Back in their heyday, Leroy Mize and Jerry Casebier would grab their wives, hop on their motorcycles and travel across the country.

Stopping at every and anything that caught their eye, the adventurers would stay out as long as they pleased.

“We’d take off and not even have a destination,” Casebier said. “The only deadline we had was whenever we needed to get back to work.”

Casebier said Mize, a retired homebuilder, body shop owner and motorcycle racer, taught him how to ride a motorcycle. This opened the door to many of the friends and experiences he’s had through the years, he said.

“I’ve had a lot of fun, and I owe a lot of it to him,” Casebier said.

Leroy Mize, 73, of Oskaloosa, works on a 1965 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle made out of oak and walnut. Mize has spent over 1,000 hours cutting and piecing together the wooden Bonneville, which is a replica of his actual racing motorcycle.

Now 73 years old, Mize said he’s too old to ride or race, but he’s found another way to combine his love of woodworking and machinery.

For the past three and a half years, Mize said he’s been building a 1965 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle out of oak and walnut.

“I didn’t want to make a cardboard cutout — I wanted to make a clone,” Mize said. “All those parts are machined enough where they’ll bolt right on. It’s identical.”

Mize said he hasn’t “cloned” just any old motorcycle — his wooden Bonneville is actually a replica of his own personal racing motorcycle.

“Mike the race bike,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s what I’ve always called it. And I call the other one ‘Cloney.’ Mikey and Cloney.”

Leroy Mize spent the last three and a half years crafting this wooden 1965 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle out of oak and walnut woods. Mize calls it Cloney because it's a wooden clone of his actual Bonneville, which he named Mikey.

Hour after hour, Mize said, he has machined and hand-carved the motorcycle until each piece meets his satisfaction. The biggest challenge and most time-consuming part of the project has been whittling the tread on the motorcycle’s tires, he said.

While Casebier jokingly estimates his friend must have “a million” hours invested in his creation, Mize said it’s likely just over 1,000 hours.

Regardless of the time, Casebier said Mize likely undertook the project, in part, as a way to stay busy.

“Even though he’s as old as he is he’s got to stay busy doing something — he’s not one to sit down and be lazy,” he said. “I think this motorcycle is something he can do when the weather is bad. When he can’t do anything else, he can always do that.”

John Fike, and old racing friend of Mize’s, said the last time the two spoke, Mize was buying old Triumph parts from him to build a motorcycle.

“He came and bought a frame from me about two years ago,” Fike said. “It was a Trackmaster frame for a BSA motorcycle. He thought he could put a Triumph in it.”

Doubtful, Fike sold Mize the frame, later to hear not only was he successful but also that the motorcycle ran very well.

Calling Mize a “pretty fair rider” on the race track and familiar with his mechanical abilities, Fike still said he was surprised to hear about the wooden motorcycle.

Mize said he’s not sure exactly what he’d like to do when he’s completely finished with his project, but he’s considered displaying both the original and wooden versions of the motorcycle together.

While his wooden motorcycle is the right size, shape and texture, Mize said it’s something to be shown off rather than played.

“It’s like china,” he said. “It’s art; it’s not a motorcycle to ride.”

Casebier said that Mize’s wooden motorcycle is something to behold, along with his friend’s creative and technical abilities.

“The man is an artist in wood and metal,” Casebier said. “It’s just amazing what he can do. And the patience he has… I wish I could do just a small part of what he can do.”