SHD
Words and Pics: Andy Hornsby

In a triangle formed by a trio of official dealers lies the Potteries. Originally comprising five towns, it now has adopted a generic name of Stoke-on-Trent and counts among its offspring the likes of Slash, Nick Hancock and Robbie Williams. The main player in the autonomous region is Hanley: shopping junkies and the resulting traffic chaos they create is inevitable and enough to keep right-minded folk away from the city centre on one of the many ring roads and by-passes that confuse and confound the unwary.

On one such path through the scattering of hamlets is where you'll SHD, tucked back from the main road - but not for too long - on the old Leek Road, or A52, near a crossroads that has been colonised by a single motor dealer's manifold franchises. If you get lost, just ask where "Holdcrofts" are on Leek Road and just about anyone with four wheels will put you straight - unless they know where Holdcroft's on Leek New Road is, as I did, in which case you're buggered … figuratively speaking, of course.

SHD is an independent specialist, run by Harley owners, riders and builders, Tiny and Steve, and they are massively, infectiously enthusiastic about their bikes. Tiny's Evo is featured in these pages, and it won't be too long before his 4-speed FL will share such billing. His business partner, Steve also runs a 4-speed Glide, complete with a removable, homebrewed back and armrests to stop his very young son from falling off the back or sides when he falls asleep. I only wish I'd kept my 4-speed now, 'cos every time I drop in I'm confronted with a pair of the best to question my decision. But, that's life.

They started out on the rally circuit in the mid-nineties selling second-hand parts, and putting catalogues under customer's noses before deciding to make a proper go of it with a shop tacked on to the side of Tiny's other, unrelated business. This gave Tiny the chance to keep an eye on the shop while Steve continued to work as an engineer - a good trick if you can do it to help keep the early overheads down. It's paid off and Steve is now working full-time in SHD's workshop keeping a growing customer base on the road, and adding more than a little to a increasing number of very tidy looking customs and classics that blatt about from parish to parish … probably lost, but enjoying the experience.

They are in the throes of working out how they can best use the space they've got - and we will reflect the changes when they happen 'cos we're like that - with the intention being that SHD will take a more prominent position at the roadside, while the other business, which has no requirement for shop-front prominence, moves back. The trick will be to move both businesses without having to shut down either for any length of time, but the net result will be a bigger version of SHD with greater opportunities for displaying their stock, and talents - and more secondhand bikes, of which there is always a small selection at sensible prices.

Without wishing to have a pop at the official dealer network, because they do a very different job very well, the hands-on approach of the specialists has massive appeal. For those who are not aware, official dealers are devoted to current range Harley-Davidsons. Many of them became dealers while the current generation of bikes were already in place, and all but a couple hark back to the previous generation of Evos. Go back as far as the launch of the FXR and you can start to see a couple of names you'd forgotten about. If you go way back to 4-speeds and Shovelheads you'll spot one or two you recognise but then HDUK, in those days, was two blokes called Dave (yes, seriously) and a handful of enthusiasts as dealers. Today, we have nearly two-dozen dealers who only stock Harleys and Buells, typically in very glossy showrooms with very strong branding. There weren't enough old-school enthusiasts to staff the new branches so you'll find one or two die-hard Harley obsessives in the company of many more very professional, Harley-trained newcomers. The net result is that if you have a bike that predates the Evo - and even some early examples of those - you'll be greeted by a blank expression and an offer to take it in against a newer model … as a favour. That is a wild generalisation, and grossly unfair to a number of very sincere people at a number of dealers, unless you find yourself talking to the wrong person at thw wrong dealer in which case it is hugely frustrating. It would be nice to say that those dealers will know who they are, but sadly they won't. Their neighbouring dealers will tho'.

Freely expressed opinions based on 40 years of Harley ownership is refreshing, if a little daunting perhaps to the casual visitor, but just as Harley themselves have reinvented themselves in an image that suits their purposes, so too have a lot of the specialists. Which is a long-winded way of saying that you'll always find a genuine welcome as you pass the ever-on coffee pot.

Year-on-year, SHD goes from strength to strength. Steve is pulled out in the workshop - and with servicing and tuning work, and not as much of the remedial repairs expected of the earlier generations of bikes by the uninformed - and they're close to running out of space in the shop. The shop itself is well stocked with the sort of stuff that people are likely to want to buy, rather than a selection of everything on offer from the vast range of third party catalogues, as well as continuing to supply by mail order and the odd open day and swap meet. As owners and builders of good-looking customs themselves, they have an eye for the good stuff and avoid the tat, and that is really a very large part of the appeal. If something's crap, they'd prefer to tell you in advance than refund your money when you realise it for yourself - or argue the toss citing caveat emptor. They're actually a lot more polite than that, if ruthlessly honest, which has helped them in building up strong one-to-one relationships with their customers.

The other big thing they do is keep abreast of the custom scene in the US and Europe for inspiration and information, and are significantly more aware of what's going on there than most. It prevents the customs rolling out of their workshop from becoming predictable: there is always something going on somewhere, and there is always something new, or combinations of old styles that haven't been tried together, to drive their ambitions further forward. Couple that to the ability to provide almost anything, and facility to produce what they can't provide, and you've got an ideal partnership in helping you to realise your own custom aspirations.

No job is too small or too big: from a piece of trim to a complete bike built around the engine of your choice - well, providing it has a Harley heritage. Somehow I can't see them with a metric spanner in hand ... unless it was being wielded on a V-Rod some time in the future: way in the future judging by their reaction to the V-Rod when I took it round.

So if you're running something that hasn't seen the pages of a Harley-Davidson catalogue for a decade or more, you'll feel especially at home, but so too will anyone with a v-twin Harley-Davidson of any age, shape, size or description. All you got to do is find them in Stoke's ring roads.

For more details, and the all-important map, check them out on www.shd-stoke.co.uk, or else just ring them on 01782 219901 and tell them that American-V sent you.