CRUISING IN STYLE

Lenny Burns, Waterford Harley Davidson

A lifelong passion for motorbikes sees entrepreneur fulfill every biker’s dream to hit the high road.

Waterford Harley Davidson was born out of a company called Hog Hill Custom Cycles which was set up by Lenny Burns in 1987. After 17 years in his own business, Burn’s desire for new bikes along with customer demand for new models made the transition from entrepreneur to Harley Davidson intrapreneur a natural step, explains Burns. He says that, since he acquired the dealership in 2004, “business has grown ten-fold.”

“It was pretty much an easy transition. It was where Hog Hill Custom Cycles had to go to grow. We had taken the business within the market here as far as we could take it. We had a desire and a want for new bikes. The need for new bikes had grown so much we couldn’t source those bikes unless we had a dealership,” says Burns when explaining why he took on Waterford Harley Davidson, one of only two authorised Harley-Davidson outlets in the Republic of Ireland.

Customised Bikes

One of the most popular brands of cruiser motorcycle out there, there is something so appealing about being out on the open road on your Harley. For those who want an individual touch, Waterford Harley Davidson builds custom made one-off motorcycle designs. In 2006, one of Burn’s custom built bikes won the Irish championship of custom bike building, and for the second year running the outlet was also awarded what is known as ‘Dealer of the Year Award’, meaning Waterford Harley Davidson had best performance across all operating standards in Ireland and the UK.

Keeping It Real

Burns agrees that even though he works for a large corporation he still works on his own initiative. He is constantly creating and innovating new designs, and running events for Harley enthusiasts.

"There’s a high degree of imagination, workmanship and design that goes into the bikes and there is a lot of planning that goes into them. You have to be able to see the final product at a very early stage and you have to able to download what’s in a customer’s head and put it on paper for them. We recently had a demonstrator weekend where all our customers could come along and drive any of the models. That’s something that in a million years we couldn’t have provided when we were Hog Hill Custom Cycles,” Burns admits.

New Lease Of Life

When you purchase a bike from Waterford Harley Davidson, you are essentially buying a new lifestyle. The Harley Owners Group (HOG) is a club for Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners, which has a huge membership worldwide. When taking on the dealership, Burns set up a new chapter of HOG which he called Celtic Thunder.