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The old clapboard building could be lifted from the set of a western movie but for the smattering of motorcycles parked out front. Cruisers, scooters, and some wicked sportbikes rest just off the apex of a 15mph, decreasing radius left-hander in the epicenter of downtown Suquamish, population 3,613.
The hardwood floor creaks and chances are good it's never seen a carpenter's level. But the small showroom is impeccably organized -- and impossibly crowded -- with parts, riding gear, and used bikes for sale.
This unlikely setting is the site of The Last Honest Motorcycle Mechanic, Burt Perkins of Burton Motorsports.
Burt started his business 10 years ago in an unlit storage locker across the street. At first he did maintenance and repair for friends and acquaintances, but like all good things, word spreads fast.
The shop has grown steadily over the years based on the same principles Burt started with: get the job done right, get it done fast, and do it all with scrupulous honesty. Things the big shops don't always deliver.
Last summer Burt and his wife Heather (who works at the shop part time) made the big leap into new bikes, introducing a line of fuel efficient scooters. And in true Bert Perkins fashion, he won't sell the scooters until he's upgraded the battery, stator, and spark plug. Parts many scooter buyers will never see, let alone understand, but components that weren't quite up to his standards.
Now Burt and Heather are preparing their little shop for the boldest move yet... pushing into the space vacated by a neighboring plumber, and for the first time, spreading out. Maybe honesty brings more than its own reward.
It's a sunny winter Friday on the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry run. Many bikes in the long line waiting to board sport a Burton sticker or license plate frame. Ask the riders about Burton Motorsports and you hear variations on a theme: integrity, honesty, trust. And isn't Burt a nice guy?
Maybe the reason Burt's clapboard shop feels so old isn't the building after all. Maybe walking through the door takes you back to a time before franchises and multi-national corporations. A time when the owner was also the mechanic, and we trusted his work. And his word. When we felt like we got what we paid for. Maybe, in a tight left-hander in Suquamish, times haven't changed that much after all.
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