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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2009   
Vol 2.51   









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Lloyd Greer has put Pine Bush on the world map for motorcycles.
Photo Chris Rowley
Victory Lane
Lloydz Motorworkz Puts Pine Bush on the Map

PINE BUSH � The hamlet of Pine Bush is not the sort of place where you might expect to find a young, growing, nationally renowned small business, but it's happening, right here, in a yellow-painted building on Railroad Avenue that was empty for about 15 years.

That's where Lloyd Greer set up Lloydz Motorworkz in 2004.

"I was working here in Pine Bush for a firm dealing in Polaris four-wheelers. The company was going bust, and I needed to keep working, especially with a six-month-old baby at home. So, I came over here and started this."

What Lloyd started was a high-performance motorcycle repair shop that specializes in the relatively new brand of Victory Motorcycles.

For those who know little about motorcycles, there are two families of the two-wheeled, speedy breed. There are the racing bikes, a tribe dominated by the Japanese entries: Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Honda; and then there are the touring bikes, an American tribe, dominated by the output from Harley Davidson, a name synonymous with this kind of motorcycle.

But not quite anymore. In the 1990s, Polaris, maker of snowmobiles and four-wheel ATVs, decided to get into the market for big cruising motorcycles, which they have done with considerable success. In the world of motorcycle riders, there is a growing belief that Victory outperforms Harley Davidson, but, of course, Harley retains the brand name that American riders have grown up with, and so this is a David and Goliath struggle. Meanwhile, 2009 was a terrible year for the makers of all large, luxury forms of transportation � Harley and Victory both took major hits.

In Pine Bush, though, Lloyd Greer rolls on. "I don't sell motorcycles, I repair them, I dynotune them, and I look for ways to make them perform better. This is a high-performance shop."

And if you don't believe him, just ask Gregor Moe, who set a new speed record of 165.8 mph at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah back on September 3 this year. That record, for the 200-M-AG class of motorcycles, was set with a Victory Kingpin bike, and an engine built by Lloyd Greer and his "Engine Doctor" and long time buddy Adam Torchio. "There's nothing that Adam doesn't know about engines," says Llloyd cheerfully, as he guides a reporter around the shop.

Of special interest is the fact that Greer is a local kid. "I grew up in Walker Valley, attended Pine Bush schools. My mom's family lived in Pine Bush, and my dad's lived in Walker Valley."

Motorcycles came naturally to Greer as well.

"My dad was always fixing things, and always working on vehicles. The first motorcycle was a 1970 Honda. That got me started."

Adam Torchio and Lloyd Greer were young gearheads, caught up in the lure of drag racing in those days. Later, Greer met his Egyptian-born wife, Rana, who moved to Pine Bush in 1991. They married and today have two boys, aged 6 and 3, with the older child now attending E.J. Russell Elementary.

When asked what excites him, Greer says with a laugh, "What really gets me is when we're on a project and we develop something new and it actually works!"

That's the thrill of engineering, and at Lloydz Motorworkz they are constantly searching for new ways to boost the performance of Victory motorcycles. It's an exciting time with a relatively new product line.

"With Victory," says Greer. "We're actually writing the book when it comes to performances. That makes this a special time to be in this business."



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