MOTORCYCLE SHOP OWNER LETTING THINGS RIDE.

Byline: Michael Booth For The Register-Guard

A black T-shirt hangs on the wall at Greg Coen Motor Company. Its jagged, white lettering reads: `I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.'

Coen, 48, emerges from his motorcycle shop, where he services primarily American-made Harley-Davidson and Big Dog motorcycles, and walks into the retail sales area, where customers can buy anything from Harley T-shirts to helmets. Tagging along behind him are the shop mascots; two rottweilers named Taz and Zoe.

Far from embracing insanity, Coen has the easygoing demeanor of someone who seems content. His calm may come from owning a successful business in Springfield for almost 14 years but, he says, it also comes from riding motorcycles with his family.

`The open road just feels good,' Coen said. `It's calm and peaceful. Of course 110 horsepower on the throttle feels pretty good, too.'

Coen worked as a mechanic for Eastside Motorcycles in Springfield from 1982 until 1993, when the business was destroyed by fire. A few months later, he decided to open his own repair shop at 151 Main Street, where it still stands, across the street from the Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

Before working on motorcycles at Eastside, Coen worked on cars. But, he said, he much prefers the former.

`Working on motorcycles keeps you cleaner,' Coen said. `Plus, motorcycle people are much more appreciative.'

Coen says motorcycle owners generally take care of their vehicles better and do more preventative maintenance, whereas car owners generally take their vehicle to the shop only when something is broken.

Outside the store, only one motorcycle is on display - Coen's own dark red Harley-Davidson FLHTC with a 106-cubic-inch engine that, he says with a prideful smile, is `definitely not stock.'

Inside the store are seven used Harleys - most seeming to have enough sparkling chrome to cover a semi truck - that Coen sells on consignment. Deeper into the shop, a dozen or so motorcycles that have been entrusted to Coen and are either being worked on or waiting for repairs.

Coen says he even works on what may be Eugene's most famous motorcycle - the bike that fills Autzen Stadium with the roar before the Oregon Duck hops on back and speeds across the field.

Coen still calls his business a mom-and-pop shop, even though he averages more than $700,000 in sales a year.

Coen's wife, Mo, does some administrative work for the store, and their 23-year-old son, Steven, works there as a mechanic. Their only non-family employee is mechanic Jesse Hampton, who has worked for Coen for more than three years.

Though Coen's shop is almost always full - even in the winter months when he services snowmobiles - he says he has no intention to move the store or expand.

`I just keep plugging along and treating people right,' Coen says. `I don't intend to grow (the shop) - don't want to grow it.'

Steven Coen, a 2002 Springfield High School graduate, says he may take over the shop when his father retires, but he may also pursue his other passion of photojournalism.

Greg Coen shrugs when asked if he would let Steven take over his company when he decides to retire.

`Everything's for sale,' Greg Coen teases his son. `Name your price.'