Al Lucchino and his younger brother, Carl, love motorcycles so much that they decided to give up lucrative careers in Manhattan ”“ Al was a bank vice president in charge of leveraged buyouts; Carl was a lawyer ”“ and go into business selling the bikes, building a small Harley-Davidson franchise into one of the largest in the Northeast in just a dozen years with more than $14 million in annual sales
Al, 47 and a New Fairfield resident, and Carl, 43 and a resident of Armonk, N.Y., in Westchester County, are partners in Harley-Davidson of Danbury. “Carl is president; I”™m the vice president,” Al said. “That”™s the way we title ourselves, but Carl is right with me on the sales floor. I tend to function as sales and general manager, and Carl backs me up in those positions as well.”
Before the switch to running a motorcycle dealership, Carl was a lawyer at a large Manhattan law firm, “so he handles all legal matters for our dealership,” Al said. “My background and training was in leveraged buyout financing, so I handle a lot of financial matters, whether we”™re going to borrow money or how we”™re going to use our capital.”
The Lucchinos scouted around for a Harley-Davidson franchise to buy for more than a year before finding a small dealership in Brewster, N.Y., in 1994, buying the retiring owner”™s franchise and inventory for about $300,000. They had already purchased a piece of high-visibility property at Federal and Eagle roads in Danbury, using their life savings, financial help from their parents, a bank and a U.S. Small Business Administration 504 loan for the $1.2 million corner lot, and another $300,000 in renovations to the abandoned 10,000-square-foot car dealership on the property.
The site proved to be even more highly visible than they had planned. Two years ago Eagle Road became the gateway to a new Lowe”™s home improvement center, a new Best Buy, and an expanded multiplex movie theater. “Traffic flows are very heavy and constantly increasing in and around our building,” Lucchino said. “We get people just stopping by to look.”
What they look at are 75 Harley-Davidson and Buell motorcycles on the salesroom floor of the 35,000-square-foot facility they built in 2002 after tearing down their original showroom. And some days when the flow of tire kickers slackens, Lucchino retreats to the shop where he and Carl live out their other passion, customizing their motorcycles.
Deeply emotional experience
Lucchino still has the first Harley-Davidson he owned, a 1980 Sportster that he”™s been customizing ever since he bought it. “Harley-Davidson is the most unique brand of motorcycles because owners want to change and modify the bikes so that they become a reflection of the individual,” he said. “You”™re building it in your own image, whether it”™s a fast bike or a touring bike.”
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Buying a Harley “isn”™t like buying a car to get to work in,” he said. “It”™s a deeply personal, deeply emotional experience” that is too elusive for the imagination of most of the general public. “For the most part, it”™s the culmination of a lifelong dream and aspiration.”
But buying a Harley is only part of the dream. Customizing the bike is the other part. Lucchino, for example, has done such exotic things to his 1980 Harley as beefing up the original 1,000-cc engine to about 1,500 cc, which, he explained, boosts the engine to more than 100 horsepower. “A typical Harley-Davidson Sportster might make 50 to 65 horsepower,” he said.
The extra horsepower “enhances the excitement, the exhilaration of effortlessly passing a car or truck or another motorcycle,” he said. And for added fun, Lucchino used to take his Sportster to drag racing tracks in New Jersey. “I haven”™t done that for a while because of business demands, but it adds to the fun and excitement.”
Business demands, in fact, are eating up more and more of Al Lucchino”™s time that he used to invest in customizing his bikes. “I work on them less and less, but I”™ll still turn some wrenches.” He began customizing his bikes “as a kid when I had off-road bikes in the early 70s,” he said. His first bike was a Suzuki minibike his parents bought him when he was 11. A year later, he was riding a larger trail bike and another year later he bought an off-road racing bike before buying his first Harley when he was 19.
“I remember the first one I did, with help from my cousin,” he said of the genesis of his customizing passion. “It was a Suzuki 25 Enduro on-off bike,” he said of the combination on- and off-road capabilities. “We stripped it down for off-road only and put a Suzuki racing kit in it to make it a faster bike. That led me into dirt bike racing in the mid-70s and ultimately led me to riding a Harley-Davidson in 1979.”
Lucchino is still customizing that first Harley in the showroom”™s back shop. “It”™s a work in progress,” he said. He has made cosmetic changes with new paint, chrome and engine parts, as well as beefing up the engine”™s horsepower. “Any Harley owner is happiest when he gets to do something, change something, customize his bike a little bit every year, from minor things to major things.” Those changes could range from a new paint job to a new set of brakes to the latest set of tires with new treads for a better grip, he said.
Greatest satisfaction
Lucchino”™s brother, Carl, shares his passion for customization. “Right now he”™s been riding some of the Buells,” he said of the bike that uses Harley-Davidson power. “He”™s doing some mechanical customization with a race kit and other high performance components. He”™s looking to get more out of the bike than was delivered from the factory.” Carl began customizing his bikes about 17 years ago when he bought his first Harley Sportster and he changed the paint, added “a lot of additional chrome components, a bunch of engine-performance components and new suspension, brakes and tires.”
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The brothers keep their customized bikes “right here in the shop,” Al Lucchino said. “If I”™m going to work on my bike, I”™ll do it here. Carl, too. Everything is here ”“ tools, equipment, compressors, tire-changing machines.”
Some bike owners bring their Harleys to the Lucchinos for customization, although “they can do a lot at home,” he said. “I would say about 25 percent of our customers are into substantial customization that typically runs about $10,000 and up, going from front to back, right down to the nuts, washers and screws,” he said. “Another 50 percent will do something like adding chrome and making minor changes and spending anywhere between $1,000 and $2,000,” he said. “They may add saddle bags or a seat that”™s ideal for riding with their wife or girlfriend and only spend $1,500 to $1,000 to do that.”
“There”™s a sense of satisfaction when you”™ve make an improvement to the bike,” Lucchino said. And there”™s a sense of satisfaction the Lucchinos have when they help their customers fulfill their Harley dreams. “Probably the greatest satisfaction we have in the business is helping people do something they”™ve wanted to do all their lives.
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