I love motorcycles. I REALLY love motorcycles. I dream about them probably once every week or two, which considering how often I dream, is a lot.
I also love visiting motorcycle dealerships. It's so fun to sit on the bikes, pretend I'm zipping down the freeway or cruising around the lakes, and generally looking cool.
Jungclaus Motorsports in Glencoe is a great shop to check out, even if it's a bit of a drive. On my third visit to the shop, I found a nice little Suzuki GZ250, which is like the starter version of their big cruiser Harley lookalikes. Chris Rosendahl, the sales and parts manager, came up and started chatting with me about bikes, and not in an annoying or obtrusive way. He loves bikes, and I love bikes. So we talked about how cool bikes are. He asked questions about what I was hoping to get out of a motorcycling experience, and over the next 30-45 minutes was able to offer some very helpful advice and clear up some misconceptions that I'd had.
For example, he said that, rather than change tires myself, I could take the wheels off my bike, bring them in with the tires, and they will put the new tires on for $25 per wheel. It'd cost $50 per wheel if I bring the whole bike in and have them take the wheels off.
As we wrapped up our conversation, he said something that made me want to hang on to his business card forever. He said, "Of course I'd love for you to buy a bike from us. But even if you don't, even if you're in some guy's garage and thinking about buying his bike, feel free to give me a call and ask anything. I'm happy to help."
I may not buy a bike from Chris at Jungclaus (more for reasons of affordability than anything else), but they'll get my business when it comes to riding gear and maintenance. read more