The Creation of War Pony Customs...
War Pony Customs, owned and operated by Bear Redd, began as a hobby. For most of his life, Bear worked in the commercial trucking industry. A Certified Diesel Mechanic, Bear has done everything within the commercial trucking industry from mechanic work, managing and dispatching drivers, to owning his own trucking company and driving over 2 million miles himself (without a single accident). In 2004 Bear became the Lead Instructor for North East Georgia Technical College. Finally, a job that allowed him to share his vast knowledge of the trucking industry AND come home at night, instead of spending nights miles away from home in a sleeper.
Bear had been "tinkering" (repairing, rebuilding and custom designing) motorcycles for the past 20 years. Working at the local college gave him back his evenings and weekends to work on bikes as well as having more time to ride with his wife and friends. Bear had always thought his "dream" job would be to own his own shop and do what he loved most, build custom motorcycles.
Well, as the saying goes, "Be careful what you wish for..." It was on a Saturday in early July 2005, while taking his 1997 Harley Davidson Heritage Softtail for a ride through Helen, Georgia and up to Blue Ridge, that Bear's life took a dramatic turn. On his way home after the perfect ride, an SUV pulled out in front of Bear. It happened so fast, he had no time to lay the bike down and went crashing into the oncoming vehicle.
With multiple life threatening injuries, Bear was air-lifted by Light Flight and flown to the nearest Trauma Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where the doctors reported that it would be nothing short of a miracle for a person to survive such multiple trauma. But after spending a month in ICU he found himself on the fifth floor of Atlanta Medical Center, making plans to go home. Five weeks after the accident he was sent home by ambulance to recover from a crushed right ankle and foot, multiple fractures in his left leg, a detached and broken hip, both wrists crushed and held together with pins and external fixators, a broken nose and a slight fracture in his lower lumbar. But thankfully, no head injuries. It was several months before Bear could stand or walk, but persistent he was, to get back as close to normal as his body would allow.
For five long months Bear could do little else but focus on his healing. Being of Cherokee and Seminole descent, his faith in His Creator and his Native American Spirituality gave him the strength he needed to overcome his dilemma. However, his physical limitations would not allow him to go back to work at the college.
After a year of rehabilitation (and a severe case of cabin fever) Bear decided to put his long-time dream into motion and created War Pony Customs.
Located in the Northeast Georgia Mountains, in Rabun County just a little over an hour away from the Cherokee Reservation and the Blue Ridge Parkway, you will find Bear on most days, working in his shop, sketching designs, and surfing the internet for traditional Native American legends and folklore to authenticate his current project, a Native American Theme Chopper.
UPDATE (5/24/08): Since I designed this page Bear has had additional surgeries and set-backs. Several of our projects have been delayed and he is scheduled for another surgery June 4th, 2008. The GOOD NEWS is that we have found a building on Hwy 441 in Rabun Gap and we are looking into re-locating following his next surgery. You can read about our new project by following the link on our home page.