Sussex County Choppers cater to clients

By Ernie Turpin
Special to the Coastal Point

	Coastal Point • JOHN DENNY Ryan West, left, and Preston Lindsey work on a bike.

“I started riding when I was 11 years old and built my first bike at 13,” he said.

And he hasn’t looked back.

“I’ve always been and currently am in construction business. I have owned three computer stores, but I couldn’t stay away from the bikes,” Garufi added.

Garufi has worked for various motorcycle dealerships and shops in Maryland and continued to build and work on his friends’ bikes.

“When I moved here about seven years ago I opened a little garage in Millville. And in one month it was so full I had to turn sideways to walk through it,” Garufi said.

That was when he made his move to Route 113 in Selbyville.

“Three days after I opened I already had people knocking on the door,” he said. “We were servicing bikes in the back while still building on the front,” he added.

Being a rider off and on for many years, I liked Garufi’s shop as soon as I went through the door. This is a real motorcycle shop and not a department store like most shops I have seen. He does have accessories, like boots, leathers and helmets, but they are placed so you don’t have to fight your way to the service counter like Black Friday at Macy’s.

“We have the bare necessities, and if you clutter everything up front,’ he said, ’then their attention will be up front. They won’t know we do the bikes, won’t know what services are available without asking.”

“This is supposed to be comfortable when you walk in,” Garufi said. ‘This is supposed to be walk in, talk to your friends. If you walk in and can’t get through the muck,” he asked, “how comfortable are you going to be?”

Garufi added, “People do look for accessories in a motorcycle shop but we don’t go to extremes with it. We try to keep an even blend so people aren’t bombarded with 15 different products at one time.”

	Coastal Point • ERNIE TURPIN John Garufi stands behind the counter at Sussex County Choppers.

“If somebody wants to talk to the owner or manager, I’m here,” he said. “I’ll be here for them if they need some kind of special attention I want to make it available. It’s all about the service. You service somebody right, they’ll come back. If you service them wrong, they’ll find somebody who will do it right.”

Garufi’s motorcycles are not assembly-line or “cookie-cutter” bikes, like a lot of independent shops put out. Personal touch is what he does to his bikes to make them different from others.

“If a customer has one of these cookie-cutter bikes and wants to make it different from the others, that’s where my personal touch comes in,” he said. “We can fabricate anything to change the looks to suit the customer. And if we build a bike for someone, we build it to their specifications so they’re not riding a look-alike bike that somebody else may have.

“The bikes we build are all done here in the shop, from painting to the customers’ choice in custom parts,’ he added.

I’m an old-school chopper rider. I told Garufi about how I pull a bike in the garage, strip it down, rake the neck, put an extended front end, small tank, ape hanger handlebars and custom seat on it and have the bike I want. Then I asked him if he could help me with parts and service for my one-of-a-kind creation.

“I can help you with it, and if I don’t have a part in stock I can order it the same day. We’re a full-service shop, and we work on all makes and models of motorcycles, including dirt bikes and ATVs,” he added.

Garufi’s future includes doubling his shop size by the end of March 2006; a Toys for Tots run Dec. 11, leaving Ocean City at noon, stopping at his shop to drop off the toys then to the Roadhouse in Rehoboth for dinner.

Then, on Dec. 14, at 5 p.m., he will have a 12-foot Christmas tree with Santa, and some young ladies from a local radio station and some restaurants handing out presents to the kids — all sponsored by Garufi and his shop. For more information, call (302) 436-6466.