MOTORCYCLING is in some people's blood, and Jamil Ayas is one of them. He first got on a motorbike, albeit a modest 70 cc Honda, when he was 18 years old and working for a Honda dealer in Lebanon. “I used to assemble them for pre-delivery inspection,” he explained. Now, over thirty years later, he is the General Manager of the Harley-Davidson dealership in Jeddah. Ayas is from Lebanon and went through his entire education there, until he graduated from the University of Beirut with a degree in Technical and Mechanical Engineering. His career then began in the oil industry, first in Abu Dhabi and then Dubai, working with big diesel engines. “Then in 1993, I was introduced to the Harley-Davidson dealership in Dubai. I was taken on as a technician, and I have been with Harley ever since.” As well as being caught up in his new job as the Service Manager of the dealership, Ayas also became absorbed in the Harley dream of creating his own custom bike. From the look on his face, this was obviously a very special process for him: “I had this vision, this project that I liked certain things on different bikes and my dream was to put all these three specifications onto one bike. So I studied it, and I put it on paper, and I said it is possible. So I converted my Dyna Wide Glide using part of a Softail and part of a Road King. I have given it a nickname, which is ‘Dyna Glide Classic'.” After a few years, Ayas moved briefly to the newly-established Jeddah dealership, and then to the UK with his family. “I was in Manchester trouble-shooting for about three months, then Worcester, and after that in Dunfermline, Scotland for a year-and-a-half. There was a new dealership opening and I set up the workshop and facilities.” By this time, having acquired a wealth of technical information, he had gained a reputation as the “wizard of Harley” and people would contact him from all over the UK for advice. During his years there, Ayas also experienced attending some of the big bike rallies, such as in Aviemore, with a gathering of nearly 10,000 bikes. The Middle East beckoned again, and Ayas was invited by Lisa Schlensker, the Harley Owners Group (HOG) Manager for Middle East and Africa, to help build up the dealerships in the area. He started at the newly formed Bahrain dealership, and then in 2006 arrived back in Jeddah. “When I started here three years ago, we had only four staff. Now we have twelve, including me. Over the past few years, the concept of Harley-Davidson has got bigger and bigger, especially since we did our first National Rally in Jeddah two years ago. Right now, we have 17 bikes not sold in the showroom, and 10 sold – we are trying to prepare them by the end of the month for delivery to the customers.” During his career, Ayas has done specialized technical training courses and has attended the Harley-Davidson University in Milwaukee, USA. “Every member of staff working for Harley-Davidson has their ‘passport' so they can go on-line to do training courses as a beginner – and they have to progress. I will have their reports on a monthly basis which will say if they have failed or passed. From that point, we will appraise our staff and send them for higher training courses.” Being passionate about motorbikes is an essential part of the job and Ayas enjoys the daily challenges. “The problems in Europe are different to here – even though we are the same Harley riders and owners, but the climate is different, and the mentality of the customers is different. My advantage is that I speak Arabic and now our customers are 80 percent nationals and only 20 percent foreigners. So we are focusing on the people who live in Saudi Arabia because at the end of the day, they stay here and they will also spend money.” Each dealership has a HOG Chapter attached to it. “They go parallel to each other and help each other. The HOG is also the marketing tool for the dealer. They help us a lot with our demo days, and when we have Open House, and Rallies. In Jeddah, we have about 400 Harley bikes out there, but some people have more than one bike. So we have around 100 active members. They all volunteer to do the required jobs. Right now, with Ahmed Halawani as the coordinator, we are planning our 3rd National Rally in Abha, from 14th – 16th October.” Ayas has an array of certificates displayed in his office, one of which certifies him as a biking instructor. “The company sent me to the UK for the Harley ‘Riders' Edge Instructor Course. They teach you the right way to handle your bike and how to avoid accidents. It is a management goal to open an institute here – we would like to see everybody who is riding a bike in Saudi Arabia do a proper training course.”
