Kevin Baas, aka Teach, is an inspiring shop teacher who teaches chopper-building classes in Minnesota. He encourages hands-on learning and risk-taking in his classroom. Baas’ course has gained popularity among students and in the community. In our interview, Kevin discusses the incredible story about Jason Momoa gifting him the first Panhead he built two decades ago. Kevin plans to rebuild the 1957 motorcycle and give it to his son, Gavin, when he turns 19.
Kevin remains focused on teaching valuable in-shop and out-of-shop skills to his students. He sees his classes as a way to inspire young men and women to pursue their passions with motorcycles. Kevin will go down in history as a teacher who genuinely cares about others’ success and who relentlessly exudes positivity and good values.
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: You’re a teacher by day, a metal fabricator by night, a bike builder and entrepreneur. You’re doing a lot of stuff. So, how’s it going, Kevin?
Kevin Baas: We always say, there’s not enough hours in the day. There’s so much going on. Time flies when you’re having fun and we have a lot of cool projects. Since the last time we talked, it’s been a long time, but I still love teaching — still doing what I do, going to work every day and just enjoying it and helping kids find their passion. I’m teaching them neat stuff that they can do with their hands and showing them they can be successful.
Caption: Kevin teaching his student the ropes of metal fabrication (Photo:Michael Lichter)
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: Let’s talk a bit about how you got into motorcycles and where your love came from. Also, tell me a little bit about how you got into metal fabrication.
Kevin Baas: All that stemmed right back to my family. My father was a sheet metal worker. My Mom and Dad had a passion for Harley’s. They rode, my mom still rides and my dad still rides. When I was in highschool, shop [class] was my favorite class of the day. I didn’t really look forward to sit in the class where I had to hear a lecture all hour. I wanted to be working with my hands and building stuff and doing stuff. At home on my family farm, I’d be working with my Dad, he’d have me building stuff like go-karts, mini bikes. I learned that’s kind of what makes me happy and that’s what I want to do with my life. One of the things I always tell my students is, I don’t want you to find a job — find a career that you love.
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: So you were saying you have been teaching for almost 30 years and you started one of the first chopper build classes, ever. Talk to me a bit about that chopper class that’s been going on for over 20 years now.
Kevin Baas: When I got into teaching, I took over a program that had all the patterns for little toolboxes and the patterns for little birdhouses. We still did it to get the experience. But then I started telling myself, “There’s gotta be a better way.” If I’m bored teaching it, they’re super bored trying to learn it and I don’t want that. What can I do to spark some excitement and just come up with something that’s revolutionary and hasn’t been done? I don’t like to follow what other people have done. I always felt like I wanted to do something different.
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: Can you talk to me about the importance of community and collaboration within the motorcycle building class that you started? How have you seen this play out in the classroom with the students?
Kevin Baas: For me, it’s all about getting the kids [to the bike shows] to get the exposure with the community, have that camaraderie and show people what you’re doing and what you are learning. These kids will walk home with a stack of business cards from all kinds of businesses that come to that show when they see what these kids are doing and their passion. They’re like, “I wanna hire you. I need 20 of you for my company.” So, the camaraderie and the community and the love for it has been great. I really make sure that we’re respectful and that we feel fortunate for what we do. We don’t take it for granted. We appreciate everybody who’s behind us on it, especially you guys, Russ Brown. You’ve been behind me forever, helped sponsor me when I was building for Born Free in California and everything. That’s a love that never gets lost.
Caption: Kevin showing off a motorcycle build (Photo: Owned by Kevin Baas)
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: What makes a great chopper design, and how do you incorporate that idea into your build?
Kevin Baas: It’s all about flow, form, function. These bikes have to be ridden. They have to be safe. There’s a fine line of, “That’s not safe, but it’s cool and we’ll run it.” A spool front wheel with no brake — it’s not the most safe thing because front brakes are your most stopping power on a motorcycle, but some bikes, it just looks better with that clean look. With our bikes and our builds and my whole life, it’s always been about, I need to be able to get on this thing. I want to be able to ride it to California tomorrow and not worry about anything. It’s a testament to how you build the bike to make sure you’re doing things right, not cutting the corners.
Caption: One of the many bike builds created by Kevin (Photo: Owned by Kevin Baas)
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: What are you currently working on in your shop? Talk to us about that. What’s the latest and greatest?
Kevin Baas: Well, we got quite a bit going on at my personal shop here. An exciting thing that happened a couple years ago — Jason Mamoa spent a couple days in my shop here. We filmed some Harley-Davidson videos. When he was here, we were talking about my previous builds and he was looking at my wall with all my magazine articles and we started talking about my first Panhead. The first big twin-bike I built was a 1957 Panhead. That was actually one of them I did with my students way back in the early days to get this whole class going. Jason was really passionate about hearing the story and he kept going, “Man, that’s kind of a bike you really need, it should be here for your kids someday and hand it down.”
Well, it just so happened my friend Josh Arment, who owns The Aloha Monkey Tattoo, he does all my tattoo work — he had bought it from me and he was thinking about selling it. He had offered it to me a few times. I just didn’t have the money. Well then Jason said, “Hey, you know, I’d like to buy this bike” — and he says, “When you turn 19, Gavin, I’m gonna give you your Dad’s first Panhead and it’s gonna be yours to keep.” We were blown away. Just coincidentally, it got dropped off today. It’s sitting right next to me.
Caption: Kevin with his son Gavin (Photo: Owned by Kevin Baas)
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: You’ve had a successful career as a motorcycle builder and an educator, but are there any other areas within the motorcycle industry that you would like to explore in the future?
Kevin Baas: There’s some motorcycle rallies I haven’t been to yet across the country that I’d like to see. I’m honestly waiting until I retire because my kids are still in high school and they’re doing a lot of activities here. I don’t want to miss that stuff because it goes by too fast.
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: What advice would you give someone who is just starting out in the custom motorcycle industry?
Kevin Baas: The biggest thing, I would say right off the bat is, just remember you’re not going to get rich quick off it. You may never get rich.
Caption: Kevin at a motorcycle show with one of his builds (Photo: Owned by Kevin Baas)
Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys: Have you ever been in a motorcycle accident? If so, what did you learn?
Kevin Baas: I was involved in one minor spill on my motorcycle. The accident taught me to never trust anyone else on the road and always be on the defense. Assume that every driver out there does not see you on your motorcycle and be ready to avoid any situation where a car may pull out in front of you or cut you off while driving down the road.
If you are interested in keeping up-to-date with Kevin’s latest motorcycle builds follow him on Instagram. Ride safe, and thanks for reading!
