His next 'big' goal

He could not be missed, the man who roared up on a Harley-Davidson and walked into a West Roxbury neighborhood meeting one night last week in boots and leather jacket. It was a get-to-know-you session for City Council candidates. A man in a suit at the head of the room was gamely discussing political leadership when the back door opened and the newcomer appeared carrying a red-white-and-blue helmet.

''People were going, 'OK, who is this person, and is he in the right place?' " said Stephen Smith, the Ward 20 vice chairman, who was in the audience and later described the scene. ''Then we heard he was a candidate."

The candidate was Kevin McCrea, a 38-year-old developer who has amassed a collection of 20 motorcycles and leads the life of an affable playboy. He likes to scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef, boasts about carving Beavis and Butt-head at an international ice sculpting expo in Japan, and has competed in hovercraft races in Germany. Now, he says he's turned his attention to public service and wants an at-large seat on the City Council.

Like other candidates this year who don't fit the mold of Boston's political pedigree, McCrea is throwing his hat in the ring at a time of tectonic shifts in the city's political landscape, when some analysts say old rules may not apply. He has no political machinery to speak of, no powerful names in the family tree, and, though he was born in Boston, he has spent chunks of his life in the Midwest. None of that may matter in the New Boston, where blocs of new voters appear not to care as much about such things. But are voters ready for a man who calls himself Mr. BIG and says he wants to put ''the party back in party politics"?

''This sounds so egotistical," he said of one of his reasons for running, ''but I really want to show people they can think big, too."

McCrea goes to some lengths to highlight the concept of bigness in his life. His cellphone informs callers they have reached ''the big voice mail." A website for his motorcycle racing team, bigracing.com, contains information about the ''BIG team," its ''BIG sponsors," and ''BIG adventures." He says he disdains the word ''small" because he believes it limits thinking.

''People don't use the 's' word around me," he said. ''They say 'less big.' "

He says he is a self-made man, earning his money from Wabash Construction, the contracting business he started with a college classmate. He started with renovation work shortly after he graduated college in Indiana, and later bought a three-family house in Waltham at a bank auction. He fixed it up and rented it out. He says he now owns several buildings in the South End and Roxbury, though he will not say how many or give their exact locations.

McCrea won't say what he's worth, either, except that it's more than $1 million. He emphasizes he made his own money. ''Nobody gave me a nickel," he said. ''When I was 17, I had nothing."

McCrea now lives in a row house in the South End that he calls ''The BIG House," where items such as bar glasses are etched with the word BIG and a toilet seat lid is lighted by a Chinese character signifying big. The marble fireplace he installed during a top-to-bottom renovation is engraved ''Magna fingere, magna facere." He translates it as ''Think big, be big."

He describes the house, which he bought 10 years ago when it was boarded up and dilapidated, as his legacy -- something that his descendants will remember him by. It has personal touches, including a marble post at the base of a grand staircase that is engraved with popular song titles he translated into Chinese: Bob Marley's ''Get up, Stand up," John Lennon's ''Imagine," and the Clash's ''Justice Tonight." The first floor is an opulent 900-square-foot ballroom with parquet floors and columns draped in burgundy fabric. Carved into the rich Indonesian wood bordering the ceiling are insignias of motorcycle manufacturers: Yamaha, BMW, Harley-Davidson, and so on.

''Motorcycles are a big part of my life," he said.

He keeps 20 in a garage in Waltham, including the star-spangled Harley -- with the words ''Boston City Council" across the gas tank -- that he had custom painted for his campaign. ''If it has two wheels, I love it."

He is also fond of parties and has made large ones a priority. He recalls one year drawing up leases that would ensure tenants in one of his rental properties would be gone before noon on New Year's Eve so he could stage a bash there. Now, on Halloween and New Year's Eve he invites crowds to his South End house.

The partying spirit has inspired unconventional ideas for his campaign, such as a Texas Hold 'Em tournament for fund-raising.

McCrea's candidacy has sparked a broad range of reactions, including from his younger sister, Meighan McCrea, a Boston lawyer who explains that even as a child, ''Kevin's way was, 'I'm not going to fit in, I'm going to find my own way.' "

City Councilor John Tobin of West Roxbury said he'd love to accompany McCrea on campaign trips and doesn't think voters will mind McCrea's eccentricities. ''People like a little entertainment with their politics," he said.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com