On Friday afternoon, Harley-Davidson of Michigan City hosted a Garage Party, which is an event designed for women looking for hands-on demos and tips on riding motorcycles. A lot of information on basics of motorcycle operation, riding tips to gear and accessories available.
“This brand new Jumpstart program from Harley-Davidson starts off with this device called a stationary dyno and what it is designed to do is put a motorcycle in and allow customers to get on the bike and run the bike through all the gears and can get it up to about 65 mph and get a feel for what it’s like to shift the gears,” Jeff Haggerty said. “The two most difficult things with riding a motorcycle are balance and shifting the gears.
“This takes the balance part of it completely out of the picture and you don’t have to worry about falling over and the bike is not going anywhere but still allowing you to get the feel for actually riding a motorcycle. The bike that is on the dyno is a 2011 Fatboy Low, it has a lower set that easy to get on and off, loud pipes for drawing a bit of attention because everyone loves that rumble.”
Also set up at the event was a gear section where gear was laid out and sales associates were there to give information on the displayed gear. In the first picture one of our two lovely models, Jenny (left), is wearing an orange and black lightweight, breathable and waterproof rain suit. Theresa is wearing the black with silver trim rain suit. This rain suit is not breathable and is only water resistant which is good for light misting rains.
Our second modeling display Angela (left) is wearing a half helmet that wicks away sweat, has a double D-ring chin strap and a pull-down sun shield. Her jacket is from the Miss Enthusiast line and is made of leather with poly-mesh body linings and also includes a zip-off hoodie and completes her outfit with fingerless Finish Line gloves.
Sarah (middle) has on a three-quarter helmet made of polycarbonate shell that offers ventilation and one touch integrated sunshield. Under her helmet she is sporting Pink Label sunglasses which are foam-backed, come with a head strap and boast 100 percent UV protection. Continuing the Pink Label line, her jacket is made of leather also with poly-mesh linings that also includes a zip-off hoodie. To finish her outfit he is wearing full fingered gloves that are made with a gel padded palm.
Lastly, Theresa is wearing a modular polycarbonate shell with ventilation, a double D-ring chin strap that also has a one touch integrated sunshield. Her jacket is black leather with silver edging that has poly-mesh lining and a zip-off hoodie. Her chaps are mid-weight cowhide with poly twill lining to knee sporting a double zipper and stretch fabric for versatile fit.
“I thought it was pretty cool,” Meg Parsons said. “I didn’t think it would be like that. I thought it would be like test driving a car just like around the parking lot, but that (the motorcycle on the dyno) was really cool. It gives you that rush and excitement even more when Jeff was blowing our hair with the fan.”
Harley-Davidson of Michigan City also provided sandwiches and beverages for attendees and participants.
“I think the event went alright today,” Haggerty said. “We would always love to see more people, but for our first one it went well. We are going to have more in the future and we hope it will grow. We appreciate everyone coming in.”