Frame Maker: Bassani Manufacturing, Placentia

Motorcycle enthusiast Daryl Bassani started his company in 1969 to make exhaust systems for dirt bikes and soon had an international clientele. But Bassani dropped out of the business in the late 1980s as motorcycle sales in the United States dwindled.

Looking to survive, Bassani trimmed his staff and restructured, using the company’s expertise in precision bending of hollow exhaust tubing to branch into custom metal work for a variety of industries.

The Yorba Linda resident said that his business grossed about $2 million in 1994--its best year ever despite having a third the employees it had 20 years ago.

Fabricating the cycle frame for MCM Group earned the company only about $2,000, Bassani said, but modest prototype jobs like that often turn into steady work for small job shops like his.

MCM liked the work “and they are now talking to us about doing all their frame fabrication when they go into production,” he said.