Vocational students compete in bike build contest at High Octane

For years, Joe Roy has led teams from small car shops in a popular annual competition over who can build the best motorcycle from disassembled parts.

These NH Bike Build Offs took place during the annual Laconia Motorcycle Week, but over the years, the shops have gotten too busy to take part.

So this year, Roy, the owner of Vintage Custom Cycles in Penacook, worked with Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s Office and the Department of Education to create a new tradition — vocational students, building bikes.

The first vocational Build Off takes place at High Octane Saloon in Laconia. It started June 13, and runs through the end of the 103rd Laconia Motorcycle Week, on Sunday, June 21.

Five students from the Wilbur H. Palmer Career and Technical Education Center, in Hudson, and five students from Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, are taking part in a friendly competition to build the best cycle.

The Whittier Tech team will work with parts from a 1996 Road King cycle, donated by John Turner, owner of High Octane Saloon. Palmer Center students will take apart and rebuild a 1976 Honda 554. Teams also have $2,000 each to spend on materials needed for customizing parts, such as a gas tank or overall design.

Roy said the contest will be the first of its kind involving vocational students in the Granite State.

The work will take place outside the bar under a big tent, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, with teams alternating in morning and afternoon slots. All are welcome to come watch, cheer on the mechanics, watch what they create, and vote for their favorite team.

“The bikes don’t look like they’d ever be anything,” Roy said. “I’ve seen pictures of them. They turn these bikes around, and make something pretty decent. We want to bring out the hidden talents that these guys have.”

The students will start their bikes, and drive them to a stage onsite on Saturday. Three trophies made by students at Portsmouth High School, from recycled motorcycle parts, will be awarded for first and second place. A third trophy, called the Charlie Snow Award, will be offered to honor the late Charlie Snow, of Kingston, who was involved in organizing the competition before he died in fall 2025 from pancreatic cancer.

Snow’s daughter, Crystal, will pick the winning team, and the school name will go on the trophy, which the school can keep for one year, relinquishing it for next year’s contest.

“The experience is going to be huge,” Roy said. “It’s not just building the bike. It’s being able to talk to people about how they came up with certain ideas. That, they will find, is going to be a great experience in itself, along with showing off the product that they built.”

When Roy had the idea for the contest involving young people last year, he contacted the state Department of Education, which sent two representatives to High Octane to see the venue and discuss the concept. They, and the governor’s office, were receptive and supportive of the idea.

“I would have been all over this in high school,” said Roy, who graduated from Whittier Tech.

Steve Turner, towner of Bring Back the Trades, an organization that supports tech and trade schools in Rye, is helping to line up schools for next year. At present, Portsmouth High’s tech division has expressed interest, along with three schools in Maine.

Interested schools, sponsors and teachers can call Roy at 978-836-9505 for more information.