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After 41 years, Harley-Davidson dealer roaring into retirement

After four decades of selling motorcycles and watching friends and customers roar off on sunny weekends while he stuck close to the store, Steve Drane has sold his Harley-Davidson dealership and vows to spend more time on his own bike.
Steve Drane
Steve Drane in the 2012 Victoria Day Parade.

After four decades of selling motorcycles and watching friends and customers roar off on sunny weekends while he stuck close to the store, Steve Drane has sold his Harley-Davidson dealership and vows to spend more time on his own bike.

Steve Drane Harley-Davidson will now be Barnes Harley-Davidson after a sale to the Langley-based Barnes family. The sale is to be final April 1.

“I’m now going to try and get out and do some riding. You know the old story that the shoemaker’s kids have no shoes, well I spent a lot of Saturdays wishing I was out there,” said Drane, who turns 60 in June. “Basically I’m now going to do anything I want.” In the short-term, that means riding his 2015 Harley-Davidson Street Glide, working as a technician with a top-fuel motorcycle race team and taking a trip to the Isle of Man, the mecca for motorcycle road racing.

Drane, an affable business owner who prides himself on community involvement, commitment to customer service and love of the motorcycle industry, is selling while he is still full of energy and enthusiasm for the business. “It’s been 41 years solid as an actual businessman, and 47 years invested non-stop in the industry,” said Drane who started working with motorcycles as a 13-year-old mechanic apprentice.

Drane said over the years he has put aside a lot of things to concentrate on the business and now wants a chance to dive into the things he left behind.

“It’s definitely [bittersweet], but a man’s got to understand when his best-before date is coming up, so let’s get it dealt with ahead of time,” he said.

Drane said most of all he will miss his “family” of 22 employees and day-to-day interaction with customers. But the blow is softened by finding a buyer who shares his vision. “It was important for me that someone would come in with the same principles I do with regards to how customers and staff are treated. It was very important to keep my crew of staff members on.”

The Barnes family operates a 36,000-square-foot Harley-Davidson store in Langley. Drane said by putting the two facilities under one banner, they will ultimately have more power.

“I think it will be a win-win,” Drane said, adding the new owners will add six new positions at the Victoria location.

The Barnes family has been in the automotive business for 32 years, including ownership of several General Motors locations. The family bought Southside Harley-Davidson in Langley in 2003. That location was rebranded as Barnes Harley-Davidson. With the purchase of Steve Drane Harley-Davidson, it makes the company the biggest Harley-Davidson dealer group by sales volume in Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Drane said it’s been a deal a few years in the making.

What Barnes gets in the deal is Drane’s 30,000 square-foot-store and inventory on Ed Nixon Terrace in Langford, which opened in 2009 at a cost of $6 million.

Drane’s first store was Victoria Honda/Harley-Davidson, which opened in 1976 on Douglas Street. That was replaced by a Harley Davidson store at 708 Pembroke St. in 1987, which then moved to 735 Cloverdale Ave. in 1991.

Drane said the new building was the right move, but the timing was poor. He said the world economy failed two months after opening the doors. “It’s been a tough haul and never really came back.”