Service Manager Denis Jiron works on a 1980 Honda CBX six-cylinder at Vintage Monkey on N 16th Street in Sacramento’s River District. “This is basically putting a car engine into a motorcycle to make it a rocket ship,” says business owner Shasta Smith, who celebrated the public flagship’s one-year anniversary last November.
Smith, who has been riding motorcycles for 25 years and restoring them for a decade, says Vintage Monkey is one of only a few service shops in California that works solely on classic and antique motorcycle repairs and mechanical restoration; with roughly 75 bikes on rotation at all times.
Her business also includes an exhibit, retail, rental space for events and a circular bar that encourages people to stay awhile.
“This is what the ma-and-pop shop used to be … We are the true definition of a small business in a literal brick and mortar, but we’re putting a different spin on it,” says Smith, a licensed interior architect who gradually phased out of her old career in favor of this one.
“I tell people: You have to sacrifice something to get what you want. I sold my house. I sold my car. I sold my stuff, to make this happen. I’d think, what if I did all this and it didn’t work out? You know you’re ready to do something if you’re willing to take that risk.”