Lifestyle Cycles Meet the Team: Swede Karlsson

"Uh, Swed. Swed Carlson, that's the last name, real name is Ulf. Ulf, nobody knows how to pronounce it, so Swed is why I go by. And parts manager here at Lifestyle Cycle, it's been for 24 years in this place here, you know, updating their bikes, maintaining the bikes, various aspects. Also, a lot of people come in here for the older bikes. You're talking shovels, pans, knucks that they can't get parts from anywhere else. They come to Lifestyle Cycles, those hard-to-find parts. Uh, so it's all aspect of the Harley, and you can do so much to the Harley-Davidson, you know, as far as additions. Uh, like we said, handlebars, seats, lighting, pegs, grips, mirrors, just goes on and on and on and on.

Between everybody here working at Lifestyle Cycle, Sparky, uh, me, Mike, and Service Mike Weber, uh, it's just the deep knowledge of Harley. And once again, you know, early models up to the modern Milwaukee 8s, we, we know a lot. That's what sets us aside. And customer service, what makes customer service, is listening to people, you know? A lot of people get whisked off in different businesses if they seem to not know what they're talking about, which very well might be the case when you buy a brand new Harley-Davidson, never been in one, never ridden one. If you come to a place where they're snobby about parts and motorcycles, they might, you know, brush you off. And it's very important to understand not everybody knows everything about all this stuff. So when they come in and asking for a part and I'm not knowledgeable about their motorcycle, we help them out, you know, as much as we can and inform them, educate them. Very important.

So, quality products, uh, products with warranty, brand names that have been established, customer service from manufacturers, people we can call and help customers out with, that's important. My boss, which I've worked for now for 24 years, Junior, Junior's real name is Mark as his first name. Mark. And at the time here, 22 some odd years ago, we also had a mechanic with the first name of Mark. And this gentleman came in one day and says, 'Is Mark here?' And I said, 'No, I said he's not. He actually quit. He went back to college.' And he goes, 'He went back to college?' And I go, 'Yeah, yeah. Um, can I leave him a message?' And he goes, 'No, no, that's alright.' And then he wandered off. And 2 minutes later, Junior comes back, he looks at me and he goes, 'Uh, what's my name?' I go, 'Junior.' Trick question, something goes, 'What's my real name?' I go, 'It's Mark.' I go, 'Oh crap, who was that guy?' And he goes, 'That's my lawyer.' So, yeah, but stories, they, there are tons of them. One of my favorites though, their customers here I've known for over 20 years. You know, and you meet them outside of work too. You meet them at events, you meet them at, um, biker bars, stuff like that. You know, and that's, it's fun. A lot of people say they don't want to talk business outside of where they work, but it's not the case with Harley. It's not the case with Harley people, you know? Wherever you run into, wherever you meet them, it's always, 'Oh Swed, how you doing?' 'Hey, you know, I'm looking for this.' And I go, 'Yeah, we've got it. Come, you know, stop by at work and we'll figure it out.' But yeah, all the customers are friends, yeah.

Oh, you've got to stop by if you haven't been here before. You're going to have a blast. And you're going to have a blast all the way from apparel through parts back to service, bike sales. Great store, great people, great people to work with here. Uh, you'll find out as soon as you walk in the door, you know, friendly smile, a greeting, knowledge. If you haven't been here, you're missing out.

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