Walt left art school in his native Austria to pursue a road racing career in his teens. He later worked in France as a shunter in a train yard and as a toolmaker and welder in Germany, Austria and Italy. A job with an Austrian steel company took him to Moscow, where he later joined the Austrian Foreign Service. In 1985, he transfered to New York City.

Walt has been riding and building motorcycles in the old school style ever since. In 2007, he moved his workshop and his family to an old mill town in southern New Hampshire to build motorcycles full time. He still road races V-Twins.