"I had so much shop left over that I decided to do this," Batt said. "I like working on motorcycles just as much as I like riding them. To me, it's a pleasure - it's very relaxing. This is probably the best job in the world. I work on everybody's bike like it's my own. I catch myself sometimes sitting back and saying 'Boy, it doesn't get any better than this.'"
Batt's Cycle provides whatever a customer needs to get done on their motorcycle, including in-house metal polishing and service work, towing and delivery. The shop also sells genuine Harley- Davidson parts and accessories, being an authorized dealer for V-Twin Manufacturing, Vance and Hines Products, Super Trapp Exhaust and Kustomwerks, to name a few.
"My customers were friends at first, and now it's people off the street. They helped me get going, but now I have walk-in customers," Batt said. "I would encourage anybody to stop by and look through our catalogues because I can order just about anything. Even though I work on Harleys, I can get parts for just about anything."
Batt said in previous jobs, he has worked with motorcycles and that he had a love of motorcycles instilled in him at a very young age, after his brother had owned a 1951 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
"They've been in the family ever since," Batt said. "These things are not leaving me - I've been riding Harleys for probably 30 years. I have a passion for riding - I met a lot of good people riding. It's great - you can always stop and get a bite to eat anywhere you like. On a motorcycle, you have to stop in several places and take the long way around, it's more enjoyable. You can feel the temperature changing in the air, you cross rivers and there are different smells of the land. If you've never explored it, it's something you have to try."
His first motorcycle was a 1958 BSA, a British motorcycle, and now Batt owns his eighth Harley-Davidson.
Batt has an extensive background in motorcycles, riding them for years and attending the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, located in Orlando, Fla., when he got out of the Army. After graduating in 1987, he worked at a Harley-Davidson dealership in Waterloo as a mechanic for a few years, moving on to become a service manager for a Harley-Davidson dealership in Ames for a few years.
"I kind of got burned out on it because I was working there and working on bikes at home. I had no time to do anything else," Batt said. "So, I got another job for 15 years and still worked on bikes on the side."
After not feeling completely comfortable with his former job, Batt said he moved on to his current job with the City of Boone, which freed up time for him to pursue his passion - working on motorcycles.
"Harley, for one, is American. It's just the thrill - it's very relaxing, it clears your mind. You look forward to doing something like that. It's not like owning a boat, where you have to haul it to the lake; you just get on it and ride. Dogs must know the same thing because they like to stick their head out the window - we have something in common with them, I guess," Batt said. "There's a saying 'If you don't ride, you don't know.'"
Batt's Cycle is open Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays by appointment only. It is recommended that customers call ahead in case parts need to be ordered. For more information on Batt's Cycle, call (515)298-0375.
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