Chile was the lure; scooters are the job
SANTA FE — There was a simple lure here that brought Mateo Rael back home again. “I missed the green chile,” Rael said with a grin. “And the way of life in Santa Fe. Portland was a concrete jungle and so was Denver. But I missed this laid-back type of life. And you can make your own red, but green chile is authentic here.”
So armed with training from Denver Automotive and Diesel College, Rael worked at several garages around Santa Fe before deciding he wanted to move from autos to something smaller.
“When you work on cars, especially in the wintertime, you get all kinds of ice and road salt that drops on you,” Rael said. “And I just wanted to try something new and different.”
That’s when he landed a job with Centaur Cycles & Scooters.
Rael “started at the bottom of the totem pole,” he said of Centaur, which at the time was owned by Richard Meltz, who opened the business in 1980.
But when Meltz decided to retire in the spring of 2014, it was Rael who stepped up to keep the business going.
“I’ve always wanted to have my own shop,” he said. “But I never really thought I’d be able to, but I’ve been wanting this so long.”
And Meltz has helped make it happen, making sure the business was able to keep the name, the client lists and the phone number. He and his wife, Meg, offers Rael as much moral support and advice as possible.
“I couldn’t have done it without all of their help,” Rael said. “They’re still a part of what we’re doing here, getting bills paid and staying after it.”
The selling of cycles is still on the slower end as he’s been working up his credit to be able to buy new stock. But Rael has been buying used scooters and fixing them up for resale.
It’s something of a slow process, Meltz said.
“He still has to build up his credit and his credibility,” he said. “But it’s coming along.”