“F & S” Means “Family and Scooters”

Tucked away off I-75’s Benchwood exit, just south of I-70, set well back from the road, sits the home of the largest motorcycle dealership in Ohio; the family-owned and operated F & S Harley-Davidson/Buell. The 55,000 square foot fortress encompasses sixteen thousand square feet of showroom and thirteen thousand feet of service area. The rest is offices and warehouse space for their inventory of over one hundred machines.

Thus is the legacy of Ohio’s largest motorcycle dealership: Dayton’s own F & S.

Founded by Gary Stolzenburg (the “S” in F & S) who, back in the ‘50s, was an employee of Cassady’s, Dayton’s former Harley dealership. He left Cassady’s in 1961 to establish his own shop, Gary’s Small Engine Repair, with former partner Edgar Fuhr (the “F” in F & S). The business flourished. Expert service met anything that rolled –or was pushed—to the door and, after almost twenty years of independent service, Gary approached Cassady’s and bought them out in 1979.

Thus began the F & S Harley Age.

“We stayed in Cassady’s old shop until ’81,” recalls Gary’s son, Jeff, now the Vice President and General Manager, “then we moved to the shop here on the corner and Dad started buying up property around the shop.”

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on the new expanded site in October of ’05 and the ribbon was finally cut on F & S’s current home in June of ’06. Their former building on the corner of North Dixie and Stop 8 Road is now the top-secret performance engineering department, complete with a custom dynamometer, which often finds such racing notables as Chris Carr and Rich King stopping by in preparation for a race.

“Dad still works every day,” beams Jeff. So does Jeff’s sister, Jennifer, and his wife, Julie. His mother, Mary, works part time. Jeff recalls “starting when I was old enough to push a broom. I was about thirteen and Mom would be waiting when I got out of school to take me to the shop.”

 “I feel like family, or a fixture, depending,” quips Parts Manager Dennis Ermlich, who has been with the company for nineteen and a half years. “It’s changed drastically. Gone are the days of selling rebuild kits for Panheads and Shovelheads. Now it’s almost all Evo and Twin-cam. These new models don’t need rebuilding like the old ones did. Nowadays it’s mostly chrome and accessories.”

Is there a particular secret to the family’s success?

“The customers. They’re great and they have been for almost fifty years.” Jeff exclaims, “the only downside is that we don’t get to ride like the customers do.”

F & S doesn’t just serve the street rider. Service Writer Shelby Netzley recalls, “we were big into flat track racing.”

 “We’ve had drags, too,” added Service Manager Ron Gulley, “including ‘Happy’ Ring, holder of the record for the fastest eighth-mile.”

Despite the glare of the highly polished rainbow of machines across the showroom floor, it’s not all about the shiny new chrome, either. Among the historical pieces on display are Steve Morehead’s #42 flattracker, along with a 1956 “K” model, the forerunner of the modern Sportster, and a1958 three-wheeled “G” model Servi-Car, formerly owned by a local auto dealership where it was used to deliver cars. “It had a hook on the front,” Ron continued, “and they’d tow it behind the car they were delivering then ride it back.”

The shop also serves as headquarters for the Miami Valley Chapter of the Harley Owners’ Group (HOG), a “very active chapter,” according to Jeff, who “have something going on almost every weekend.”

“We actually had our own HOG chapter before there was a HOG group,” Jeff continues, “Dad had seen something about the Gold Wing Riders Association and thought, ‘we ought to be doing something like that’.”        

The sense of family runs deep through the staff at F & S.

“I love it here,” says Lisa Ross, who has worked in the Motorclothes section for two years now. “I have a lot of fun at work. It’s a crazy atmosphere that’s best when it’s busy.  At the end of the day, I’m not ready to run off like I was at my last job.”

“It’s all about the people,” says Darlene Fetters, who has also worked in Motorclothes for about a year. “New people are the best.” From helping new riders select the proper helmet to “putting out the new stuff, it’s a whole new world (for them).”   

Their newest employee, Ashley Davidson, had been on the job for “about three hours.” Says she, “the best part is the people. There’s a good energy here.”  

As the demographic of the biker has changed from a blue-collar rider whose choice of vehicle was made out of economic necessity to a more professional, more recreational rider, shops have been forced to adapt as well. The days of the lone biker working out a small sidestreet garage are long gone. F & S is a fully staffed, state of the art facility whose staff can claim well over a hundred years of combined experience. There’s not much in the Harley-Davidson line, from spark plugs to shotglasses, that a rider might need that he –or she—couldn’t pull off the shelf at F & S.

Like most bikers, the F & S family, staff and customers have also been active participants in numerous charitable events, particularly the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s “Ride for MDA,” for more than 30 years. This annual fundraiser has recently been re-scheduled for Labor Day to coincide with the Jerry Lewis telethon.

“It’s a great event,” Jeff has been attending since he was “sixteen or seventeen. We’d form up at Welcome Stadium for the ride down I-75 to (SR) 725. The first bikes would be pulling off just as the last ones were leaving the stadium.”  

The firm, family and fans are also involved, individually and collectively, in a number of other community-based events, including the Dayton Motorcycle Club’s support of the “Make A Wish” Foundation. F & S also takes an active part in many of the area’s poker runs and charity events, donating items for door prizes and cash to support their ongoing research.

With this sprawling facility still very much a “Mom and Pop and the kids” operation, the question of the grandkids arose.

“I got married last year,” says Jeff, “and have a five-year old stepson, Deaglen. Last Christmas we got him a 50cc Suzuki dirtbike. He’s coming along.”

Now that the good weather is upon us and we’re going to be out and about anyway, we would do well to cruise on by F & S on any Friday night, starting this month, from six o’clock until “five past nine” and partake of the music and food at their “Party in the Parking Lot.”            

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