The arrangement is quite amicable to Kuta who, after 15 years of driving a semi rig, lost his job when his employer closed his trucking business. Kuta concluded that his 18-wheeling career was over. Finally he could find more time for his cycle creations.

Already invested in a power-wash side business, Kuta knew the operating mechanics essential for servicing sewers. So he expanded his business and in 2000 partnered in a Rooter-Man franchise.

Rooter-Man of Michiana services sewers in Rolling Prairie, Ind., and that means helping clientele from rural neighborhoods where people occasionally find themselves in a “situation.”

Kuta observes, “Calling the sewer man is not something you wake up thinking you’re going to put on your day’s to-do list. Usually, by the time someone calls me, they’re already on the verge of an emergency.”

Bending metal

When not rescuing a clogged sewer, Kuta can be found where he’s most content: in the garage fashioning old metal into new. He may claim an hour here and there during the day to revisit a project, but sometimes he can’t find time for a week or longer.

“Eventually though, time finds me,” he says. Kuta admits not much can keep him from recycling junk motorcycles or fashioning originals from virgin metal. And not just motorcycles: Kuta can build or improve just about anything on wheels. One recent creation is a completely hydraulic truck that can be lowered to sit flush to the ground.

At age 55, Kuta isn’t ready to stop riding on the seat of his pants. As collector of a garage-warehouse full of many “varied things that roll,” including his first creation, a bicycle he built at age 12, Kuta is still most comfortable on the seat of a motorcycle.

A favorite ride is his newest custom-built bike with a rear tire bigger than a car’s. The bike’s bright orange paint reminds Kuta of the factory-orange snowmobiles he raced in his younger years.

Kuta likes to envision something new each time he builds a motorcycle. Often, he melds the old and the new. He’s supported by long-rooted values and lessons learned from growing up in a Midwest family as one of nine siblings. As second oldest, Kuta learned survival basics early. “Back then you couldn’t afford to buy new every time something broke, so I just learned to fix things out of necessity,” he says.

“If you didn’t have the right things to make it work, you cobbled around until you found something that would work.” Over the decades, Kuta has learned almost everything there is to know about the art of cobbling motorcycles.

Best of two worlds

Kuta’s varied skills, work ethic, persistence and an enviable collection of tools are assets to him as an owner and operator of a business where “things like to go wrong.” Maintaining sewer cleaning equipment and keeping it in good repair is crucial in keeping customers’ sewers and drains working. Kuta considers himself fortunate to be able to use his diverse skills and know-how.

He claims combining business with pleasure can make for the best advertising there is. He is his own best example: On the custom cycle, he skims through the countryside of rural northern Indiana. When Kuta parks his bike along any street in any nearby town, he draws curious onlookers like moths to light.

“People might say, ‘What is this crazy orange thing?’ he says. “They’ve never seen anything like it! Maybe I’ll still be wearing my work shirt with the Rooter-Man of Michiana logo on it. So I’ll stop and chat and talk with people. The next time they have a sewer problem, they remember my name.”

Still riding

Kuta and his wife, Bev, have been married for 37 years. He jokingly credits the success of this “long and happy union” to one attribute: the garage. “Seriously,” he says, “I’m very fortunate my wife and I share the same interests.”

The Kutas have been active in motorcycle clubs and organizations and still take part often in charity events and tours, taking to the road in their Honda Gold Wing motorcycle. “Bev and I have ridden together many, many miles across the whole country,” Kuta observes.

The Kutas have two adult sons. Kevin, 36, lives in California, and Kyle, 26, just returned from his third tour with the U.S. Army in Iraq. Both sons inherited their father’s passion for building, driving and racing. “Motorcycles, cars, trucks, go-carts, snowmobiles, skateboards — you name it,” Kuta says. “As long as it has wheels!”