Mom of eight Brenda Steiner thought she was hosting a bonfire for some of her kids on Friday. Steiner has a few children close to her home, but the gathering she thought was scheduled for the day proved to be a cover up for the real surprise.
Not all of Steiner's children live in Michigan but a day and a half before Friday's family cookout, her son, Nick, left the city of Denver with some very precious cargo. Nick and his fiancé drove through the night, hauling not only his own motorcycle but also a 1972 Honda that he had just finished restoring.
Nick told WZZM that his mom and dad rode bikes together and that is probably where he got the itch to start riding. The bike that Nick brought across state lines was a special one as it was the first motorcycle his mother bought as a 19-year-old. It was the bike that Brenda would ride alongside her late husband Scott.
Honda bike restoration 25 years in the making
Brenda recalled the time she spent with her first bike, saying "I was probably 19, and I rode it all the time. I think at the time I got rid of it we had five kids and I was probably expecting a sixth.
Nick said his parents had sound logic regarding motorcycles. Even though both were avid bikers, their main priority was their growing family. With plenty of children to look after and riding being so dangerous, Brenda decided to give her bike away to a family friend, who planned to repair the motorcycle, but never did.
Nick came up with a plan and decided to restore the bike which sat dormant for 25 years. While Nick was back in town for his dad's funeral, he reconnected with the friend who planned on repairing the old Honda motorcycle. According to Ultimate Motorcycling, Honda took the world by surprise with the 1972 model by dropping the displacement to 350cc.
Nick gives Brenda the ultimate Mother's Day gift
Much to Nick's surprise, his mom's bike had been untouched for most, if not all, of that time. Nick saw this as a challenge and an opportunity given that he had restored many bikes on his own in the past. Nick's plan was simple and that is to fix the motorcycle and give it to his mom as a Mother's Day gift in 2021.
Things did not go according to plan, though, for Nick as he found it difficult to fix the bike's rusted and broken components with the necessary spare parts proving tough to acquire. Mother's Day and Christmas Day came and went last year with his mom's old bike still not fixed.
He managed to finish the repairs just in time for this year's Mother's Day. Nick and his siblings kept the entire thing a secret with Brenda shocked and surprised to see not only her son show up unannounced but also her old bike back in his possession. It was a thoughtful Mother's Day gift Brenda will never ever forget.
