Owners Dean & Sylvia Bell at the front counter!
Dean is the Owner of Raw Power. He is a veteran of the motorcyle scene in Saskatchewan. Born in Melville, Sask. their family lived in Esterhazy where Dean and his family lived until moving to Saskatoon in the mid 70’s. That is where Dean finished his schooling at Mount Royal Collegiate, and in 1976 bought his first motorcycle, while he was employed at Safeway. Upon graduation, Dean changed jobs, moving to Intercontinental Meat Packers (Olympic Meats) and bought his first Harley, a 1976 FX Superglide. It was a stock bike, so soon Dean had Rob Gilchrist weld on a hardtail, and built his first chopper in 1981. These were the days of rigid frames, no electric start, open belt drives, & no front fender. These were the kind of bikes being built. Saskatoon was full of guys doing work like that, including Kevin Stark, Bernie McAvoy, Robin (Ol’ Lou) Mathews, Phil Scarrow, Rob (Slider) Gilchrist, and others. This was also the era when Dean started dating his wife Sylvia.
Dean rode that rigid, regularly rebuilding the motor and the bike usually every year or two, as needed, until 1990 when he upgraded to a 1989 FXR. In 1989 Dean opened The Chop Shop, a small shop specializing in motorcycle clothing, accessories, and parts. Very little service work was done there but there was a tattoo shop in the rear of the shop. Quite a unique format, with motorcycles and tattoos in the same building, on 20th St. The shop closed in 1993. Dean’s interest in bikes didn’t die, so in 1998 Dean re-opened a shop called Raw Power Custom Cycles in the same building as Don’s Cycle Works on Ave N, South, in Saskatoon. That business worked well, with Don manufacturing trailers in his part of the shop, while also servicing motorcyles. Dean set up a network of parts & accessory supplies, to fill the showroom with parts & clothing.
Then in the fall of 2001, the big move happened. Dean & his wife Sylvia, moved their family (son Clint) to Regina. At that time Dean sold most of the Raw Power inventory to Don, thinking there was enough motorcycle shops in Regina. However, after living in Regina for less than 1 yr, Dean realized that indeed Regina needed another quality after-market motorcyle shop. After finding a building with a great location (thanks to Francis Best of Century 21 Real Estate) and securing Greg Worrall (Master Technician) from a local Harley dealer, Dean re-opened Raw Power Custom Cycles Inc. in the summer of 2003, and hasn’t looked back. With Greg turning wrenches ( and heads) and new parts guy Brett Mucha hired on, Raw Power built a steady client base that just grew each yr.
Raw Power now employs several qualified people, and it doesn’t look like it is going to slow down any time soon……..
