Inside the Nisky Garage
Restoring vintage racing motorcycle steers hands-on application of math, engineering concepts while accelerating creativity, problem-solving skills

These days, Niskayuna High School’s automotive shop looks like a scene from the popular reality TV shows Orange County Choppers or West Coast Choppers.
But in the Nisky Garage, as it’s called, there’s no Paulie Teutul or Jesse James to be found – just a team of dedicated students, rebuilding a vintage racing motorcycle during their spare time under the watchful eye of technology teacher Rich DeSimony.
The idea for the project evolved when DeSimony and his college buddy, Rick Ketchum, a technology teacher at Newfield High School near Ithaca, NY, were discussing their affinity for motorcycles over a cup of coffee. It was their passion for teaching that lead the two friends to propose a friendly interscholastic competition to determine whose student team could build the better bike.
“This project provides valuable experience for students because they are applying engineering, math, English and computer science skills with hands-on participation welding, machining and designing,” said DeSimony. While this project marks the end of some courses in Niskayuna’s existing technology curriculum, DeSimony said it has inspired him to think of ideas for future projects that can be incorporated next year into the high school’s new technology curriculum.
For the bike project challenge, the teams each began with the frames of two Honda CB 350 motorcycles, manufactured nearly 40 years ago, which they are essentially rebuilding from the ground up. The Niskayuna team is using parts that have been donated or heavily discounted from near – Spitzie’s Harley Davidson in Colonie (electrical connections for headlight) and Performance Cycle Works in Schenectady (machining cylinders and technical assistance) – to as far away as Texas (brakes with rotors from Art Ramose who read about the project online) and South Africa, (custom rear seat, custom triple clamps from a shop that makes parts specifically for classic Honda motorcycles.). DeSimony and his students were invited to PowderTech in Duanesburg to watch the bike frame and swing arm go through the powder-coating process. “It was an opportunity for the students to see the entire process from start to finish,” he said, “and they thought it was great.”
Students created and regularly update a Web site dedicated to the project and have made many helpful connections using the Internet and message boards. “The response from the motorcycling community has been phenomenal,” DeSimony said.
As high school senior Joe Glasby explained, the big difference between the TV shows and the Nisky Garage is the reality that the students don’t have nearly the resources available as the professional bike builders from downstate Orange County or the West Coast. “They use heavy duty equipment on those shows and have the necessary funds,” he said. “We’re using old equipment to fabricate the parts we need and relying on donations.”
What the Niskayuna team may lack in resources, however, they more than make up for with good old-fashioned ingenuity and a lot of elbow grease. Since October, students have inventoried parts, stripped and modified the frame, rebuilt a motor, fabricated an exhaust system, fashioned carburetors, installed brakes, mounted headlights, and painted engine casings to name just a few of the many hands-on tasks associated with the bike-building project. All of this work has been completed during free blocks in their class schedule, after school, during vacations and on weekends.
Students have found the bike project to be a challenging yet rewarding experience.
“It’s such a great project that I have invested much of my free time working on it,” said high school senior Brendan Leach, who plans to study mechanical engineering in college. “It has been frustrating though at times — starting a task then not being able to finish it because you’re waiting for certain parts to come in.”
As a busy high school senior, time became an issue for Vince Nichols. “There’s no way I would not have volunteered for this project because I love working with my hands,” he said. “One of the biggest challenges for me is not being able to get in here (the auto shop) as much as I’d like because of other commitments.”
High school junior Brandan Mroz said the project has taught him the importance of setting goals. “We basically started from scratch; having a purpose helped us see how to get from there to here,” Mroz said. “We also needed to be creative and use problem solving skills.”
“Working with this old equipment we had to learn to improvise,” added Nichols.
The past 8 months of hard work is paying off. The bike is right on schedule for the June 1 deadline when Niskayuna and Newfield high schools will swap the classic bikes allowing students and staff a chance to cast votes for the best one. The student bike project challenge has been the focus of feature articles in the Daily Gazette and the American Road Racing magazine. The Saratoga Auto Museum has offered to premiere the vintage motorcycle and exhibit it in the “Sprockets to Rockets” display. DeSimony and Ketchum are also planning to take both bikes to the mid-Ohio Vintage Motorcycle Races this summer to tout the work of their students and thank the many corporate and private donors in the motorcycling racing community whose help made the project possible.
For additional information about the project, visit the students' Web site: Nisky Garage - Home.

(April 2007)