Lurkers in the blogosphere may not know this man by his given name, but fans of metal fab are sure to recognize the work he features on his blog under the nom de plume Special '79. In his time in the chopper trenches Jason Roche has enjoyed 15 minutes of fame on Speed Channel's "Build or Bust" program, built a sexy Shovel for himself, and fabbed countless treats for fellow builders both invisible and infamous. In this installment of "Working Class Hero," Jason agreed to lay down the tools that do most of the talking for him and tell us what life in the fab lane is like for a Yankee craftsman.

Name: Jason M. Roche

Vocations: JMR Designs/Special'79 metal fabrication; bike part builder; starving artist

Age: I'm 40 yrs old, but I still feel like I'm in my 20's—except for my knees and back

Education: BFA and MFA in metals. These degrees and two bucks will buy me a cup of coffee

Work Experience: I worked for a Northeast skate/snow/BMX shop called Eastern Boarder and did metal fab on the side before I struck out on my own and started fabricating full time in 2008. I turned wrenches on motorbikes for years, and always had an affinity for ‘60s and ‘70s era machines. It was only natural that I started to take a much heavier interest in moving towards motorcycle and part fabrication

Personal Philosophies: Work hard and give credit where credit is due. No matter what field of work you’re in, there are pioneers in all of them. Give them your respect

In life, I just try to be happy, work hard, and treat people the way I’d like to be treated. I see too many people wasting time trying to be cool rather than happy. If you can do both, you’re lucky, I guess

In his own words: I do what I do because I don’t know how to do anything else. I also love to weld, so it makes every day at work enjoyable

Being able to look at a pile of raw materials at the beginning of the day, and at a finished product at the end of the day produced by your own hands is incredibly satisfying and motivating to me

Personal Mentors: No personal mentors. Hard work and talent inspires me. I’m an incredibly competitive person. When I see someone make or build something cool, it makes me want to work harder and be better at what I do

Friends, business associates and riding buddies: I’m lucky to have a great group of people to ride with and bounce ideas off of here in the Northeast, you guys and girls know who you are

Projects Past and Present: I’m really proud of the ’75 shovel I built; it was the first ground-up American bike I built for myself. I love this bike, but I’m trying to be a bike builder, so I sold it. Two more shovel builds, an ironhead, a Triumph, a Moto Guzzi, and an XS650 will keep me busy this winter

Special '79 blog

Jason Roche's ChopCult Profile