David_Weatherly's Blog

If you've been following the Vespa adventures of Brad Jones, AKA, "Scooter Man," then this next story will surely prove interesting. In fact, it was Brad who stumbled onto the man you're about to meet. While driving in High Point, he spotted him riding an usual looking contraption. Realizing the potential for a good story, he flagged him down to find out more.

Brad the passed the man's contact information on to Roy and me. We soon disovered his instincts about the story were even better than he could have imagined.

Peter Fonda he’s not, even though his gas tank is copied from the famous chopper in the movie “Easy Rider,” Charles Gurkin says he feels more like character from the old west as he tools around on what looks like one of “Harley Davidson’s” earliest attempts at two wheeled transportation.

With no mechanical expertise, he set out to build a bike that he could use to get some exercise without killing himself pulling the steeper hills around High Point. His first version used a battery powered electric motor, but the batteries just wouldn’t last long enough. Then he found a motor kit on “ebay,” salvaged several old bikes and got busy.

The finished product is a mechanical collage, cobbled together bits and pieces of whatever it took to make it work. It’s something straight from the mind of Rube Goldberg. While it may not be much to look at, the bike is a marvel of creativity and ingenuity. Best of all, it really works.  

Charles says his motorized bicycle get’s about 150mpg around town. That means even with today’s high gas prices, he can do a long way for just a few bucks. But saving gas isn’t really the best thing about his contraption. He says building and riding the contraption is the most fun he’s ever had. 

Charles Gurkin may be more like Peter Fonda than he thinks, discovering many of the ideals  from that famous movie. The freedom of the road on two wheels and “stickin’ it to the man,” as the Dennis Hopper character might say, by finding a way around the high price at the pump. As a fellow traveler on life’s highway,  I say ride on brother. Ride on…

To see the "Roy's Folks" segment about Charles Gurkin, click here.

To find out more about Brad "Scooter Man," Jones, click here.

If you have any comments or story ideas, please send them my way at david.weatherly@wghp.com. I would love to hear from you.