'Rolling piece of art that stands for sobriety': Sneak peek at one-of-a-kind bike being built to raffle off for Penticton's Discovery House

A specialty bike that will be raffled off later this year to help out Penticton's Discovery House is starting to take shape, with a quarter of the work completed.

Discovery House announced its Chopper of Hope fundraiser at the end of January and gave Castanet a sneak peek at the bike build this week.

The fundraising initiative, presented by Bannister Ford Penticton, takes a custom-built chopper hand-crafted between January and April, where one lucky supporter will take home the bike of their dreams.

The fundraiser is in honour of their former Discovery House executive director Jerome Abraham, who passed away last year when he lost his battle with cancer.

A 1971 Harley Davidson rigid frame Springer is being custom-built by a team of volunteers, with Darrell Richards leading the charge at his motorcycle shop, Sinister Speed Co.

The bike is being built from the ground to the frame to the finishing paintwork.

Richards tried to win a spot on Orange County Choppers back in 2020, pledging to donate the money from the completed bike when it would be raffled off back to the community.

Unfortunately, he didn’t make it, but the goal to host another chopper fundraiser lived on.

Board member Jimmy Slimz said he and Richards pitched the idea to the rest of the board about six months ago or so. From there, they were able to gather funds together, purchase a frame and start the process of building the bike.

“Part of that goal was really to involve the clients in the house,” Slimz said. “So every Wednesday night, we get two of the guys from the house that are clients to come up and help us for about three hours and put this thing together.”

Richards added that part of the caveat to using his shop space and building this bike was that they had to have client input.

“So Discovery House was nice enough to allow guys to come up to the shop,” he added. “It's been a good experience that way. It gives me more insight into what they deal with on a day-to-day basis, too.”

Joining Slimz and Richards on Wednesday were Jason Schafer and Shannon Masuskapoe, who are both over 80 days in their recovery.

Masuskapoe said he was “voluntold” to come to do the work, which he gladly accepted.

“It's teaching me how to get involved with the community instead of taking. I'm able to give back,” he said. “I just want to bring awareness to addiction and mental illness. There’s a stigma out there with people in addiction.”

Schafer said he grew up around bikes.

“It brought me back to being a kid again when I wasn't out being a little meathead,” he added. “It's quite the experience. Warms my heart to know that I'm involved in something.”

Slimz said as someone who was a client in the house 10 years ago, this project was a way to give back and in turn, pass it on to the guys that are going through the house now.

Halfway through February, the team has spent hundreds of hours on the bike build so far.

“We're getting pretty close to the full mock-up stage. So basically what that means is the entire bike. It's put together to how we want everything,” Slimz said.

Once that's done, the bike then gets de-assembled and parts are sent off to get their paintwork and customization finished.

“Then it comes back together, and then we bring the guys back up to the house, and we reassemble the bike for the final product.”

The four men expressed how proud they were of the work that's been done so far.

Richards described the bike as a “rolling piece of art that stands for sobriety and a new life.”

Currently, the fundraiser is in need of businesses and individuals to become sponsors.

“We're still looking for more sponsors,” Slimz said. “It's a pretty all-encompassing. We need support from local businesses, local people, guys from the house, and then obviously our time to do, put it all together. So it's there's been a lot of involvement from from all angles.”

“For Jimmy and I, especially being avid riders, motorcycles are more than just metal going down the road. They have a personality, they have a life and so this one's kind of getting its own life already.”

The chopper has been nicknamed Hope for the time being.

Once the bike is completed, it will be unveiled in a special ceremony to kick off raffle tickets sales.

Raffle tickets will be available starting from May 1, 2025, until Oct. 31, 2025.

During that time, the bike will go on a bit of a road show around the community, showing up at local events with Peachfest and the beach cruise.

All proceeds will directly support Discovery House, which provides supports for wellness, recovery, and improvements to the overall quality of life for individuals struggling with addiction.

The winner will be announcement sometime in November 2025.

For more information regarding sponsorship, contact community engagement coordinator Dennis Sweetnam at [email protected] or 778-931-1464.