a man standing next to a motorcycle — Luke Harden, owner of Gintown Cycles in Graysville, Alabama. (Jacob Stewart, STUSZN Photography)

What started as a hobby in the garage of Luke Harden’s Graysville home has evolved into Gintown Cycles, a first-class motorcycle shop with a small town feel just 20 minutes outside of Birmingham.

Harden, who grew up working on motorcycles with his father, officially opened Gintown Cycles as a business in 2023 but the shop grew very organically out of Harden just tinkering in his garage. Eventually, Harden bought the property around his house and constructed the purpose-built shop that has now become Gintown Cycles. While it’s a far cry from the garage he started in, Harden says he still wants the environment in Gintown to feel relaxed and informal.

“There’s plenty of big corporate chains and shops that can do great work but you feel like you’re in a business and they are there to charge you money. Graysville is a small town and I want my shop to fit that. I want people to feel like they can come in, sit down and talk, maybe have a cup of coffee while we talk about their bike and what they need.”

Luke Harden

Harden focuses mainly on Harley-Davidsons but works with customers on repairs or customizations for a variety of different motorcycle models. He also intentionally works with a limited number of customers at any given time.

a sign on a white surface — Gintown Cycles was founded in 2023. (Jacob Stewart, STUSZN Photography)

“It’s about quality for me, not quantity. I want my work to speak highly of me and I want it to be for a fair price. I try not to work on any more than about 10 bikes at a time because that’s the most I can do and still really give each one the time it deserves. It’s just me here, although my dad helps out sometimes too.”

Harden said he enjoys building a community among bikers in Graysville as well as becoming part of the larger community, something that’s a major part of biker culture. In November, Harden and others from the greater Birmingham community of Harley-Davidson riders will participate in the annual Teddy Bear Ride, a charity ride to raise money for local charitable children’s home Big Oak Ranch.