If you’ve been there, you know. Black Hills Harley-Davidson’s ‘Rally at Exit 55’ offers a veritable smorgasbord of V-twin stuff, and does it for the better part of two weeks every August during the Sturgis Rally.

Sturgis Rally Soirée

Words by Mitch Boehm

It’s pretty hard to miss, sitting smack dab next to Interstate 90 just Northwest of Rapid City, South Dakota. And if you did happen to somehow ride past Black Hills Harley-Davidson’s mammoth digs at Exit 55 during the Sturgis Rally, we’re betting you’d be sorry. Because what transpires there during those 10-12 days every August is literally the largest and most comprehensive collection of new-and-used bikes, parts, accessories, clothing, vendors, service and know-how in the American V-Twin world.

“It’s a Mecca for motorcycle people,” says Black Hills Harley’s GM and co-owner Terry Rymer. “We’ve been doing this for seventeen or eighteen years at this location during the Rally, and it’s gotten to the point where it really is the biggest American V-Twin consumer show in the world. Nothing anywhere is this big or offers folks this much for the better part of two weeks.”

Spread out over 40 acres, Black Hills’ Rally at Exit 55 offers customers and enthusiasts a giant collection of vendors and products and service-work (and food, music and good ol’ motorcycle stuff), all of it arrayed strategically around the Black Hills store, itself a giant air-conditioned structure that’s literally jam-packed with biker-friendly bits.

“We offer pretty much anything a Harley or American V-twin customer could want,” adds Rymer. “Want to buy a bike, new or used? Want new tires, or suspension, or saddlebags installed? Wanna hook up with a custom painter? Need clothing, or tech help, or tuning advice? It’s all here. We hand-pick every one of our vendors and only choose the very best, from Vance & Hines and Drag Specialties, to S&S and Supertrapp, to Performance Machine and Ohlins and Kuryakyn and many others. We could handle more vendors, but if they aren’t quality, we turn them away.


Black Hills H-D co-owner Terry Rymer (right), here chatting with Team Harley-Davidson head honcho Terry Vance at this year’s Daytona TT. Brian J Nelson

“Our thing is all about a top-shelf experience,” Rymer adds. “For two weeks or more our customers roll in, find easy parking, grab a beer or a brat and just mosey around, checking out all the great stuff. There’s a massive selection of it inside our showroom and in the vendor area, plus the Jumbotron showing the flat track races. People come from all over the country, some of whom don’t have a quality, well-stocked dealer nearby. Well, we are here to help them out. I always tell folks, ‘We will get you straight!’ And we do.”

So whatever you do when you’re enjoying Sturgis next month, do not miss the Rally at Exit 55. We don’t wanna say ‘we told you so’!

Black Hills Harley-Davidson

2820 Harley Dr. Rapid City, SD. 57702

www.blackhillshd.com

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