The Motorcycle That Wouldn't Start
The motorcycle had been in the shop for eleven weeks.
Three mechanics had worked on it.
Sixteen thousand dollars had been spent on parts.
And it still would not start.
That was the situation at Halvorson Custom Cycles in Cody, Wyoming, on a Thursday morning in September.
Outside, the first hints of autumn had begun to touch the mountains. The mornings were colder now. The wind carried the smell of pine from the Absaroka Range, and the tourists who had filled Cody during the summer were slowly disappearing.
But inside Reed Halvorson's shop, there was no sense of autumn.
There was only frustration.
And grief.
And the deep, stubborn silence of an old motorcycle that refused to come back to life.
The motorcycle sat on the center lift beneath a row of fluorescent lights.
It was a rebuilt 1974 Shovelhead.
Black frame.
Chrome engine components.
A worn leather seat.
The paint had been restored, but Reed had deliberately left several scratches visible.
Those scratches were part of its history.
The motorcycle had belonged to his older brother, Cormac Halvorson.
Cormac had ridden it for forty-one years.
Forty-one.
Through Wyoming winters.
Through summer storms.
Across mountain roads.
Across hundreds of thousands of miles.
It had carried Cormac through his youth, his marriage, the birth of his children, the birth of his grandchildren, and countless rides with the Wind River Riders Motorcycle Club.
Cormac had helped found the club.
To the members, he wasn't merely an old rider.
He was the man who had given the club its soul.
Then, in June, on a road home from Yellowstone, Cormac had suffered a heart attack.
He was sixty-four.
He never made it home.
The funeral had been held in Cody.
His leather cut had been placed in the casket.
His hands had been folded over a photograph of his three grandchildren.
The Wind River Riders had ridden behind the hearse.
Eighty-three motorcycles.
Engines rumbling through the streets.
People standing along the sidewalks.
Some waved.
Some cried.
Some simply removed their hats.
But everyone understood what they were watching.
A man who had spent his life riding was being carried home one final time.
The club had planned a memorial ride for months.
Two hundred miles.
Eighty-three motorcycles.
Starting in Cody.
Ending at a granite bench outside Meeteetse.
The bench had been installed by Cormac's family overlooking the mountains he loved.
There was one more tradition.
The lead motorcycle would be Cormac's Shovelhead.
Riderless.
The engine running.
The bike would be lightly chained to the lead truck for balance.
That was how they had honored the club's founder before Cormac.
That was how they intended to honor Cormac.
But there was a problem.
The Shovelhead wouldn't start.
The memorial ride was forty-nine hours away.
Reed Halvorson was running out of time.
He was fifty-nine years old, six feet tall, broad-shouldered, gray around the temples, and permanently stained with the grease that seemed to live underneath his fingernails.
He owned the shop.
He had owned it for twenty-seven years.
People in Cody knew him as a man who could fix almost anything.
If a motorcycle made a strange noise, Reed could usually tell you why.
If an engine refused to fire, Reed would listen to it.
He trusted his ears more than diagnostic computers.
But Cormac's motorcycle had defeated him.
Reed had rebuilt the bike from the frame up.
New cases.
New crank.
Rebuilt heads.
Rebuilt carburetors.
New ignition components.
New wiring.
New seals.
New bearings.
Sixteen thousand dollars worth of parts.
Three professional mechanics had come through the shop.
Two had traveled from Casper.
One had come from Salt Lake City.
All three had spent hours working on the bike.
All three had eventually stood beside it with the same expression.
It spins.
It wants to fire.
But it won't stay running.
That morning, Reed had already spent four hours fighting it.
He had checked the ignition module twice.
Then replaced it.
He had checked it again.
He had pulled the plugs.
Read them.
Cleaned them.
Reinstalled them.
He checked fuel.
Compression.
Spark.
Timing.
Continuity.
Everything looked right.
Everything except the motorcycle.
At 11:02 a.m., Reed finally lost his temper.
He threw a wrench.
It crossed the shop and struck the front glass.
CRACK.
The sound echoed.
Reed stared at the cracked window.
Then he looked at the Shovelhead.
“I'm sorry, Cormac,” he muttered.
He wasn't sure whether he was apologizing to his brother or to the motorcycle.
Maybe both.
At 11:04, the front door opened.
A boy walked in.
He was thin.
Very thin.
He looked fifteen, maybe younger.
He wore a gray hoodie two sizes too large.
His jeans were dirty.
His shoes were worn through at the toes.
His hair was long and greasy.
A purple bruise stretched along one side of his jaw.
He carried a canvas bag.
It looked like everything he owned was inside it.