Citing recession, Milwaukee Iron founder will close shop

Milwaukee Iron, a Lynchburg machine shop known nationally for its Harley-style custom motorcycles, is ending its 26-year ride on July 31.

Randy Simpson, founder and president of Milwaukee Iron, announced Wednesday that he is closing the shop, which drew attention a few years ago as the subject of a series on the Discovery Channel.

Simpson said he lost business due to the recession and to foreign competition, and it’s hard to keep up with taxes and other costs. He doesn’t foresee things improving anytime soon.

“I’m just tired of chunking money into the business when I don’t think the economy’s going to recover fast enough for me to get it back,” said Simpson, 51.

“I’m ready to step off and watch the merry-go-round, and ride my motorcycle while I still can.”

Simpson began repairing motorcycles in the 1970s, when he restored a 1950 Harley-Davidson Panhead he had bought for $1,000. In 1983, he started his business.

The name Milwaukee Iron was inspired by the nickname for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

The shop’s work has varied from motorcycle repair and construction to machine work and metal fabrication. “We always tried to do things that other people weren’t doing,” Simpson said.

Milwaukee Iron has employed anywhere from 2 to 14 people at a time, Simpson said. Now, Simpson has two full-time and two part-time employees.

While operating in out-of-the-way shops in Lynchburg, Milwaukee Iron became known by motorcycle lovers around the nation. Most of the custom choppers it built have been featured in national motorcycle magazines, Simpson said.

The company got more attention in 2004 and 2005 when the Discovery Channel aired a 13-episode series about Simpson and his crew. The series was called “Southern Chopper,” but was renamed “Southern Steel.”

While that show was being produced, Simpson learned that E.C. Glass High School, his alma mater, might cut its machining technology program due to low enrollment. Jeff Schleicher, a good friend and a teacher in that program, asked Simpson to help.

Simpson and his crew brought their motorcycles to Glass for an event to build interest in the machine shop classes. “When … they rode up on their bikes, the kids just went crazy,” Schleicher said Wednesday.

Simpson donated parts and materials to the program and challenged the students to build mini-motorcycles. That challenge got more students interested and helped the program survive.

“He was one of the key players in it,” Schleicher said. “I hate to see him go.”

“If people think what you’ve got is worth something to them, I don’t mind giving a little bit of myself and a little bit of the shop’s time,” Simpson said. It was worth it to “be some inspiration to somebody.”

Several years ago the landscape of Milwaukee Iron’s market began to change. More machine shops began producing similar parts for motorcycles. A major customer began using fenders made in Taiwan, Simpson said.

“It’s not like we don’t have any business. I’m still doing over $300,000 a year in fenders, but it’s just not enough to sustain what’s going on,” he said.

“What’s going on” includes government bailouts of big banks and firms like General Motors, Simpson said. “I’m all for getting the economy going, but some of the deals that have been made in the past year are just criminal” because of the tax dollars and debt involved, he said.

He said the government and businesses should realize that sometimes keeping a business going is not worth the money needed for it. For Milwaukee Iron, now is that time, he said.

Simpson decided last week to close. He plans to sell the shop’s building and equipment at auction Aug. 27. He also plans to sell the right to the shop’s name.

A search of records in Lynchburg Circuit Court show no liens against the business or its building on Ramsey Place.

Of all the equipment in Milwaukee Iron’s shop, Simpson plans to keep one: a frame table used to straighten motorcycle frames. Harley-Davidson discontinued the table years ago, and Simpson bought it used in 1984. “I’ve used it every week since,” he said.

Simpson could set up a smaller operation to do repair work and possibly some custom fender work to make some money, maybe enough to support his hobby of motorcycles.

“It’s time for me to just get out there,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be able to get in several thousand more miles before the year’s over.”