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Chrome, sweet chrome

He figured the neighbors would get mad when he transformed his Spring Hill house into a Harley shrine. But it's how he ended up meeting most of them.

By CHANDRA BROADWATER
Published January 30, 2006

	[Times photo: Edmund Fountain]
	Richard Klingensmith Jr., 49, loves Harley-Davidson motorcycles so much that he converted his home into an orange-and-black shrine to the brand. Klingensmith, above, is in his dining room with his dachshund, Scooter, who is named for a term used to refer to old Harleys.

SPRING HILL - He's not sure how it happened.

A birthday here, a Christmas present there. Special days left Harley-Davidson trinkets all over the house. So many that Richard Klingensmith Jr. packed them away in storage.

Twenty years later, they're back. His home has been transformed into a Harley shrine.

The dancing Buddha in his office is proof.

Klingensmith, who goes by Rick, painted the concrete lawn ornament in homage to his favorite motorcycle. Buddha now dons an orange robe and a black sash around his waist. Silver hoops hang from his pierced nipples.

To say the least, black and orange are everywhere, inside and out. Shiny chrome paneling gleams in between.

And there are motorcycles. Motorcycles, motorcycles and more motorcycles.

"I like to be different," Klingensmith said, looking around his Spring Hill home recently. He smiles, and his lips part a graying beard. Tattoos on his chest and arms peak out from under his button-up shirt. He is tall, with a large, round stomach. Pictures of moments before - and longer hair - show someone who sits even taller on his bikes.

"How many people can say they live in a Harley museum?" he asked.

It's hard to miss. Drive by it on Mariner Boulevard, past the sea of white, peach and soft-colored homes, and try not to do a double take.

Strangers stop by all the time, and Klingensmith gives them tours. Whenever he's in the garage working with the door up, fellow bikers passing by beep and wave.

Since moving in two years ago after a breakup with his girlfriend, the St. Petersburg native has painted the brick outside black and orange. He had always joked about having a "Harley house."

The retired Navy officer, who owns and operates Brooksville Lock and Key, thought, "What the hell."

He figured the neighbors would get mad. But it's how he ended up meeting most of them.

"They'd wander over and ask, "What are you doing?"' he said.

The driveway is orange and black concrete. Signs around the garage greet visitors who pull in. One reads, "Wanted - Good Woman - Must have Harley." Pieces of chrome, the stamped kind found on the footrest of a motorcycle, flank windows. They're shutters.

Open the front door, and the theme continues.

The floor tiles are black and terra cotta. (Orange ones seemed a bit much.) The walls are black or orange. The refrigerator blends in, too. Chrome plates in the shape of the Harley symbol adorn all the light switches.

Harley collectibles - miniature motorcycles in original packaging, an old slot machine from Atlantic City, cookie jars, stuffed animals, Santas on motorcycles, hogs on motorcycles - are neatly displayed on shelves and in glass cases.

Inside living room drawers sit boxes of Christmas ornaments. Most are worth close to $100 each. Klingensmith loves them so much that he insured his tree - a white one he sets up on the orange coffee table in the front room - for $10,000.

The whole collection is insured and protected by an alarm system - even the Harley toilet seat he plans on putting in the bathroom.

The bathroom is the only room in the two-bedroom house not completely converted from its pastel past. The yellow walls and blue-flowered shower curtain seem out of place.

But they will soon be replaced with a black sink, tub and toilet. The walls will be orange, of course.

Harley-Davidson spokesman Bob Klein doesn't recall ever hearing of a Harley house. From the company's Milwaukee headquarters, he said enthusiasts more commonly commit a room to their favorite motorcycle brand.

"We've seen a number of individuals who give a rec room or kids' bedrooms or other rooms in a house a Harley-Davidson theme," Klein said.

Tattoos are one of the most popular and visible ways people pay homage to the brand, he said. That, or they customize their bikes through parts and accessories.

Klein can only count the ways millions profess their love for Harleys.

Klingensmith loves the feel of slipping onto a leather seat. Then there's the ride. The sound. He got his first motorcycle when he was 15. He rode with his dad.

"It's a way of life, not just a motorcycle," he said. "I've met so many people through my motorcycles. Harleys are different than any other motorcycle in the world. They're 50 years behind all the others. That noise, that vibration they make ..."

To finish his sentence, Klingensmith points to a Harley patch that shares space with many others on the side of an old metal root beer barrel painted to match the rest of the house.

"If I have to explain," he reads from the patch, "you wouldn't understand."

--Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432.

[Last modified January 30, 2006, 00:32:10]