Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140017
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A sort of low rumble, like a herd of rampaging elephants with muffler problems. Only louder.
And then there is the sight of all that leather and customized chrome, sported like a badge of honor, like the second coming of ``Easy Rider.'' Unforgettable.
Loud, and unforgettable.
When 2,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycles roll into Roanoke this weekend for the state rally of the Harley Owners Group, or H.O.G., it will be hard not to notice them.
``The term rolling thunder really comes into play,'' said Michael McCulley, president of the Roanoke Valley H.O.G. Chapter, which is hosting the rally.
This will mark the first time the state rally has come to Roanoke.
But don't worry.
This isn't the Hell's Angels. The H.O.G.s aren't a biker gang out to pillage the city.
``They're like a group of accountants, only they ride Harleys,'' said Dorothee Wynne, sales manager of the Williamsburg Marriott, where the rally was held in 1993. ``They are a really quiet bunch of people.''
Staunton Police Chief Grafton Wells: ``They've been a joy to have in our city. They bring a lot of business to our city and they go about their activities and we've had no problems with them whatsoever.'' Staunton has hosted several H.O.G. rallies.
``There's definitely a stereotype there that's unfounded,'' added Kitty Zuckerman, tourism director of the Winchester-Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. Winchester hosted last year's rally.
``If I were you, I'd use the headline, the H.O.G.S are harmless,'' she said.
In fact, more and more Harley-Davidson riders these days are indeed accountants - and small business owners and other professionals who have the money to afford the increasingly costly Harley habit.
A new motorcycle anymore costs in the $5,000 to $17,000 range, but that's not where it stops. Where the real money gets spent is on customizing, said Lloyd Shiffer, owner of the Roanoke Valley Harley-Davidson dealership.
``That's what makes a Harley a Harley,'' Shiffer said, ``is putting all the stuff on your bike that you like, personalizing it.''
Like chrome trim, custom wheels, custom seats, custom exhaust pipes, custom mirrors and saddle bags and just about everything else you can imagine. Shiffer said he earns more from the sale of accessories than he does from the sale of motorcycles.
Oddly enough, at Shiffer's dealership on Centre Avenue in Roanoke, there generally aren't any motorcycles on the showroom floor. That's because every bike has been sold before it arrives at the store.
Shiffer said he has a five-year waiting list of about 500 people who want new Harleys, and another 50 people already have given him deposits on Harley's 100th-anniversary models, which will come out in the year 2003.
This demand has given rise to a kind of Harley black market, where cash-rich capitalists buy up the new machines, only to turn around and sell them at a $3,000 to $5,000 profit.
This, in turn, has created friction between veteran Harley riders and some of the new generation of Harley riders, whom the veterans like to call ``rubs'' or ``dry riders.''
``If there's a cloud out, they don't come out,'' explained Cline Conner.
Conner, 40, has been riding motorcycles since he was 11, and has been riding a Harley since 1982. He is as die-hard as they come, well-known among local H.O.G. members because he rides no matter what the weather.
Rain, snow, scorching heat, sub-zero cold, anything except ice.
``I'm not completely stupid,'' he said.
Conner's chief gripe with the new Harley breed is that they have made it harder to get a Harley. He is No. 21 on the list in Roanoke for the 2003 model.
At the same time, Conner and other longtime riders credit the newcomers with helping to improve the public image of Harley riders, to show that most of the them aren't heathens. They're just people who like motorcycles.
``Some people like golf, you know,'' he said.
Conner is a business owner himself. He owns Special Plumbing and employs 10 people. He said most of the riders at the state rally will be couples in their 30s and 40s, established people, not hell-raisers.
``They compare chrome, compare motorcycles. They do a lot of eating. Eating, riding around, and checking out the restaurants.''
Women are increasingly joining the ranks of Harley riders. Michael McCulley, the H.O.G. chapter president, said about 40 percent of the group's 300 members are women.
McCulley, 45, also runs his own business, McCulley Enterprises Inc., a construction tools and equipment supplier. He and his wife, Carolyn, both ride.
One reason he said more women are taking to Harleys is that the really fancy customizing is better suited for bikes set up for a single rider. There is also more freedom in riding solo, and it's that freedom, after all, the call of the open road, of get-your-motor-running and heavy metal thunder, that is the true appeal of the motorcycle culture.
``It's a fever,'' said Arnetta Sorrells, who has been riding for a year.
Harleys also have become more user-friendly for women. Gone are the kick starts and clutch controls that required bionic strength. Now, there are Harleys that start with the turn of a key, and power boosters that make switching gears like child's play.
Sorrells, 34, is a buyer for a telecommunications equipment company. She rides a 1993 Dyna-Wide Glide, and her license plate reads: 4GITIT.
She talks purposefully of plans for her Harley, including a new paint job, a new front wheel and other modifications.
``It's going to really look like a tough bike,'' she boasted.
As far as personalized statements go, however, it would be difficult to beat "TJ" Rothmeier's 1987 Soft Tail Heritage, named Serenity.
Rothmeier named it Serenity because she said, ``That's how I feel when I ride.''
She said it's that serenity she needs to escape from the pressures of her day job operating an adult home mostly for war veterans.
Her bike also shows an allegiance to these veterans. On it, she flies a full-size American flag and a black P.O.W./M.I.A. flag with the message, ``You are not forgotten.''
On the gas tank is painted, ``Blessed Survivor,'' a reference to a near fatal wreck in 1993. And the Harley-Davidson emblem is imprinted, it seems, on everything, along with the slogan, ``Live to Ride - Ride to Live.''
Rothmeier, 38, has been riding 11 years, and helped organize the Roanoke Valley H.O.G. chapter in 1988. Like other longtimes, she is skeptical about new riders.
``I don't think they'll be riding in 10 years,'' she said, ``maybe not in two years.''
Then again, she said they could just as easily end up like her. She never plans to stop riding.
``I just fell in love with the wind in my face.''
by CNB