When Tim Schneider, owner of Classic Motorcycle Wrenchworks, Inc. -- a.k.a The Shop -- started talking about bikes and racing, it was like the flag had been dropped, and he was off.

In between answering phone calls -- all of which pertained to greasy subjects like tune-ups and what he wanted on the pizza that a friend was bringing over for lunch -- Tim explained that The Shop (910 E. Land Pl.) is located in what was once the Gallun Tannery's equipment storage building. It's also the only motorcycle shop on the East Side, and recently underwent a $20,000 renovation.

Before he opened the business, Tim was an engineer by trade, and he fixed and built bikes just for fun. But in 1998, after an evening of drinking pints of Guinness with Scott Johnson (co-owner of Fuel, Comet, and Hi-Hat), he decided to go for his dream, and make motorcycle mechanics his profession.

"Scott said 'You gotta do this' and I said, 'OK, I'll do it,'" says Tim.

Months later, in August of 1998, the cement-block building with the blue stripe rolled open its garage door for business. And since then?

"It's absolutely insane. Business has doubled, but I don't want to grow too big for my britches. We're growing so quickly," says Tim, who hasn't spent a dime on advertising. "It's all word-of-mouth, business cards, and the Yellow Pages."

The Shop offers machine shop services, everything from tune-ups to cylinder head porting on an in-house flow bench, and sells accessories such as leather jackets, helmets, gloves, tires, oil, bike covers, sparks and sunglasses.

The Shop is smack dab in the middle of Harley Country, but it's a Harley-free zone. "We'll work on anything except Harleys," says Tim. "Everybody's doing Harleys, but we're doing this."

A truly unique attribute of The Shop is the layout of the workspace. The mechanics work on the bikes in view of the customers, and encourage them to ask questions.

"We'll tell the customer exactly what were doing," says mechanic Greg Klassen. "It might not be the best thing for business, but we're about good service and education."

Best of all, The Shop has this fantastic small town feel. Perhaps it's the whistle-while-they-work friendliness of the staff: Tim's laugh; Greg's laid back demeanor. Or maybe it's the matching blue, name-embroidered shirts. Whatever it is, The Shop has really good vibes.