My passion for motor cycles started in High School in Western Pennsylvania as a kid. Every chance I got to get on two wheels I did. I rode Harley Sprints, Honda Scramblers, rentals…..anything it took to get the wind in my face.
As the years past, in and out of the Air Force, traveling from Pa to Texas to Alaska…the passion to ride never left. In Alaska I got my first Big Twin Harley Davidson, I built it from scratch. I bought a 1957 HD straight leg ridged frame, a brand new 1976 Shovel head motor and tranny, a HD springer front end that I extended 14’’over etc etc. She was a beauty and I rode the highways and byways of Alaska for several years on that machine. In those wonderful days Harley’s had a tendency to malfunction on a consistent basis (in other words, if you rode it one day you spent two days fixing it). I learned very quickly how to wrench on my Harley to keep it running, then I started to fix my friends Harley, then their friends Harleys too. Before you knew it I had a Harley Repair shop in no time and was spending more time wrenching than riding….lol.
I went to my first Harley Davidson Service School in Milwaukee in the winter of 1976 representing House of Harley in Anchorage Alaska, what a wonderful experience it was. I was learning how to fix these Harleys the correct way now, and that really set off a spark, and my passion just exploded as I found my nitch in life. I worked at the House of Harley in Anchorage for Barry Matteson for several years, honing my skills as a Harley Technician building bikes, servicing bikes, but most of all building motors and tuning those motors. I built Knuckle Heads, Pan Heads, Iron Heads, and the newest thing out in the 70’s was the awesome Shovel head ……O, those babies were great then the EVO hit the market with the 5 speed trany….wow!!!!
As years past I sharpened my motor skills as I worked for Zepka Harley Davidson in Johnstown Pa. I continued building Performance Motors and dyno tuning. The biggest jump in my career was when Brad Zepka asked me to take over his racing program. We built a Pro Modified Harley Drag Bike…(what a learning curve that was). I enjoyed that for about 3 years. We had a 116.5’’ Sporstser platform, naturally aspirated, that cranked out 185hp and 173tq on VP fuel. She did a 8.9 to 9.2 consistently, and one pass at 8.8 with a tail wind. In the 90’s that was pretty good for Pro Modified Class. Drag Racing really opened up my eyes to what worked and what didn’t work…..you learned the art of building packages from this experience.
Over the years I was in and out of several MoCo schools for the new products. Having my own shop in the 80’s and 90’s (The Iron Horse), teaching at MMI (Motor Cycle Mechanics Institute) for 5 or 6 years, where I wrote the curriculum for Screamin’ Eagle Engine Building and Dyno Tuning. I traveled the states and Canada teaching EFI Tuning and Dyno Operations. The last 15 years of my career was building Doc’s Performance Tuning. A very successful, world renown, business where we specialized in Performance Engine builds and EFI Tuning with the TTS Master Tune. We also continued to instruct EFI tuning and Dyno Operations at Doc’s Performance Tuning for Dealerships across this great nation, and Aftermarket Shops from Canada to Brazil.
It has been the passion of my life and a wonderful journey of 50 plus years. I’ve made many friends and lasting relationships over those years, I even pissed several ‘’know it all’s’’ off in my day too, at least I’ve been told that…..lol. O’well, after 50 years in business, dealing with some people there is something to be said for that ‘’Grumpy Old Man’’ adage……lol.
Now I’m at the age that these BIG old Harleys are too heavy for me to push around anymore. Looks like the day has come to pass the torch to another young man that can carry the passion I once had to a new level of expertise in the Harley Davidson world. I will continue to tune a bike now and then and still hold classes on how to tune these Harleys the correct way…making them run the best they can and putting that smile on the customers face.
Thank you for all the years you all gave me to live my passion out, I never went to work a day in my life!!
I.D.Weaver (Doc)