Power in Flux

  • Fire, smoke damage electric motorcycle builder's shop

    Published on 18 August 2011 1409
    5 Comments Comments
    By Holly Wagner
    Published on Aug 17, 2011 on Dealernews.com

    A motorcycle machinist=fabricator and his wife are mopping up after a fire that did smoke damage to a building in Ashland, Ore., that houses their businesses.

    Ely Schless, 56, and wife Krista Johnson, 60, have hired a half-dozen friends to clear and power wash the smoke-damaged space where Johnson is a seamstress and he designs electric motorcycles.

    "It is unbelievable," Johnson told the Ashland Daily Tidings. "There is soot covering everything, and the smell is worth a thousand words."

    Authorities say the fire started in the center of the building, on a shelf stacked with electric motorcycle batteries and other electrical components.

    A spokesman for Brammo electric company says none of their batteries were in the shop, although Schless sometimes does freelance fabrication work for the company for prototypes. Some of the company's employees volunteered to help with the cleanup.

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    Comments 5 Comments
    1. A-Bomb's Avatar
      A-Bomb - 18 August 2011
      Article sourced is no longer available already. May have been some wise damage control to remove it?
    1. foz_67's Avatar
      foz_67 - 18 August 2011
      Was this the story?
      http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbc...WS02/108110314

      Sad to see... and no insurance.
    1. Richard230's Avatar
      Richard230 - 19 August 2011
      Apparently the news articles contained several major errors, such as the owner of the home was not a Brammo employee and was not involved in the design of their motorcycles. I understand from a posting on the Brammo Owners forum that the Dealer News and the Ashland Daily Tidings plan to issue corrections to their articles today.

      The news media, you got to love them.
    1. Allen_okc's Avatar
      Allen_okc - 19 August 2011
      it may also force the fire marshal to require extra fire safety cost to restarting their business, such as a sprinkler or chemical extinguish system, which is very costly...

      we had to do it to our paint booth, it was about 5 grand to set up...

      but thats really horrible to have that happen to them, i hope they can pull through this...
    1. __Tango's Avatar
      __Tango - 19 August 2011
      This is really sad. I hope Ely gets back on his feet (or wheels as it may be). For those of you who don't know Ely, he's raced at the TTXGP last year and this year in the TTX75 class (i think he won both infineon and laguna this year). Here's a pic of him at laguna:

      He was one of the few home-built type bikes (vs. Brammo, Czysz, and Mission).

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