I’m on vacation in Virginia.  Unfortunately it was not practical to bring my bike.  It is a little like torture, every road winds around and looks like so much fun. 

While shopping with my wife I stumbled upon a Harley Davidson dealer/apparel shop.  Naturally that was more interesting than looking at shoes so I stopped in.  I have not visited enough Harley shops to know if these observations are universal but here are some things I noted. 

1)    The shop was located in a mall.  I have never seen any other type of motorcycle shop in a mall. 

2)    The people were friendly and liked to talk about riding adventures much like every motorcycle shop I have ever been in.  What was interesting was how brand loyal the dealers and riders were to their Harleys.  I don’t seem to get the same feeling when talking to riders or sellers of Metric bikes.

3)    People working in this particular dealership all seemed to have tattoos and enjoyed talking with customers about them.  I have never heard that type of conversation at a metric bike dealer, but this may have to due with the fact that I don’t have any tattoos.  Most of conversations I have heard or had in metric bike shops are comparing bike to bike or the best places to ride.

4)    The merchandise other than motorcycles in the Harley shop was based upon the Harley logo not around motorcycle riding.  I looked at a “riding” jacket that was nothing more than a light windbreaker with very thin lining on the back and elbows.  The last Suzuki dealer I was in carried Icon and River Road jackets, Castle gloves, and many other bits of riding apparel designed to protect the rider.

It was fun looking at the bikes in the Harley shop–A whole lot better than looking at shoes.  Harley puts allot into their designs, but I found the culture of the bike shop and image of the company more interesting than anything else in the shop.