Kynan C.
Admin
Rest In Peace Fred Hoese
- Thread starter Kynan C.
- Start date
brianinpa
Five Star Vetteral
Where would we be without him? Rest in Peace.
Terraplane Tom
Vetter Aficionado
Nice tribute Craig did!
Danno
Grasshopper
It is hard to believe that we are approaching ten years since Fred's passing from glioblastoma cancer. It is ironic and very sad that he, with such a brilliant mind, would succumb to this. Fred was a great friend and mentor whom I first met in 1973. I was a late teen motorcycle fanatic attending a two-year technical college and working part time at a small motorcycle supply shop in San Antonio when we became acquainted through the shop owner, Mickey O'brien. Over the next year our friendship grew to where I would frequently stop by his house after work to hang out and watch him work on bikes. This was his way to relax, as well as his side hustle. At the time, he was employed full time working in a product development section at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). One day he came by the shop and asked me if I was ready to get a real fulltime job, as a chemist friend of his at SwRI was looking for a swamper. I jumped at the opportunity, interviewed with him and was immediately hired. Still stopping by Fred's house after work several days a week, I was always amazed at his ability to perform mechanical and cosmetic magic on motorcycles, particularly Honda CB750s - including his own. He had a two-car detached garage housing a machine shop which included a lathe, mill, and MC cylinder boring bar, as well as a refrigerator and small toilet room and sink. In his shop on almost any given day he would seemingly hold court among one or more of his close friends where we would witness his skills and drink a beer or three before moving on as it started getting dark. Fred was such an expert with everything he touched and he maintained an unreal level of meticulous quality. I was awestruck at how he could restore showroom appearances on damaged engine covers using Bondo and spray paint. He was equally gifted with his custom painting skills on tanks, side covers, and frames. Every so often he would mess up ever so slightly and a bit of his temper would flare, and he would send an occasional hand tool flying across the shop. It was all part of his mission to achieve perfection. Fred would soon come up with the idea for Cycle Sound and I was blessed to witness its development. It was a great product in the making and it was fascinating seeing him build the mock ups that would become custom molds for plastic vacuum forming the housing halves for the Vetter Windjammer. In short order he was ready to go into production so he left SwRI (he remained an active consultant there for decades) and moved the manufacturing operation to a 4-5,000 s.f. facility near the airport. Needing good help besides his right hand man Maurice Elmer, and his graphics and advertising guy, David Elmer, he pulled me away from SwRI to assist in plastic vacuum forming, line assembly, and shipping. Cycle Sound took off like a rocket and in no time at all, Fred expanded his lineup to include two other brands of fairings, as well as a CB radio housing for the new Honda Goldwing called the CB-1000. He was such a stickler for quality and detail that I remember him going a few hundred yards down the street to his ABS plastic sheet supplier to personally inspect for any flaws in the sheets and to ensure he was getting the specific saddle finish he required before taking delivery. And, yes, he routinely rejected anything that did not meet his standard. The same thing went for anodized parts, and even the quality of the custom boxes the products would be shipped in. He truly had a product that at the time could not be beat, and I will never forget him telling me "if you create a product, do it so well that nobody can improve on it" and that is exactly what Fred did. I remember accompanying Fred to two motorcycle trade shows in Houston (along with flat track and speedway racing at the Astrodome) and a show in 1976 to Daytona during MC Speed Week. During one of these shows I remember meeting Craig Vetter. Fred greatly admired Craig and his products, as the old saying goes "great minds think alike", and evidently the feeling was mutual. Ultimately, I felt that manufacturing was not for me and I went back to my old position at SwRI; however, Fred and I remained close friends as he moved upward and onward to his new, significantly larger manufacturing facility in Bulverde, TX. In only a couple of years from concept to production, he had hit the big time. Walking into the ample front office, Fred had his beloved, pristine, early 1950s Vincent Black Shadow, alongside a 1940s restored Whizzer on display, and his spotless Vetter Hurricane that was located inside his office. Years went by and as sales of the Cycle Sound radio housing declined - I believe due in part to major MC manufacturers now producing their own line of fairings with integrated stereo enclosures - another one of Fred's products, Leather Lyke saddlebags, came to be. He was very active in his MC components business and also doing work for other companies, plus traveling nationally and internationally in support of SwRI U.S. government projects, to the point that I saw less and less of him. I, too, had my life going in many directions. With an airstrip handily located right off his property, Fred got into flying small airplanes and owned his own, plus a hanger to store them in, where he also kept at least two Harley Davidsons. I understand during the time that AMF was having a hard time keeping HD afloat, Fred and his close childhood friend, Al, played a part in helping to keep them in operation. Fred told me this during the last social visit I had with him in the mid 1990s when, by chance, I happened to drive by the airstrip on a sunny Sunday afternoon and saw his truck outside his hanger. In typical Fred fashion, with irons in the fire and his mind busy - you could just look at him and see brilliant thoughts in the making, he welcomed me in and we sat and talked over a couple of beers, like old times, and reflected on the paths our lives had taken. This was the last time we shared quality time together, although I would see him from time to time over the next several years as we briefly connected at funerals and at SwRI. In 2002, I moved to TN and we completely lost touch. I was shocked to see his obituary in the San Antonio newspaper almost ten years ago now and my heart sank, because I was planning to research his whereabouts and try to reach out to him. Besides my father, and the incredible imagineer/chemist/inventor I worked for at SwRI for 17 years, Fred was among the three most personally important and influential men I've ever known. To say I'm grateful for knowing him and becoming his friend is a gross understatement. I owe so much to him for the man I became and still am today as a 70-year old. I think of him often. There is nothing he touched that he didn't improve upon in some form or fashion, including me. If you have read all of this, I am honored.
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