When Victoria’s Tony Harrington, 11, watched rocker Chris Cornell wheel the bicycle Tony had spent 100 hours building on stage this fall, he thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Moments before, Cornell had called Tony backstage to thank him for the chopper-style bike, complete with a custom-sculpted autograph on its rear fender.
“Cornell said, ‘I plan to bring this out on stage,’ ” said Mike Harrington, Tony’s father. “What we didn’t know was that he meant every single show.”
The Soundgarden frontman, who played Victoria in October, would take Tony’s gift on tour, riding the bike regularly as part of his stage routine.
Cornell isn’t the only celebrity with a chopper-style bicycle handmade by local youth, nor is Tony the only one making them.
Tony belongs to a group of kids and teenagers learning trade skills through the Angels Chopper Bicycle Club, or AC/BC. The group members, led by Mike Harrington but largely directed by the youth themselves, work together to build chopper-style bicycles inspired by their favourite musicians, athletes and other stars.
Harrington said that while celebrities provide the inspiration, the project is really about developing life skills.
“If you can give kids and youth these skills at a young age, you may be helping them on their path to a better lifestyle,” Harrington said.
Since forming eight years ago, AC/BC has designed and built bikes inspired by the Victoria Royals, Snoop Dogg and Rob Zombie, among others.
The seed of the project began when Harrington, who works in the automotive trade, built a custom chopper-style bike for Tony’s fifth birthday.
“It started as a pet project in our living room,” Harrington said. “[Tony] thoroughly enjoyed this bike and a lot of kids in the neighbourhood expressed interest in old fixed-up bicycles. So we started doing these bikes for kids in the neighbourhood.”
By 2010, Harrington’s daughter Sophia had created an Ozzy Osbourne-inspired chopper with a homemade casket-style gas tank, learning welding and other skills in the process. When Osbourne arrived in town for a concert, she wheeled up to the arena fence to show it off.
As Harrington tells it, Osbourne’s bandmates were so impressed, they offered to buy it. Sophia, who wanted to show off her work but wasn’t ready to part with it, refused. They offered to sign it, but when they reached toward the gas tank, she blocked it, saying they could sign the bottom of the fender or something else instead.
“I was just amazed, it was like, here’s this girl — she was 11 years old at the time — and she was totally putting these guys in their place. It was really funny,” Harrington said.
But he also saw potential to for a larger project.
“Standing back, I realized, wow, there’s a really cool ingredient here. If you were to put, for example, four youth together as a build team and give them a theme, like a rock star or local hockey team, you create this amazing dynamic that includes teamwork, creativity and skills development,” Harrington said.
AC/BC, named by its members, is now a registered non-profit society. Kids pay $40 for an annual membership and can participate in workshops, bike rides and special events.
The group has already developed several off-shoots, too, Harrington said. The Food Angels deliver non-perishable food to community members in need. There is also an AC/BC dance troupe, led by the youth.
While building bikes for celebrities is a highlight, Harrington said he’s more proud of the work he sees the youth completing.
“To see our youth in the community being looked at as the real stars, by the stars, is a great feeling,” Harrington said.
