Get Your Motor Runnin'

Hop off the road to have some fun at Benjy's Harley-Davidson, a dealership, diner, and motorcycle museum.

I feel like jumping over something. Having lunch at Benjy's Harley-Davidson in Huntington, West Virginia, can get you all revved up. Motorcycles roar outside. Leather jackets, helmets, and sunglasses fill buildings that spread across a city block. Visitors come from all over to shop, eat, and see vintage motorcycles showcased in a free museum.

Benjy Steele, a former high school history teacher who runs one of the largest Harley-Davidson dealerships in the South, almost has to pinch himself to believe it. "This was a hobby that turned into a livelihood," says Benjy, who started the business in 1987 in a condemned downtown building.

"The first year they only gave us 19 bikes-we had 11 left over that we couldn't sell," he recalls. Now as many as 80 go out the door in a month, and Benjy couldn't be happier.

Watch Out for Skunks

"My husband and I both ride. We have a lot more women riding these days," says Lynn Rist, who works at Benjy's.

"We're so close to good riding in Huntington," she adds. "A lot of riders like the twisty roads. You experience the road more on a motorcycle than in a car. You get all the smells-fresh-cut grass or the recently departed skunk. Everything seems in sharper focus."

And say goodbye to that silly old stereotype about motorcycle gangs and the like. "You might see a heart surgeon riding next to someone who mops floors at an elementary school," says one of Benjy's customers. "We're all pretty much just normal people."

Even if you don't plan to become a rider, you can look the part. The Motorclothes department is filled with hundreds of items from leather jackets (starting at $235) to Harley underwear, socks, and clocks.

It's also fun to have a sandwich at the 1950s-style diner and pretend you're Evel Knievel. The museum actually displays one of the daredevil's motorcycles and other vintage bikes dating back to the early 20th century when Harley-Davidson made bicycles.

Thundering With the Herd

In Huntington, motorcycle mania even extends to football games at Marshall University. Benjy hops on a bike draped with a buffalo hide to lead the Thundering Herd onto the field. "When those guys hear that motorcycle, rev up, they get revved up," he says.

Have lunch in Benjy's diner before you hit the road. You'll definitely feel revved up too. LES THOMAS

Benjy's Harley-Davidson: 408 Fourth Street, Huntington, WV 25701; (304) 523-1340 or www.benjyshd. com. Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. MondayThursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Museum admission: free. Time to eat? Have a mug of chili ($4.95) or a hickory-smoked pulled pork sandwich ($5.50).

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Mar 2006
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved