Whether they started the job because they had to fix up mini bikes as a kid or because their father recruited them during the summers, the Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso’s service department staff members stayed for the same reasons: a love of bikes and a strong community.
In 2004, Dave Kowalski started working for Harley-Davidson, but his interests and skills in bike repair date back to his childhood.
“I've always been around mini bikes and stuff like that when I was a kid. We would always break them, so we had to fix them ourselves,” Kowalski said. “When I was out of high school about to go to college and found MMI, Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, so I went there right after high school.”
Similar to Kowalski, Josh Nicholson’s experience with repairing bikes started young as his dad used to work at Harley-Davidson as a service manager. When he was fifteen, he started coming in to work at Harley-Davidson part-time.
“They needed some extra help here around the area just to do some of the little stuff, and Mark Forest actually made the suggestion, ‘Bring your kid in,’ and he said, ‘Okay,’” Nicholson said. “He just started bringing me in on during the summers, and it just kind of spiraled from there. I started doing part-time work through the summer, some weekends during the school year, and things like that.”
Both Kowalski and Jared Hessling worked together at another Harley-Davidson dealership before relocating to Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso in 2010. Hessling noted that while he works at a different location, occasionally, some of the customers he met at the other dealership will turn up at the Valparaiso location and recognize him.
Whether it is a previous customer or someone new, Hessling enjoys getting to help everyone who calls Harley-Davidson for help.
“I like helping people out, like stranded travelers that are like driving across the country and get a flat tire. That could ruin a vacation because people only have two weeks, three weeks out of the entire year to do what they do,” Hessling said. “They're usually super appreciative, and you go home with a sense of satisfaction because you helped somebody else. That's awesome.”
Hessling and Kowalski also share an appreciation for the cruise nights where they can scope out the different kinds of bikes from classics to customs.
“I like all the cool different motorcycles that we have the cruise nights and stuff like that. There's a lot of custom bikes that come through here, and it's just cool how people build the bikes for themselves and how different they can be,” Kowalski said.
In addition to cruise nights, Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso has hosted bike rides sponsored by veterans and other local organizations. Nicholson remembers one of the bike rides had 600-700 riders, and he was able to follow them with a truck and trailer in case any of bikers broke down.
“We did a few of those bike rides and just following those was it was pretty cool,” Nicholson said. “For one of them, we went up to the beach by the Indiana Dunes, and then we moved all the way back down south towards the Wheatfield area taking a lot of back roads. Of course, the police would have to escort them at every tournament intersection. It was very well organized. We didn’t have a whole lot of breakdowns when we were doing those, so I didn't have to pick up a whole lot of our guys.”
Whether it is handling routine maintenance, checking out custom bikes at cruise nights, or keeping everyone safe during community bike rides, the service department staff enjoys doing what they do best alongside people who care about bikes and each other.
“Everybody's been here for a long time for the most part,” Hessling said. “We're not only like co-workers, we're friends. We hang out after work, especially us in the service department, and go do stuff on the weekends. I feel like I'm working with friends.”
“A lot of us have worked together for many, many years,” Nicholson said. “It's kind of developed really strong friendships, and it’s a really strong team, I'd say. Because we've been together for so long, it really solidifies all of the relationships and the history that we've had through working here. I think it builds that trust, and I cherish that.”
To learn more about the skilled staff at Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso, visit https://www.hdvalpo.com/
