What does HD really stand for?
On a recent road trip with friends from the burbs of Chicago to Vermont and back, my bike died at a gas station on the outskirts of Napoleon, Ohio. It was 5:45 p.m. and we were trying to make another 50 miles to the hotel before we called it a night. We were looking forward to a good dinner and a recount of the day's travels. However, the starter switch on my bike had other plans. My friends tried to push start me. No juice, no luck. Yet in the middle of what seemed like nowhere was a Harley-Davidson dealership across the road. Why the company picked that spot to put a dealership I'll never know, but God bless you.
By this time, it was near 6:00 p.m. and from across the road we could see people leaving the building. I hollered to my friends to push me across the road fast to see if we could catch someone. Five minute later we were there and the dealership was officially closed. I caught a woman getting into her truck and explained my situation. She happily went back inside to get the service manager who was just wrapping up a staff meeting.
Out walks Cody Bowman. Calm, collect and quietly sympathetic. After repeating my story, he gave my bike the once over and speculated it was an electrical issue. Unfortunately, all his techs had gone home for the evening and the only thing he could at that point was wheel my bike inside and get on it first thing the next morning. Since two of my friends had to be back the next afternoon, we sent them ahead and my other friend stayed behind with me. We got a room at a nearby hotel and Cody gave me and my travel gear a ride to the hotel in his truck. On the way over I learned he was from Austin, Texas and was once in situation like mine down in Nashville. He understood what it's like to stand on the other side of that service counter quaking in your riding boots. As he dropped me off at the hotel, he said they'd get to my bike early and call me when he knew something. I immediately got the feeling Cody was going to make my bike a priority. Boy does that go a long way when you're stranded on the outskirts of Napoleon, Ohio.
By 9:45 the next morning, Cody's tech guy, Tim, discovered my starter wire had been rubbing inside the switch housing and had blown a fuse. No fault but my own since I'd taken the housing loose before our trip to lube the throttle cable. I must have crimped the wire replacing the cover. While Tim fixed the issue, we kicked tires and chatted with the sales folks in the showroom to kill time. Everyone at Napoleon Harley-Davidson was super friendly and happy to chat. After my bike was fixed, they washed it too. We were back on the road by noon the next day with clean bikes and a newfound confidence in Harley-Davidson.
We all know the old joke about what HD stands for, but after this experience, for me it stands for Hallelujah and Dependability.
Thanks again to the service manager Cody Bowman, Tim the tech guy, the two guys who washed our bikes and all the nice people who when above and beyond at Napoleon Harley-Davidson. read more
