Party of the year!

Martin, Chopper Shop Alumni

Workshop Houston just had a surprise visit from Martin, a middle school participant from the first Chopper Shop we ran in 2004!  Martin is now 21 and pursuing his degree.   After completing school he will begin training to become a police officer.  In the meantime, he’s fixing up two vintage Ford trucks.   It was great to see him!

There is a great interview with our very own Chopper star Pedro in the Latest CITE Magazine! Check it out!

Aaliyah and Nicole recently finished a few aprons (one of our intro to sewing projects) in Style Shop.  We already have quite a few aprons in Style Shop, so we figured they could use them over in Chopper and Bike Shop.  Here are some pics of our apron donation mission to Chopper Shop.  You can see how happy Matt and Will are with their awesome new aprons!

Workshop Houston is looking to fill two Work-Study Positions - one in the Bike Shop and one in the Chopper  Shop.  More information here.

We are looking for volunteers in the following areas: bike shop upkeep and maintenance, funding research, volunteer recruitment, clothing design and projects, interior and exterior decorating, computer expertise, building maintenance, and mentoring. If you have any of the following skills, please contact Reginald @713-807-7911 or email reginald@workshophouston.org

Pedro finished this awesome chopper the week before the Art Car Parade, but I haven’t had a chance to post the pictures until now. This chopper has the distinction of  being the first bike to feature a from scratch custom fork, made with our new Tube Notcher from JD2.  We are all really proud of Pedro and are excited to see what he will come up with next.

Workshop Houston represented at the 2010 Art Car Parade with a wide variety of custom bikes and our newly completed Hot Rod Go-Kart.  We all had a great time riding in the parade and are looking forward to doing it again next year.  Thanks to everyone who helped out and especially to Baron Coker and everyone at MFR.Fluid and Air for sponsoring the Hot Rod Go-Kart and to the great people at JD2 for donating the tools we used to build everything.  Check out our Facebook page for even more great pictures (become our fan while you’re there)!

Over spring break we went to Enchanted Rock State Park for two nights of camping. We left Tuesday morning and stopped in San Antonio for lunch and a quick tour of the Alamo on the way.  We hiked two miles to our primitive campsite carrying all of our gear with us.  Wednesday, we hiked up the rock, and we went through the cave on the backside. Upon returning to our campsite we all played in the creek, had dinner, and then went on a star-gazing walk.  Thursday,  we headed back to Houston, with stops at  San Marcos for a quick swim in the river, and in Lockhart for some barbecue. All in all, the weather was fantastic, and we had a great trip.

Fresh off completing their low-riders for the Los Magificos Custom Car Show in the fall, 8th grade students Clarence and Mike decided to embark on a collaborative project for May’s Art Car Parade: a hot-rod inspired  go-kart.

The project is giving them the opportunity to push the skills they have acquired in Chopper Shop over the last two years and make decisions as a team.  (more…)