STROKERS USA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Doctor of Internal Combustion
This is the story of how I came to be, Jeff Bates, the world famous Doctor of Internal Combustion.
The story starts off like many other life stories, in a small farming village nestled in the foot hills of the Big Horn Mountains the year was 1972. I was born into a hippie way of life with little emphasis on mechanical or automated devices, so it is by pure act of God that I was able to become the technical power house that I am today.
My need to improve the mechanical abilities of the automated devices around me started young and continues today. After high school I continued my education in the oilfield and realized this was no place for me. I signed up for the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix AZ. While learning all there was to know about all things Harley Davidson I was also able to learn the meaning of "dry heat".
After graduating at the top of my class in MMI I was off on the next adventure, which had my family and I moving to Montana. In Billings I worked as a service technician for Beartooth Harley Davidson. The "itch" for performance began here, the shop had an old and outdated dynamometer and Harley had just released the first tunable power adder, the race tuner. Feeling the need to spread our wings and fly, our family decided to head back to the heat.
Las Vegas Nevada was the next place we called home. Working at the "world's largest Harley Davidson dealership" was where I began to truly shine. I specialized in performance engine work, service procedures, and custom one off bagger builds. With some state of the art technology and superior mentorship I was able to hone my dynotuning skills to perfection. Noticing my superior work ethic and leadership skills I was transferred to Red Rock Harley Davidson, also in Las Vegas, to lead the service department as the head technician. While at Red Rock H-D I was able to achieve the highest level of service recognition as a Master of Technology, also improving the overall status of the dealership to Platinum bar and shield (the highest level of dealership recognition in the world).
In the past 14 years I had accumulated 2,000 dynotunes on 200 different models foreign and domestic with an infinite number of engine and exhaust combinations, 11 land speed world records, crew chief of the world's fastest Harley Davidson at Bonneville salt flats, and having six of my custom built baggers in three different major publications, (Iron horse, Urban bagger, and American bagger.) I realized it was time to focus on my family which had us moving back to Wyoming where I found a new home at Strokers USA.
For me it started out in the Bay Area as a kid riding around in the back of Dads Rambler on the Freeways as the sound of Harley Davidson Motorcycles rumbled by, I knew was hooked on the sound and the sixties image.
When I was 12 we moved to Lake Tahoe CA and during the summer months Tahoe was a big attraction for bikers. From Bay Area day riders to bikers traveling thru, the "Y" was the fuel stop for the riders. I would pedal my bicycle to the "Y" and wait for them to ride in and fuel up. I would just mingle in and ask nerdy questions, the guys would answer and chuckle giving me the hand shake and there woman would pinch my cheeks, smile and pat me on the ass.To funny …
I started collecting Chopper Magazine and got a Levi jacket to sew my Harley Wing patch on. The Levi Jacket was pretty cool but got me in alot of fights at school … Unreal, So I quit School !! When I was seventeen I road my first Harley Davidson, a 1976 Sportster. Are you sh-t-n me, that was awesome and I knew I had to have one.
At the age of 19 I moved out to Wyoming with $300.00 and No Car on a business venture that was taken away, "Magic Valley Truss Co" in Rock Springs. My first lesson in, put it in writing!