Harley-Davidson dealer turns 100
Trev Deeley Motorcycles began as a bike shop in 1912 and now boasts a 45,000-square-foot showroom
The influence of Vancouver’s Deeley family on what we’ve driven over the past century started with a small store, called Fred Deeley — The Cycle Man, at 1075 Granville Street in the heart of the city’s main retail district.
Fred Deeley had been selling bicycles in his native Birmingham, England, since 1902. He emigrated to Vancouver in 1912 and went into business two years later. Soon Deeley was augmenting his bicycle sales by importing BSA motorcycles from Birmingham.
In 1917, Deeley became a distributor for a little-known motorcycle company from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, founded in 1903 by William S. Harley and brothers William, Arthur and Walter Davidson. Deeley became Canada’s first Harley-Davidson dealer.
Over the next century, the small Vancouver shop grew into an iconic business, establishing a legacy of motorizing a nation as the Canadian distributor for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The dealership also oversaw the sale of 40,000 Austin vehicles across Canada from the 1930s through to the 1960s, along with numerous other brands of imported cars and motorcycles.
With his growing success, the astute businessman expanded the motorcycle business into a separate venture in 1925 with his son, Fred Deeley Jr., taking over motorcycle operations. By 1929, the bicycle and motorcycle shops were located along West Broadway and business was booming.
In 1935, Trev Deeley joined his father’s motorcycle business as an apprentice mechanic, setting the stage for an unparalleled career as flat-track racer and Harley-Davidson-sponsored competitor, racing on the international circuit. Among his awards and recognition are special-constable status awarded to him as the only civilian member of the Vancouver Police Department motorcycle drill team.
The businesses would weather difficult times during the Depression and throughout the war years. Returning war veterans brought with them the love of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and, in many cases, brought home the motorcycles themselves. They began to customize their machines into “choppers,” and Deeley’s parts and service business took off.
Trev Deeley argued so strongly that the sale and service of motorcycles should be run as a separate business, he threatened to quit. His father eventually acquiesced, and Trev Deeley Motorcycles opened its iconic location at 606 East Broadway in 1950.
Being close with a dollar, Fred Deeley figured out how to change the massive red-lettered “Fred Deeley” neon sign at the business by only replacing the “F” and the “D” to read “Trev Deeley Motorcycles.”
Trev Deeley was the first in Canada to understand the impact lightweight and sturdy Japanese motorcycles would have in the marketplace, and he became the Canadian distributor for Honda in 1957. He subsequently took on distribution of Yamaha motorcycles. Both companies eventually took back distribution in Canada.
In 1973, Fred Deeley Imports Ltd. was awarded the exclusive rights to distribute Harley-Davidson motorcycles and accessories in Canada, which the company retained until 2015.
When the East Broadway branch relocated to Boundary Road in 1996, Trev Deeley Motorcycles general manager Darwin Osarchuk removed the red neon sign and quietly began the restoration of each letter. It is now displayed in the company’s 45,000-square-foot showroom as part of the 100-year anniversary celebrations.
“Trev was a very astute businessman who was OK with someone making a mistake, as long as it didn’t happen twice,” says Osarchuk, who rose from delivery truck driver in 1987 to general manager four years later.
Trev Deeley died in April 2002 at the age of 82, but the business continues, operated by longtime partners Don James, who started at Deeley’s in 1967, and Malcolm Hunter, who has been with the company since 1976.