Big bikes get big showroom

The 61,400-square-foot facility, which opened Tuesday along the eastbound Interstate 10 frontage road just north of West Ina Road, is more than twice the size of the space that Harley-Davidson/Buell of Tucson occupied for 12 years on East Grant Road.

"We'd outgrown our (old) location," marketing director Michelle Peebler said. "We needed more space."

The new store's opening was timed for just before the start of the Arizona State H.O.G. (Harley-Davidson Owners Group) Rally, which begins today and runs through Saturday throughout the Tucson area.

To make it happen, Peebler said, employees and more than 50 volunteers — customers and local H.O.G. members — worked around the clock Sunday and Monday to move all of the motorcycles, equipment, accessories and merchandise from the Grant location to the new store.

"People started showing up at 6 a.m.," Peebler said. "I was amazed."

The new location has everything the old store has, officials say, plus there's more room to spread out.

Sales manager Mark Lappin said the interior showroom will have as many as 90 bikes on display at any given time. In the old store, he struggled to cram 35 bikes onto the floor.

New bikes range in price from $6,500 to $40,000.

Used motorcycles will be displayed outside, but in shaded areas along the exterior of the building rather than out in the open like at the old store.

"When it's 120 degrees out, people don't want to have to sit on a hot black-leather seat," said Lappin, who expects to more than double his sales staff from seven to as many as 17 to accommodate the added showroom space and the anticipated increase in customers.

Peebler said customer traffic already had been on the upswing before the move, as many people were showing more interest in motorcycles because of rising gasoline prices. Peebler said all new Harleys get about 51 miles per gallon.

The new store also includes a lift system that Lappin said will allow for the storage of up to 120 surplus bikes on the facility's second floor, which mostly consists of office space.

The store's service department includes a drive-up area, parts and service director Danny Loewer said. Riders can roll in their motorcycles directly to service personnel to have their bikes worked on.

The new facility also has its own dynamometer, which measures horsepower and is used to help tune motorcycles.

"We used to have to outsource that kind of stuff to local shops," Loewer said.

The merchandise and accessories section, known as the "motorclothes" area, takes up a good portion of the showroom, with an entire wall dedicated to what motorclothes manager Katie Dixon said is about 30 styles of leather jackets.

Other popular items, Dixon noted, include T-shirts, baby clothes, Harley-Davidson brand coffee and even ceiling fans.

"It's like a little mall," Dixon said.

The new location should lead to an increase in business, said General Manager Mark Huff. The store on Grant, besides being smaller, didn't have good accessibility because it was off the freeway, and for the past year it had been affected by construction on Interstate 10.

"Now we're out of the construction zone," said Huff, who hopes to sell more than 1,000 motorcycles at the new store in its first year of operation.

Harley-Davidson/Buell of Tucson sold about 840 bikes in 2007, he said.

Harley's new home

Location: 7355 N. Eastbound Interstate 10 Frontage Road. (The facility can be accessed from the frontage road or by turning off West Ina Road onto North Star Commerce Way.

Phone: 751-3380. Customers who call the old store's number (792-0111) will be forwarded to the new store.

Hours: Open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

If you go

What: Arizona State H.O.G. (Harley-Davidson Owners Group) Rally.

Where: Most events and activities are being held Downtown.

When: Today through Saturday.

For more information: Call 1-602-955-2658 or go online to www. azstatehogrally. com.