Artful Builder

On a recent evening, “House of the Rising Sun” by White Buffalo, a song played on “Sons of Anarchy” ’s last show, echoed from the walls of the Austin Martin Originals motorcycle shop, ringing through the preseason still of the Portage Lakes. Owner Austin Andrella was brewing a fresh pot of coffee in preparation for working long into the night. That’s how he likes to work. His shop is his studio, and his tools are his paintbrushes.

“I’m more like an artist, and an artist can’t really charge their full potential when they’re just starting out,” says the 37-year-old New Franklin resident.

These nighttime work sessions are typical for Andrella, who is a self-taught custom bike builder and part-time welder. His father was a welder too, but he never had the chance to learn from his dad, who died when Andrella was 11 years old. Instead, he jokes about learning through trial and error and a lot of YouTube videos. He started riding dirt bikes at 13, and when he got his license he bought a brand-new Honda CBR600F4i sport bike. Two years later in 2003, he built a Harley Big Twin powered hardtail chopper that he still has. It’s been a labor of love ever since, as he has honed his craft on many other bikes including a special build he’s doing for Fuel Cleveland in July.

With no menacing-looking tattoos or obvious anger issues, Andrella is not your typical biker. He is usually smiling and laughing. Then he drops a mind-blowing bombshell: He’s a distant relative of John R. Buchtel.

Wait. What? The prominent businessman and philanthropist most famous for being the founding figure of The University of Akron, which was called Buchtel College before it was renamed? That tidbit ups the cool factor on an already really cool dude.

From his humble, self-taught beginnings, Andrella has become one of the top custom bike builders in the country. He’s entered dozens of bike-building competitions over the years and has trophies and giant promotional checks all around his shop to show for his efforts. He finds it gratifying to be recognized by his peers, and that is what keeps him pushing ahead to do more.

Seven years ago, Andrella’s shop burned to the ground. The fire engulfed the whole building and destroyed nearly everything he had been working on except for a toolbox and a few small things he managed to salvage. In tragic irony, Andrella’s day job involves installing sprinkler systems.

After rebuilding the shop bigger and better than it had been, he focused on building his reputation. With his excellent fabrication skills, it didn’t take long. “I want to show people how far I can go and the type of work I can do,” he says. “This isn’t a shop that does routine oil changes and tires. I don’t do things superfast, but the end results are really nice.”

Andrella says he often spends several hours a night in his shop working on projects for customers. On this recent evening, he was working on a special project with the youngest of his three daughters, 8-year-old Adelyne. Together they transformed a 1971 Honda Mini Trail bike into a mini cafe racer for the Cleveland International Motorcycle Show Bike Buildoff.

He has seemingly boundless energy. When he’s not working at his day job or his shop or helping raise his young family, he volunteers at Maplewood Joint Vocational School where he teaches students how to weld. Perhaps to make up for the lessons he didn’t get from his own dad, giving back to the community runs in Andrella’s veins as much as building cool bikes. He says the students sent him a card that sits prominently in his shop like one of his trophies — he is that proud of it. “I tell them they need to apply themselves because I didn’t,” says Andrella. “People think vocational schools are the easy way out, but what you learn will take care of you if you want.” Andrella is a walking example of what the students can be, and that seems to sink in coming from him.

Last October, he took home third place in the freestyle class and first place in the street class for the Custom Bike Building competition at the Championship of the Americas held in Columbus. His entry was a completely custom-built Yamaha XS 650. When asked what parts were from the original bike, Andrella points to a small section of the frame that holds the engine. He only saved that part because it makes it easier to center the engine, but the rest of the frame is custom made. It’s common for Andrella to build most of the frames and components himself.

Marrying artful design with skillful execution is what elevates Andrella’s bikes to the status of art. Keep your eye on this guy: He may just put Akron on the map in the motorcycle world.

For more information, visit austinmartinoriginals.blogspot.com