1998 Aprilia RS250

Getting this bike was the realization of a dream.

Photo album can be seen HERE

Check it out: MCN Vid

While on our way out to the gap last week, Fuzz’s bike had a bit of an implosion due to some careless activity from our local dealer. Suffice it to say, we found ourselves stuck in the middle of NJ with a dead starter/sprag clutch – certainly not the best way to start a 10 day trip heading south.

Thankfully a friend we were heading to meet up with was able to brave a 2 hour drive to pick us up with a trailer, and help us drop the bike off at 12:30a at Hermy’s BMW Triumph in Port Clinton, PA. Our hope was to wake up the next morning, beg and plead our case, and see if they’d look at the bike over the next day or 2 and get us on our way.

Fast forward to the next morning, when we arrived at the dealer a little after it opened. Hermy spoke to us for a few minutes, understood our plight, and squeezed us in to get the bike looked at in front of a line of customer’s bikes he had waiting to be worked on. We hoped it would be a relatively quick fix, and maybe, just maybe, we’d be on the road within a few hours.

Dave, his best mechanic, was assigned to fix the poor girl. His daughter had a recital at 6p, and would have to leave early, so he’d do his best to get it running before then. He dove in on the bike, and proceeded to spend the next 8 hours working on it, using parts from a donor bike, all of his free time, and a lot of sweat to get the bike running. At 5:45 we stepped in to the garage, where he was sweating and fretting over getting the bike finished – after we mentioned that he was already late for the recital and had to leave immediately, his response was ‘I can go without showering, I’ll keep working for a few more minutes to try to get it going. I can them come back right after she’s done to keep trying’. Never have I ever had to BEG a mechanic to stop working on a bike, but he’d done his best, and it just wasn’t meant to be. It needed parts, they’d have to be shipped in, and the bike wasn’t moving. he lowered his head, apologized again for not being successful, and made his way home.

They were good enough to keep the bike there for the week, make the appropriate fixes when the parts arrived, and luckily all was warrantied. When I came back in to pick the bike up a week later, Hermy apologized for taking so long to get it finished, and Dave refused a tip until I threw money at him. Class act through and through.

Normally, I expect to pay a lot of money for motorcycles, to beg for attention from the dealer where I purchased them – but to have a dealer go so far out of their way to treat us like family, to take care of our motorcycle and help us out was far beyond anything I have ever seen from a dealer, especially one that had no prior relationship with me. I’d purchased parts online from them in the past, simply because they had some of the stuff I needed – but after this experience, I’d gladly drive the 4 hours to their shop to purchase my next bike.

If you live in the area, make these guys your dealer and service provider. If you are looking for parts, buy ‘em from http://www.hermys.com. You wont’ be treated better, I’m pretty sure of that.

Thanks hermy, Dave and the crew – honestly, you guys are The Best.