She Works Hard For the Money Issue #24

North Carolina-based motorcycle technician talks shop

By Amber Drea
Published: June 1st, 2005 | 3:55pm

Jenny Walters, 25
Location: Willow Springs, North Carolina

Occupation: Assistant manager at Cycle Gear in Raleigh

All in a day’s work: As the first female motorcycle technician hired at J & P Cycles in Daytona Beach, Florida, Walters would modify customers’ bikes for higher performance applications (i.e. bigger, better, faster) and fix bikes with problems. Now that she’s an assistant manager, Walters spends less time in the back, so she’s able to pick up side work — everything from complete engine rebuilding and carburetor repairs to detailing and restoration. “I’m planning on getting into [restoration] real big because around here pretty much if [a bike] doesn’t run and someone doesn’t know how to fix it, they’ll just give it to you,” she says.

How she started: Back when she would bring her own bike into the shop for repairs, the guys behind the counter weren’t very encouraging. “They’d be like, ‘Oh, that girl rider. She can’t ride,’” Walters remembers. Rather than discouraging her, their bad attitudes backfired: Walters became interested in fixing bikes herself. She got her first road bike when she was 17, and in January 2004, Walters decided to attend the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Orlando.

Made for the trade: Walters’ dad bought her her first dirt bike when she was 4 and got her into competitive racing very young — she was sponsored by age 8. “I was pretty much born on two wheels,” she says. “[Dad] wanted a boy.” Her mom is a barbecue cook, a profession that’s pretty uncommon in North Carolina, a fact that also inspired her. About her mother, Walters says, “She told me I could do whatever I wanted to do.”

The hard part: “Building trust with your customers. Every time I tell Mr. Harley Know-It-All something, he wants to go right to my manager and hear the same thing,” Walters says.

Long-term plans: The 5-foot-4-inch biker hopes to open a shop that caters to women. Most of the lady riders she sees are on starter bikes (250 cc) because manufacturers make the seats too high on motorcycles with larger engines. Walters explains, “You want the power, you want to be able to keep up, and you don’t want just an itty bitty bike, but you have to touch the ground.” — Amber Drea