Tilley H-D Spring Open House

42 The Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine Tilley H-D Spring Open House

Story By adeLine cannone photoS By aLan dockery

After being crippled by COVID for over a year, and with vaccinations on the rise, many of us were thrilled to get out and ride on a beautiful day. And it was the Tilley Harley-Davidson Spring Opener that drew local bikers to Statesville, NC, to stop in and say hello. Free hot dogs and ice cold beer didn’t hurt, either. Bikers like to hang out at the Harley Shop with free food and beer.

Famous NASCAR drivers Bobby and Donnie Allison were in the showroom signing autographs and posing for photographs. Randy from Cobra Exhaust was in the service department to give a quick seminar on their latest head pipe and muffler offerings. Also in the lot, Twisted Covenant MSC was serving up Free Pork Chop sandwiches for the price of a gun raffle ticket.

In addition to sharing a fun time with the local biking community, Tilley H-D had an even loftier goal for the day. They rolled their opener into a fundraiser for one of their own. Frankie (in parts) is currently facing a family crisis, his wife diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and the biker community dug deep. Donations were collected throughout the day and our customers were generous. Terry LeVan even stuck his head in the ice cold beer barrel to earn some cash to put in the bucket. Derek Tilley offered 10% of the day’s profits from sales for the day as well. In just a couple hours we collected a whopping $1,526 for Frankie’s family. We appreciate everyone who contributed to this success. It’s amazing what we can do when we work together.

Tilley Harley-Davidson is a special kind of place. Still a family owned and operated dealership. Don and Robinette Tilley became the Statesville Harley dealer in 1972. There were folks riding into the parking lot whose dads, papas, uncles, brothers, mothers and friends bought their motorcycles from Don Tilley. For years, he was the man taking care of NASCAR drivers and team members when they wanted new or fast Harleys. Local bikers grew up reading about Don as an American Hero builder and tuner of racing motorcycles that whipped the best in the world. Dirt, pavement, curves, hills, straight line, it didn’t matter. Don’s bikes and riders won. Sadly, the world lost Don several years ago and Robinette more recently.

But the family still runs Tilley Harley-Davidson and that’s part of what keeps bikers coming here. They know the folks who work at Tilley’s.

Tilley H-D is gearing up for the season, and has some cool events in the works. Save the date for Memorial Day Weekend, May 29 and 30, when we host Rolling Thunder XXXIII Nationwide Ride for Freedom. It’s a two day event and everyone is welcome to attend!

The always popular Sunday Bash is scheduled for July 18th. Local recording artist Rockie Lynn will be performing. Bring your tissues because Rockie’s songs about military service members, police and fire fighters and just good ole local bikers might bring a tear to your eyes.

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