did not work. Design, try, iterate, and try again. Rinse and repeat.
  
Most every part had been tweaked or replaced.  To many this may seem like a lot of time and talent and money spent for a one-and-done project—and it was, simply for the joy of reengineering something—making it different, better, and realizing a dream.
 
This bike has twice topped over 100k views/likes in a week, see profiles in Dime City and Pipeburn. It was accepted into the Milwaukee Builder's Invitational and featured at the International Motorcycle Show’s Ultimate Builders Competition. It performs as well as it turns heads.   


  • Tubular steel trellis frame with 24.0° rake
  • Front suspension: 43mm upside-down fork
  • Rear suspension: Progressive linkage with Sachs adjustable mono-shock.
  • Single-sided aluminum swing arm
  • 5 Spoke Marchesini Forged Rear Aluminum Alloy Wheel 17” x 6”
  • 5 Spoke Marchesini Forged Front Wheel 17”
  • Slipper wet multiplate clutch system with hydraulic control
  • Barnett racing clutch plates
  • All Balls tapered steering bearings
  • Dual right sided Carbon Fiber Termignoni exhaust system
  • Ducati Performance (DP) ECU to match exhaust
  • Dual 320mm disc/4 piston Brembo caliper front
  • Single 245mm disc/2 piston Brembo caliper rear
  • Galfer cross-drilled rotors, front and rear
  • GSG Belly Pan
  • CRG brake and clutch levers
  • Zenmoto fender eliminator kit and integrated tail light system
  • Billet tail plugs
  • Oberon bar end mirror
  • Vortex Racing clip-ons
  • K&N Filter
  • Evap/emissions canister removed
  • OEM Cowling removed
  • Ducati billet reservoir covers
  • Adjustable S4R suspension linkage
  • New cam belts
  • New oil cooler mounts
  • New chain and steel sprocket set
  • New ignition and starter relay
  • New OEM bridge
  • Gotham Cycles Foot Pegs
  • Front fork LED Turn Signals
  • Digital LCD Multifunction Dash
  • Recoil Grips
  • Rexxer ECU Tuning
  • Alchemy 3 eye LED headlight with angel eye ring
  • New Battery
  • Relocated Dash and fabricated brackets
  • Clear and billet Timing Belt Covers
  • Paolo Tex Fork Covers with carbon fiber wrap
  • Satin red wrapped tank and tail with Italian flag pin striping
  • Satin red wrapped sides and belly pan
  • Carbon-fiber wrapped fork covers
  • Asymmetric carbon-fiber wrap insert on tank and tail
  • Morelli Electronic fuel injection with 45mm throttle body
  • Linear mounted front turn signals
  • New Pirelli Diablo Rosso III 120/70ZR17 – Front, 2020
  • New Pirelli Diablo Rosso III 180/55ZR17 – Rear, 2020
  • Fresh oil and filter, 2020
  • Fresh chain lube, 2020
  • New brakes, front and back, 2021
  • Dealer inspected, 2021

Introducing my latest project
2022 BMW R nineT Option 719(+)

Award Winning Cars

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In aspiring to live my life in full it has steadfastly focused on family and friends; and most certainly included my professional, academic, and humanitarian-nonprofit work; adventure, extreme, and endurance athletic pursuits; along with a myriad of various experiments and tests  to try out new things. A constant throughout all this, albeit with an ebb-and-flow, has been an interest in the design, modification, and of racing automobiles and motorcycles.
 
It seems I am now back in a phase of flow.
 
I am currently working to overlap my interests and work, a la what I wrote about in my LinkedIn Top Voice article, Building a “Portfolio Career.” That is, in fundraising support of the work of the nonprofit, Center for Global Initiatives, we will be combining its sponsorship, exposure and awareness via the backing by StoutEngineering’s motorsports performance arm, Rolling Thunder Racing, via participation in various events in 2024 and motorcycle land speed racing in 2025. The Center’s latest efforts are noted in this LinkedIn Top Voice article, Outcomes in Humanitarian Work: A Modest Example of Effectiveness.
 
We are proud to have the support of The Chevrolet Exchange for the use of their 2023 C8 for the 2024 season (of which I am personally paying for its use and associated fees).

Complete Driver’s Racing Kit For Sale
Notes:  
Here’s a video walk-through of the whole kit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCFSFsXF4s
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