A 14-year-old Ashburn boy wants to give a mini-motorcycle he built himself to the son or daughter of a fallen soldier.
Stephen Moyer was inspired by television’s Billy Lane of “Blood, Sweat and Gears,” who builds custom motorcycles with minimal parts and sleek designs for troops when they come home.
“I can’t do anything for the soldiers themselves, but maybe I could do something for their children,” said Stephen, who came up with the idea inJanuary. “I got the [bike] frame, started telling people and got donations like crazy.”
“I think it is wonderful. It shows exactly that children are thinking about the other children,” said Becky Campbell, founder and CEO of the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund. Campbell is working with Stephen to find a deserving family.
The bike is the third Stephen has finished since he started building them at 13. The metallic blue and taupe bike speeds to about 30 mph with its five-horsepower lawnmower engine. The seat is about 18 inches from the ground.
“What is different about his bikes is there are a lot of handmade details and fresh thoughts, things you don’t normally see,” said his father, Bernie.
Stephen has been honing his skills as a “shop rat” at Chantilly bike shop Devil Dawg, said the shop’s owner, Ken Kaplan.
“He helps out, cleans up when he can and in turn, we help him out with the bike,” he said. Kaplan said he doesn’t let Stephen use the large and dangerous equipment, but “for the most part, we show him how to do it and let him do it.”
“To be able to know what you are doing and to be able to say you built it is amazing,” Stephen said.
His next project will be a police trike, a three-wheeled motorcycle. Stephen said he plans to sell it and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Fairfax County Police Department.
