Post by "Chainsaw" Jim Johnson on Aug 4, 2014 17:26:57 GMT -5
Animal (Keith Coffman) posted on Jan 05, 2011:
I got this off Jims facebook today...
Jim Wilson passed away yesterday, his wife Kas and daughter Stephanie (the writer of this message) have decided to compile a book of "Jim stories" which we will scrapbook together and have for a small memorial service to be held at some time in the future. We plan to take his ashes back to Kentucky the state of his birth in the spring, to bury them with his family plot. So if you have a good memory of Jim please email it to sw.inku@gmail.com it would mean a lot to his family who are still trying to grasp the abruptness he left all our lives.
Athough I did some work with him years ago, i did not know him well personaly. However I know a few of you had been spotlighted on his site.
He was and inspiration to many of us for years.
God Bless and prayers to all my Friends!
ANIMAL
Chainsaw posted:
Thanks Animal I'm gonna also post this in the FreakBike Talk section. I'll post it around some of the other sites too.
Jim was always there for the Custom/Kustom Bike community. He will be greatly missed. He was one of the first CBN members to send me a p.m. when I joined. He's always been kind of a hero of mine. I will miss him greatly.
Giggles13 posted:
Actually Chainsaw called me and I got on and made this a global announcement and e-mailed it to everyone that is a member of the freakbike nation.
KoolKat posted:
Jim was a huge supporter of AtomicZombie, a great guy. He was so enthusiastic about bikes and all of us freaks. RIP Jim. Condolences to his family and friends on behalf of our Atomic Zombie family. He will be dearly missed.
ChoppersUS (Alan) posted:
All I can say is that our portion of the bike industry has lost its true patriot, visionary and primary driving force. I have had the pleasure of working with Jim for the last 6+ years. We have traded long email conversations, had lengthy phone calls and while we didn't always agree (actually we usually did!) Jim provoked many to push the envelope harder. He always had an unwavering dedication to our common passion for kustom bicycles. We need to do something as a group to express our gratitude for Jim's efforts in keeping BR+K (as well as the world of kustom bikes) alive. I would propose something like setting up a fund so that Jim's work perpetually is alive in the form of keeping BR+K archives available online, if his family is open to it. Unfortunately I have not ever had the pleasure of meeting any his family members, but if anyone has a contact and can run the idea past them please let us know. Of course there are other ways to memorialize Jim's efforts, so if this idea doesn't resonate with anyone, then feel free to throw out others.
Jim, my friend, as you ride your cruiser through the gates of heaven, may you always have the wind at your back.
Fondly,
Alan
RHL Customs (Rob LaLonde) posted:
Sad news....! I can relate with his family at this time, I lost my dad one week ago today so I feel their loss and pain. I would like to express my deepest simpathies to all of his friends and family.
I (RHLKUSTOMS) was fortunate enough to have been part of a feature interview on BR&K by Jim a few years back. I really enjoyed how he did the interview in segment questions by email, it took almost a week to exchange questions and answers to complete the interview and the way he formated the questions was really cool. I was and continue to be greatfull and honored to have been a small part and focus of Jim's intrest and passion of the custom bicycle.
The custom bicycle world has lost one of the great embasador of the custom bike scene!!!
R.I.P. Jim!
Rob Lalonde.
ChoppersUS posted:
Rob - sorry to hear about yout loss as well.
All the best,
Alan
Chainsaw posted:
Jim Wilson immediately took me under his wing on the old CBN and was always there to answer my questions and critique many of my first projects. On CBN he was known as Mr. Cranky to many of it's members. Some didn't appreciate his criticism while others took it as it was meant ..... to make your project better and to make you a better builder.
Jim gave many around the world their first glimpse of what the Custom/Kustom bike movement was all about. His BR&K website was and is THE place to see some of the coolest bikes in the world! Together with his staff Jim helped to create legendary bikegods for all of us to look up to and try to emulate.
Our bike community will go on but there will always be a void. Hopefully Jim's family will want and allow BR&K to flourish and carry on. All of us in the bike community NEED to join together and show how much Jim has inspired us over the years. I believe that BR&K will live on with the family's blessings but we ALL need to let them know how much this great man was appreciated.
Rob (RHL Kustoms),
and I would also like to express our deepest simpathy for your loss. Please know that all of our members are like family and that you are all in our hearts.
Nogoodnic posted:
Jim was the biggest motivator for me getting into kustom bicycling, if it were not for BRNK I would have never found many of the coolest bike builders in the world. Jim was an awsome builder in his own right, I loved his bikes they were full of originality and all around coolness. And who could forget the classic rants from the very opinionated Mr. Cranky, no matter what the topic they were always entertaining and insightful even when he was blasting someone (including myself) for some obscure reason or another. I was lucky enough to have some corospondances with Jim over the last few years and he was one of the kindest men I have ever had the pleasure of communicating with and definately not a Mr. Cranky. RIP Jim and my condolances to the Wilson family.
RHL Customs posted:
BTW, I didn't intend to take the away the intent of this post in respect to Jim.*
.....Thanks guys, I appreciate your thoughts and kind words.
Tommy Atoms (Tommy Adams) posted:
Jim although I didnt know you personally, Thank you for posting two of my bikes on your website. Ride in peace my brother.
IRideCustoms posted:
I can't say much more than everyone else has said already. R.I.P. Jim, the kustom bike world will not be the same with your absence.