Sport Motors - About Our Dealership

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Sport Motors Harley-Davidson, located between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, is a destination point for Harley Riders, motorcycle history buffs, tourists, summer music fest attendees, and fashion shoppers of all ages. The spacious 27,000 square foot store, on a 3.5 acre site bordering Business Highway 53 in the town of Lake Hallie, features a wide-open 10,000 square foot showroom, a state-of-the-art service department, large parts & accessory departments, a finance department, a customer lounge, and a mezzanine display of antique motorcycles.

The unique showroom, which has a high vaulted ceiling, blends Harley-Davidson® Motorcycles with a wide variety of Harley-Davidson® merchandise for the rider, including jackets, chaps, vests, gloves, boots, and helmets. There's also a large selection of fashionable merchandise for daily wear, including jeans, sweaters, sweatshirts, t-shirts, denim shirts, fashion tops, belts, sunglasses, and hats. The vast array of Harley® Collectibles is amazing, with banks, clocks, knives, watches, jewelry, wallets, lighters, barware, pewter spoons and Christmas Ornaments. And of course, for the rider who wants to customize their Harley, there is a complete selection of Motor Accessories, Screamin' Eagle® performance parts, saddlebags, custom seats, and chrome, chrome, and more chrome.

For motorcycle history buffs, the mezzanine level in the showroom, features a prime display of antique motorcycles and vintage Harley-Davidson® motorcycles collected by Jerry Evans. The display is viewable from the showroom floor, and includes "bikes" from 1916, 1938, and 1947, each with its own unique story.

Sport Motors Harley-Davidson is active in the Eau Claire & Chippewa Falls communities, as the sponsoring dealer for the Indianhead Chapter of the Harley Owners Group, and provides support for numerous area motorcycle, snowmobile, and ATV clubs. Sport Motors works closely with a number of area charities and organizations, in particular for several annual events associated with United Cerebral Palsy, as well as providing the Eau Claire County and Chippewa County Sheriff's Departments with Police Bikes to use for community events and in conjunction with the D.A.R.E. drug education program.

Gary, Roy, and Jane Gotter, and all the staff at Sport Motors Harley-Davidson, welcome you to visit the store Monday through Saturday, and share in the Harley-Davidson® experience. Whether you are a rider, a tourist, a shopper, a vintage motorcycle buff, or "just looking", please stop and see us. Join us on Saturday mornings for coffee and doughnuts, or ride with the H.O.G. Chapter on Wednesday nights during the summer. You are always welcome!!

In 1970, the original partners, Jerry Evans and Jack Adler opened a motorcycle shop, Eau Claire Sport Motors Ltd., in downtown Eau Claire. Both men were avid motorcycle enthusiasts, and Jerry was already working on his unique collection of antique motorcycles and memorabilia. Gary Gotter came to work at Sport Motors in 1974, with experience in service and parts, as well as being an avid motorcycle rider and moto-cross racer. As the business grew, the "old store" on Oxford Avenue was remodeled as additional products were added. When Jack decided to retire in 1989, Gary invested in the business and became a co-owner with Jerry.

A short time later, Gary began to talk to Jerry about getting other members of the Gotter family involved in the business, as the growth continued. Gary's brother Roy, who had been an avid motorcycle rider since 1970, began working part time for Jerry and Gary in 1990. A year later, he decided to leave his job as a math teacher in Eau Claire, and work full time at Sport Motors. By 1992, Roy had also invested in the business, and joined Jerry and Gary as a co-owner. The "old store" was again remodeled, this time as a "designer" Harley Store, and another Gotter family member joined the business in 1993, as Gary and Roy's sister Jane, became office manager for Sport Motors. Her previous experience at boat and motorcycle dealerships, in accounting and finance, added a valuable resource to the steadily growing business.

As the needs for more staff, more space, and a more accessible location continued to grow, Jerry began to search for a new location and formulate some rough plans for a new building. By 1995, plans were finalized with input from Harley-Davidson® Motor Company, a building site was found, and the project was underway. With lots of patience, time, energy, hard work, a few headaches, and lots of help from the staff, the move to the new store on Highway 53, was completed in November of 1996. With the new building and new location, came a new name for the business, and Eau Claire Sport Motors Ltd. was re-named Sport Motors Harley-Davidson.

On January 1st, 2001, Jerry Evans retired from the business, to spend more time with his wife, to pursue his hobbies, and to relax in the warm winter weather of Arizona. His incredible collection of antique bikes will remain on display at the dealership, as a tribute to his many years of hard work in the motorcycle industry, and for the many appreciative customers, who enjoy looking at the history of motorcycling. Also on January 1st, 2001, Jane Gotter joined her brothers, Gary and Roy Gotter, as a co-owner of Sport Motors Harley-Davidson, and the “Gotter Family Business” was formally dedicated to the memory of their dad, the late Elroy E. Gotter.

