Revved up about work

Marisa O’Neil

If you spot a 50-something dude, sporting a long ponytail and a

Harley-Davidson shirt, riding a Costa Mesa Police motorcycle, don’t

panic.

Costa Mesa city mechanic Billy Folsom, 52, has kept the police

department motorcycles running smoothly for the past 15 years. But

when the Harley-Davidson enthusiast -- who’s been around bikes since

he was 12 -- has to test drive the patrol motorcycles before

releasing them to the officers, he draws a fair amount of attention.

“People will call in, thinking the bike’s been stolen,” he

laughed.

Before working for the city, Folsom had his own shop, repairing

motorcycles. But with a wife and family, he opted for the security of

a city job as a general mechanic about 23 years ago, he said.

At that time, the city contracted motorcycle repair work to

outside sources, while the city garage maintained four-wheel city

vehicles, including police cars, maintenance trucks and fire engines,

said Paul Lewis, the shop’s lead mechanic for 30 years.

City officials decided about 15 years ago to also have the

motorcycles worked on in-house to save maintenance costs, giving

Folsom the chance to go back to fixing motorcycles.

He maintains the department’s nine Kawasakis and seven BMWs. The

department is gradually phasing out the Kawasakis in favor of the

BMWs, which have anti-lock brakes.

Just as the officers have had to adjust to a new kind of

motorcycle, Folsom has had to learn how to work on the new machines,

motorcycle Officer Bryan Wadkins said.

“It’s been a challenge for him the past couple years,” Wadkins

said. “He does a good job for us.”

In addition to repairing and maintaining the bikes, Folsom

conducts investigations on vehicles involved in major crashes to

determine if a mechanical failure was to blame.

The bikes are generally taken out of service every 50,000 miles to

prevent high maintenance costs, Folsom said. Because motorcycle

officers put about 1,000 miles a month on them, the average patrol

lifespan for a bike is four or five years, he said.

And officers tend to ride the bikes harder than the average

motorcyclist, he said.

“They learn to push the bike to its limits,” Folsom said.

Motorcycle officers have to rely on their instincts, training and

their machines to avoid accidents on the road. And while nothing can

stop distracted drivers from pulling in front of a motorcycle,

well-maintained brakes and other parts help keep officers as safe as

possible, Costa Mesa Sgt. Scott May said.

“Just riding a motorcycle is one of the most hazardous jobs you

can have in the police department,” Folsom said. “You have to treat

[motorcycles] like a helicopter or airplane. You can’t have anything

wrong with them. If a bike goes down, an officer’s going to get

hurt.”

In a job that requires reliable machines, officers’ lives are in

Folsom’s hands, May pointed out.

And Folsom has developed a good rapport with those officers over

the years, which helps put them at ease about the safety of their

bikes, May said.

“He puts a lot of care into it,” he said. “If we get hurt, if we

fall, you could imagine the amount of stress that puts on him. It’s

personal, like a friend doing the work, not someone we don’t know

doing the work.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.