Father finds peace restoring motorcycles

But Brian Elliott brings the ride to life.

“My main job is to restore engine cases and frames, so people can restore the bikes themselves or pass on to someone else,” said Elliott, who re-creates 1970s and older Harley-Davidson motorcycle frames as part of his business, Black Sunshine Motors.

He also can re-create the entire bike, a task that can take two months to over a year to do. “I don’t like to build bikes, but I do it to fund the other work.”

He searches for original parts at swap meets and at other garages and shops. If he can’t find the part, he will manufacture it himself. “When you are restoring a bike, you don’t want something off the shelf, you want an original part.”

Motorcycle buffs from all over the world, including Australia, England, France, Italy and Germany, where the older Harley-Davidson culture is very popular, have work done by Black Sunshine Motors.

Although motorcycle enthusiasts may dream of spending every day with knucklehead frames and old Harley-Davidson parts, the business started from a nightmare.

The love of motorcycles started when Elliott was 18 years old and “tinkering” around. He started restoring a bike, but had to sell it after his first child, daughter Myia, was born in April 1998.

“I gave up a little when I had kids,” he said, with no regrets.

In January 2002, Elliott’s then 2-year-old son, Brodin, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a brain tumor at the base of the brain that can affect the spinal cord fluid.

“When he was going through all of this, I couldn’t keep my head straight,” Elliott recalls. “If you’re watching TV, you’re still thinking about it. So, I started diving into this.”

Elliott’s wife, Mary, left her job at Bachrach’s clothing store to be with their son.

“After I left Bachrach, we went from two incomes to one,” she remembers. “His shop helped a little bit financially.”

During the next few years, Brodin had two surgeries on his brain. And the follow-up treatments of radiation and chemotherapy took a toll on the little boy’s body.

Through it all, Black Sunshine Motors progressed.

The business started slowly out of a shop at his home in Oakley. By 2004, the work began to grow and he moved the business to a shop on Pershing Road in Decatur. But after two years, he found the rent and other expenses of owning a business to be costly. “And it’s hard to run a business with only two people,” he said.

So he moved Black Sunshine back to his home, which is now in Macon.

Since then the dream has been looking a bit brighter. Brodin, 12, has been cancer-free for five years and was released from further medical testing last summer. He is a student at Harris School.

Mary made the choice to return to work in special education.

“By putting myself in his school setting makes me aware of what Brodin needs,” she said.

This has allowed Elliott to slow down. “You know I’ve got a family,” he said.

But Brodin’s disease and the treatment have had a lasting effect on the boy’s body. He has scar tissue on his lungs that causes respiratory problems. He has two hearing aids, cataracts in one eye and he doesn’t talk.

Because of Brodin’s continued health concerns, his father works full-time for the benefits as a railcar repair shop supervisor.

“I work here, and I moonlight there,” Elliott said, standing among half-assembled motorcycles and parts.

Several of Elliott’s bikes have been photographed for national magazines such as “Easy Rider,” “Full Throttle” and “The Horse-Backstreet Choppers,” in which he was awarded Chop Off winner. Other awards include Cycle Source’s Builder of the Year and Best in Show. His bikes have been displayed at many motorcycle shows, including at the Broken Spoke Saloon during the Sturgis Rally. His bikes also have been on display during the Easy Rider Tour.

“Brian started the business as a reprieve,” Mary said. “But it proved he was a real artist.”