Today, the business continues to grow at the "new" location on Highway 53. By combining the many years of experience and fond memories from the old store, with the excitement and advantages of the modern, much larger new store, Sport Motors Harley-Davidson is well prepared to maintain the heritage and tradition of Harley-Davidson® Motorcycles, and to offer customers the ultimate Harley-Davidson experience, for many years to come.

Family oriented, good work ethics, long time area residents, nice people, and avid motorcycle riders. The group of people that make up the staff at Sport Motors Harley-Davidson share these common attributes. Add to that common bond, a wealth of experience and training in the motor sports and motorcycle industry, and that pretty well describes the people that work on the team at Sport Motors Harley-Davidson. Of the 20 employees that work for the business, all of them have owned motorcycles at one time or another. 18 of the employees currently own and ride a motorcycle, including 13 that have at least one Harley-Davidson Motorcycle.

Sport Motors is owned and managed by Gary Gotter, Roy Gotter and Jane Gotter. Together they have more than 70 years of combined experience in the motorcycle business, and many more years of experience riding motorcycles.

The Service Department is staffed by six full-time employees, with five of them participating in the Harley PHD Program. Rene Drinkwine is the lead technician in the service department, and has achieved the level of Master Service Technician in Harley-Davidson® Training, and is Harley PHD certified. Rene has been with Sport Motors since 1976 and rides a 2000 Electra Glide® Ultra Classic®. Steven Boyce, with over 18 years experience, has also achieved the level of Master Service Technician in Harley-Davidson® Training, is Harley PHD certified, and rides a 2000 Dyna Convertible®. Mike Ward has been riding motorcycles most of his life, is Harley PHD certified, and has been a motorcycle mechanic for over 27 years. He owns and rides several on and off-road motorcycles of varying brands, and regularly participates in the invitation only “Colorado 500”. Al Galindo has been with Sport Motors for over 15 years, is also Harley® PHD certified, a certified Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo, Can-Am ATV and Kawasaki technician. Al is also our in-house Can-Am Spyder Roadster Master Technician. Al and his family own and ride a blue 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 with added saddlebags and windshield, a 1995 Kawasaki Ninja GPZ 1100, 3 Ski-Doo snowmobiles and a Ski-Doo Mini-Z for his young son to ride.

The Parts, Accessories, and Clothing Departments are staffed by seven employees, with one graduate of the MMI Training Program in Phoenix, three Harley PACE Program certified members, and one Harley PHD Program certified member on staff. Mark Smith is the Parts Department Manager, and has been with Sport Motors since 1992. Mark began racing "dirt bikes" competitively at the age of ten, and was one of the top moto-cross racers in the region, for a number of years. Mark is a true "motorcycle nut" and although he no longer races competitively, he still rides a dirt bike recreationally, and "tinkers with bikes" in his spare time.

Lillian Ziemann is the Clothing Department Manager, and has been with Sport Motors since 1996. She owns and rides a 2005 Road Glide®, and together with her husband, also owns three other Harley® motorcycles. They both enjoy riding in their spare time. Jody Munyon also works in the Clothing and Accessories Department and, with her husband, rides a 2007 Road Glide®.

Jane Gotter is the Office Manager at Sport Motors, and is the "glue factor" for the business. In addition to handling her accounting and finance duties, Jane is the one that "holds everything together". She answers all the questions, coordinates the flow between departments for sales, service, parts, and accessories, and does all the little things that help everyone keep a positive attitude. She also works closely with Gary, Roy, and the sales team to make sure that the sales experience for customers is a positive experience.

The Sales Department is staffed by two full-time sales people, Steve Hauck and John Plantz. Steve has over 32 years of sales experience with the last 15 of them at Sport Motors. He has completed Harley-Davidson’s Pro Sell I & II- "Customer Satisfaction Sales Training", several Kawasaki training seminars, is a Ski-Doo Certified Product Specialist, and has also competed in Ski-Doo’s national “Walk-Around” competition. Steve has been riding motorcycles for almost 40 years and currently rides a 2000 Ninja ZX6R. John Plantz joined the Sport Motors team in 2004, after 37 years with IBM. He’s been riding for over 15 years and currently rides a 2005 Screamin' Eagle® Electra Glide®.

Stop in and meet all of the people that work at Sport Motors Harley-Davidson. They are really nice people that really like motorcycles, and they will be happy to help you in anyway possible.

Sport Motors Harley-Davidson
2452 Hallie Road, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729

Hours: MON, TUE, WED AND FRI. 8:30-5:30,

THUR 8:30-7:00

SAT 8:30-3:00

Phone: 715-723-7433

Fax: 715-723-6610