225BatonRouge.com

“Never be a welder,” Peter Barrell’s grandfather told him as a kid. “It’ll ruin your body.”

Now an accomplished BMX bike manufacturer in Baton Rouge, Barrell turns down work all the time—not because of his grandfather’s warning, but because he wants to keep Maas Specialties small and manageable. Plus he lives at his workshop—actually, in a minimalist loft space next door—but the 42-year-old doesn’t want to literally live there. The former chef from Sonoma, Calif., is an avid poker player and fisherman—too much of a thrill seeker to be cooped up in a warehouse all hours. He dives and spear fishes off the Gulf oil rigs and cooks every catch.

Still, Barrell and a welder crank out 100 freestyle bikes a month at there shop north of Florida Boulevard. The custom frames, forks and handlebars are freight-shipped to popular brands such as Terrible One in Austin and Animal Bikes in Clifton, N.J.

“We’re a metal fab shop; we just happen to specialize in bikes,” Barrell understates, before adding “with aircraft-quality tubes.”

Barrell doesn’t TiVo ESPN2 to spot his handiwork or anything, but Ralph Sinisi of Animal Bikes says his frames roll under the command of some of the most exciting freestyle bikers in the country.

Barrell turns a good profit, but admits it has been difficult in Louisiana. He has to pay a nearly $1,000 annual tax on one of his machines. So he is considering taking on a partner, raising money for marketing and liability insurance and launching Maas as a full-fledged BMX brand, or perhaps changing professions altogether. Barrell’s passion for BMX, bred by years of professional motorcycle racing on the flat tracks of the California circuit, will never completely wane, even if he does make a transition.

“I’d rather have two or three small businesses going,” Barrell says on his way to Advanced Powder Coating to pick up an order of orange chassis that will star in a Las Vegas BMX show. He elucidates on his small business ideas: manufacturing hurricane shutters, collecting grease from restaurants and selling it to cosmetics companies. “But I could never give up on bikes completely. Like cooking, I enjoy it because I like working with my hands.”