Revolution Motorcycles
studio photos by Wall to Wall; misc photos by Chris Nilsson & Felicia; words by Chris Nilsson
LOCATED IN the envious locality of Currumbin on Queensland’s Gold Coast is an unassuming bike shop called Revolution Motorcycles. Gaz took over Revolution Motorcycles seven years ago when it was a backyard operation and ran it for 2—3 years before his beautiful daughter, Jessica, came on board to take on spares and the showroom, allowing him to concentrate on the workshop.
With the volatile custom motorcycle market, Gaz has changed direction a few times to suit and is going quite well claiming his place as one of the four main stayers on the Coast.
The main focus at Revolution Motorcycles is on engine building. Gaz loves nothing more than taking your stock donk, and in his own words, “Get ’em goin’ hard!” Revolution has helped develop the Renegade engine during the past 12 months and Gaz tells me the experience was a big learning curve. Revolution is also a S&S Authorised Dealer.
All of Revolution’s engineering, lathe and milling are in-house, and Gaz wouldn’t have it any other way. Recently he took on the shop next door to double their workshop space. And they not only build from the ground up, they’ll also service your pride and joy in a professional manner.
Revolution Motorcycles now has accrued a long list of family members, the first is Daniel ‘Scooter’ who started five years ago after Scooter’s mother came in and pleaded with Gaz to put her son on to avoid being locked up… the rest is history with Daniel now a fully fledged grease monkey. The nickname ‘Scooter’ was lumbered on young Daniel by Gaz because in the early days scooters were all Daniel was allowed to touch. Now that Scooter’s a fully fledged mechanic and bike auto electrician, he asked Gaz, “Come on, do we still have to use Scooter?” to which Gaz replied, “Sorry, mate, even when I’m the ripe old age of 100 you’ll still be my little Scooter.”
The girls almost outnumber the boys at Revolution. Paris, representing the fairer sex, is a third-year apprentice having completed two years school based training. Felicia, Gaz’s youngest daughter, works in the office two days a week keeping the books up to date. Sandra, Gaz’s wife, is often there making sure he is behaving himself.
Gaz and the boys like nothing better than bagging the shit out of each other to keep the shop in good spirits. Gaz good heartedly calls Lee his spastic brother. “We have to lock him up under the stairs at night,” he laughs, “to stop him scaring the neighbours.” In reality,
Lee is a damn good mechanic who actually has suffered from MS for the past 18 years. That’s his sensational red trike pictured in the foreground of the staff portrait. You’ll see a full feature on it in Oz Biker Nation soon.
Revolution is also widely known for its insane custom art which is applied by Shaun and Troy; Rod’s Resprays applies the base coats and clear.
Let’s not forget the talented Judy (Lee’s wife) can knock you up a one-off leather creation, alteration or repair; or Jess’s extensive second-hand spares where you might unearth that hard-to-find part or gasket for your Shovel, Evo or Twin Cam.
Gaz is a long time supporter and one of the original organisers of Gold Coast Bike Week and he can be seen at his stand or cruising the grounds each year. You won’t miss him, a Merv Hughes look-a-like with a personality to match. An approachable and more likeable larrikin you couldn’t find.
Gaz and Jess would like to send a big thanks to all their customers for their patronage and for helping build Revolution Motorcycles from word-of-mouth support; also their suppliers for their help and support; to the Revolution staff for making Revolution such a successful business; and especially the team at Ozbike for this opportunity, their friendship, their alcoholism, and their help over the years.
Revolution Motorcycles, 2/30 Currumbin Creek Road, Currumbin, Qld 4223; 07-5521-0000. www.revolutionmotorcycles.com.au