Woolie kindly opened his workshop doors for me to walk around and chat with him for a bit. I have admired his bikes on many different occasions but I wanted to see for myself how the man works. Here are some details that caught my eye during my visit.

He is definitely a busy man these days. I got there as he was about to take a freshly finished build out for a test ride. A few minutes later he was back and pushed it up the lift. He said the bike handled like a dream but there was still something he wasn’t happy with. Perfectionist.

Why build something that isn’t perfect?

When you stand there looking closely at his workmanship, you know he lives by that word. You can clearly see that with his first build for Deus, “The American.” The influence of his racing is in the details on his bikes. All performance driven. He lets the function play its part and the beauty in his design aesthetic follows suit. He said, “the bikes built here are made for Americans, built by an American.” 

Woolie fabricates everything, from plastic to metal, in-house in his workshop at Deus, Venice. As we talked I sat and watched him, constantly moving. He wasn’t happy with a tank mount and was cutting and test fitting pieces back on the bike. 

I walked around and familiarized myself with his workspace. Parts, race frames and motors were scattered throughout the shop. The build list is getting longer as weeks progress. I know for sure that we will see more amazing bikes come out of his shop and only a handful of lucky people will get to ride them home. 

Amazingly humble and laid back, he made my job really easy. This was no surprise. He was born in Hawai’i afterall.  

I would like to thank Woolie for letting me in to talk and to watch him work. It was a memorable day for me. Mahalo.

SR