Paul and Susan Bennett
I’m an engineer, designer, fabricator, maker, certified motorcycle technician, and former professional road racing motorcycle builder/tuner. I started riding motorcycles when I was nine years old and began racing moto-cross and riding enduros when I was around sixteen. I competed in desert races and raced short track, moto-cross, and TT-scrambles while serving in the US Marine Corps and stationed in 29 Palms, California. After the service, I started road racing and worked my way up to expert at the club level and later acquired a professional AMA road racing license to compete in the Battle of the Twins series (precursor to Super Twins). I was also a professional race bike tuner for an independent rider, Joel Samick in the AMA professional Superbike Series of races. As I got older, it hurt more when I crashed and took longer to recover. I then got into the Harley thing, was in bike clubs, did the poker runs and took part in various other events of that nature. For awhile I was a road captain and assistant director of the Cape Cod Chapter of HOG (I’m a life member of the National HOG Club).
I began my career as a motorcycle mechanic. I was trained in the beginning at local shops (OJT) and then later sent to various manufacturers factory training schools. I later attended American Motorcycle Institute in Daytona, Florida and graduated first in my class (1976).
I’ve worked as a motorcycle mechanic, service manager, and general manager of several motorcycle dealerships over the years. I later returned to school and earned my BS degree in engineering. I worked as a professional engineer and returned to the motorcycle industry to design, build, and tune motorcycle road racing engines in the mid-eighties (the business back in the mid-eighties was known as Bennett Engine Dynamics). Customers had me build and tune complete machines during that time, along with drag bike engines, hot street machines, moto-cross racing engines, and I even built/prepped a few formula car engines for local SCCA club racers.
I went back to professional engineering for several years until I got the itch to get back into the motorcycle business. I took a job as a service writer for a large power sports dealership that carried several brands of motorcycles, snowmobiles, ATV’s and personal watercraft and remained there until my family and I decided to move to Downeast Maine in 2004. During this time frame, I also started and operated a yacht/work boat design practice that was reduced in scope after moving to Maine. When the design practice was closed on Cape Cod and our wooden boat shop was left behind, I decided to continue selling some of my stock boat designs and books I had written on how to build them, but stopped offering pre-cut boat kits, materials, and hardware. The plans and books I offer are intended for a niche market, catering to the first time or novice backyard, home boat builder. I call the business “Shoestring Shipyard” and our tag line is “…everyone needs a little dinghy.” I still sell these plans and books online through my other web site: http://www.shoestringshipyard.com
We purchased around 50 acres of undeveloped land in the town of Milbridge, Maine. It’s quite rural and located along the seacoast. We designed and built our own home by ourselves, without any outside help with the exception of having a few friends lend their assistance with installing steel roofing panels. We then began farming on a small scale and have continued developing our family farm in the meantime.
We began farming to feed our own family fresh food without chemicals or additives, and intended to take our farm commercial. This venture would require specialized insurance coverage so we’re shopping around before we start allowing customers to visit our farm (yes, goats are fun and entertaining – but not to the person who owns the car they hop up and begin tap dancing on). We are also thinking about offering day classes or weekend hands-on seminars on a variety of homesteading and farming subjects. Some of them may include welding, blacksmithing, welding, woodworking (which may include steam bending, wood turning, carving, and other crafts), plus the usual farming subjects. We are allowed to have up to 4 camp sites without having to be licensed as a campground here in Maine, so we might have some camp sites available to folks attending seminars.
Presently, I am occupied with quite a few projects for local nonprofit/charitable organizations, and I also take on custom design and fabrication projects from the general public. Such projects may be sculptures in steel and other metals, wood, or a combination. I also design and fabricate custom motorcycles, hot rods, bicycles, farm equipment, public display stands, vendor carts and trailers, and so forth. What can I design for you?
We are also bicycle-friendly. Folks on bicycle vacations will find fresh water, power for charging phones, and use of tools if needed while passing through. They may have use of a camp site overnight when visiting if any are available.
To see what is going on around here, check back often or follow my site. Also, please “like” and follow us on Facebook. Visit my wife’s blog www.downeastthunderfarm.com for more about what happens here, and check back often to this site too, as she does make regular updates – sometimes more than one or two each day.
Check out my blog for other updates.
Feel free to contact me with your comments and suggestions.
Paul J. Bennett
