TUPELO • Kevin Doyle fixed up his first motorcycle in his bedroom as a sixth grader in McMinnville, Oregon.
His father had bought the bike — little more than just pieces — for $50 and said, "Here you go. Get it running."
So that's what he did. He rode that bike for about five years.
Doyle, who moved to Tupelo with his parents in the 1990s when he was 14 years old, said he's always been mechanically inclined.
"My whole life, someone could be locked out of their car and I was in the third grade and I would know how to get in," Doyle, 43, said. "Or the vacuum cleaner at the house would be broke, and I would just know how to take it apart and put it together and fix it. I don't know why, but I just understand mechanics."
For years, Doyle — who worked as a contractor — wanted to open a motorcycle shop, but he worried he wouldn't be able to pull it off.
For a while he did both, spending his time away from his full-time job fixing bikes inside a 12-by-10-foot shop building in his backyard.
In 2015, Doyle finally bit the bullet and opened his own shop — Fuel Cycles in Tupelo, and began working on motorcycles full-time. The name was inspired by a half-destroyed sign he saw while eating at a gas station-turned-restaurant in Memphis that simply read "Fuel."
Located on President Avenue behind the South Gloster Street McDonald's, the business now occupies two buildings — one with a lobby and garage in the back. And another with the same, but a much larger garage space and a motorcycle showroom with rows of freshly painted and polished bikes Doyle fixed up or restored.
"Someone will bring something in, and we'll change it completely," Doyle said.
"Like the blue one," he said, gesturing to one of the display bikes. "It didn't come in looking like that."
He and a handful of contractors working at the shop typically have around 50 bikes queued to repair or refurbish, sometimes including their own.
Doyle's favorite bike is a Harley-Davidson Softail Night Train he got in 2007. He also owns a one-of-a-kind Harley-Davidson Thunderbike prototype made in Germany, which was featured in Hot Bike Magazine.
The number of people interested in motorcycles has been constant for longer than Doyle has been alive, he said. He thinks it will remain that way, especially if the automotive industry continues to shift production to electric vehicles.
There's certainly plenty of interest in Tupelo.
A few months ago, Fuel Cycles started hosting "Bike Night" every Friday night at the shop. Between 80 and 100 bikers show up each week to enjoy grilled burgers and cold beer.
"There wasn't a place for all the bikers to go and hang out," Doyle said.
There are lots of biker clubs in and around Tupelo, he said, though he isn't a member of one.
"Technically, I'm a nomad," Doyle said. "I am not affiliated with any club, and this place is basically Switzerland. Any club can come and hang out. They can wear their patches if they want to. It's open for everybody."
That's to his advantage as a business owner, but it's also a plus for customers. No one is turned away; everyone is welcome.
Doyle typically arrives by 8 a.m. each morning and stays until about 7 p.m. He spends some time talking with customers while working, but most of the day, he’s doing what he’s been doing since he was 14 years old: Working on bikes.
Doyle wouldn't have it any other way. He knows the joy of riding motorcycles and is always happy to help a fellow biker get back on the road.
"It's freeing," Doyle said of riding. "Once you're out and there's no one talking to you, you literally just forget everything that's going on. It's really hard to explain until you get one and realize it."