It’s one of those hole-in-the-wall places you have to want to find. I had the address; I had an appointment; and I had a bent front rim that made my ride reminiscent of those cheap motel beds fed by quarters to induce a vibrating rattle advertised as being a “sensuous massage.” The hand-lettered sign and a bent aluminum rim hung on the clapboarded wall, suggested that I had located M.C. Wheel in Swanzey, NH, but I really wasn’t certain.
I stepped into a tiny cluttered office. A huge leprechaun with flaming orange beard, facial tattoos, and an infectious grin leaned through a very narrow door at a 45-degree angle and cheerfully asked, “Can I help you?” This was my introduction to Josh.
Mark Moran built his first wheel-straightening machine in 1992; his first for alloy motorcycle wheels was fabricated in 1996. The specialized gigs, fixtures, and gauges are all home-built for a single purpose: to straighten and true aluminum and magnesium wheels. Still it was Josh’s big, fat, nimble fingers that deftly manipulated hydraulics, steel spacers, and curved gauges while his practiced eye watched the truing caliper dial and his hands spun my rim like a practiced DJ to the rhythms of Bob Marley. Straightening and truing a motorcycle wheel to within five-thousandths of an inch tolerance is a craft honed by experience.
It took a couple of hours to straighten my Escheresque front wheel. The cost was 150 bucks; watching the process was priceless.
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