Keeping a business in tune can be a lot like working on an engine.

Unless you’ve got the ability to know when to do a complete overhaul as opposed to a fine tuning and some minor adjustment, you’re never going to get the engine — or the business — to idle just where you want it.

Olalla residents and business partners Larry Glasscock and Frank Folari have managed to calibrate things so that they’ve not only got a thriving business but one where their customers are taking to the highways with word-of-mouth business referrals that have allowed the shop to increase its account base ten-fold since they opened in 1996.

As owners of Larry’s Cycle Barn, one of Kitsap County’s busiest repair, service and parts shops for motorcycles, they’ve created a menu of products and services aimed at just one type of customer — the Harley Davidson owner.

Larry Glasscock, 53, admits that the business grew out of a love of Harleys and a hobby that had him tinkering in his garage and attracting the company of other “Hog” owners in and around the county.

After taking an early retirement from a career history that included construction and trucking, it seemed only natural that he’d open his own garage and continue his tinkering on a more formal basis.

Frank Folari, 57, worked with Glasscock for a couple of years before stepping in as a partner in 1999. Folari handles the front desk, manages the parts room and schedules everything from tune-ups to customizing jobs. A full-time mechanic handles the day-to-day repair work and tune-ups while Glasscock continues to oversee all engine and transmission rebuilds.

And, besides doing repairs and general maintenance on Harley Davidsons, Larry’s Cycle Barn has developed a reputation as the source for hard-to-find parts and Harley Davidson aftermarket products.

“We’re not a licensed Harley Davidson dealer so we don’t sell new bikes,” Glasscock explains. “We are, however, a reseller of all Harley Davidson aftermarket products — like decals and clothing and parts and accessories — so we do a fair amount of custom ordering for our customers.”

Glasscock estimates that the 1800 square foot facility handles approximately one thousand bike repairs a year, nearly ten times what he says they did in their first year of business. Even more impressive, Glasscock and Folari say that only seventy percent of their business comes from Kitsap County residents and nearby Gig Harbor.

“We’ve got regular customers from as far south as Portland and as far north as Monroe...really, the majority of new customers we see call us because someone’s recommended us,” said Folari, not because they live near us.”

“A lot of times I’ll get a phone call from someone who’s just met (another Harley rider) at a gas station or on the highway and when they ask if they can recommend a reputable mechanic, they tell them to call us. People come from all over.”

Enough people are coming in that Glasscock says that they’re adding another full-time mechanic and will gauge their growth from that point on.

“You know, we’re really off the beaten track here (in Olalla) and I mean, really, really off the beaten track!” laughs Glasscock. “We’re six miles off the highway. But the people still come looking for us and once they’re here they know they can hang out if they want...have a cup of coffee, a donut, watch their bike being worked on. Most places are a closed shop where customers can’t see the mechanics or the work area. We’re an open shop...anyone can watch their bike being handled by one of us and ask questions.”

Folari says that any given time there’s usually twenty bikes in the shop for varying amounts of work, with past two-wheeled clients including everything from a 1939 “Forty-Five” — a classic Harley with a 45 cubic inch engine — to the latest Harley Davidson models straight off the showroom floor.

Both Folari’s wife and Glasscock’s wife work at the business as needed with Glasscock’s wife, Patti, custom designing and sewing leather goods ranging from saddlebags to chaps and jackets.

Glasscock credits much of the company’s growth with a loyal customer base. “I’ve been riding a Harley since I was fourteen...there isn’t a whole lot out there that we haven’t seen or done when it comes to Harleys (and) I think part of what people like is that they know we relate to them as bike owners and as riders. We are Harley owners and riders and we know what they’re talking about and what they’re looking for.”

Some business consultants call that particular area of customer service “walking the walk, talking the talk.” In Glasscock and Folari’s case, it’s more like riding the ride and hugging the Hog.