Tucked away on the south side of town is a little motorcycle shop, easily overlooked if it weren’t for the chrome sparkling in the window.

The shop, Whizzer Fun Incorporated, 209 Grove St., is a locally owned dealership for Whizzer Motorbikes.

What started as a hobby for Ray Meisner turned into a profession about six years ago. Meisner, who was into restoring old bikes, became a Whizzer dealer after the company began reproducing the old-style motorcycles.

These later-model Whizzers are propped along the front window, their metallic colors and shiny chrome dancing in the sunlight. The back of the room holds four more bikes from the 1960s and ’70s, including a 1975 Harley Davidson. Next to the Harley is Meisner’s favorite ride, a 1965 Fuji Rabbit.

The Rabbit, a gold-painted motor scooter, cost Meisner about $1,500 to purchase and another $1,500 to restore.

“But,” Meisner said, “[The restoration] set the value pretty close to $10,000 on it.”

The next project for Meisner is building a special edition hot rod, which he works on in the rear room of the shop. Although it only vaguely resembles a bike at this point, the details already are being worked out. Meisner has begun painting the body and visible engine pieces a light metallic blue. This powder blue will be accented with darker, brighter metallic blue European racing stripes. These Euro stripes, as they often are called, consist of a single, thicker stripe with a thinner stripe alongside of it.

The paint supplies alone for the hot rod cost Meisner almost $400. Another bike cost Meisner $2,200 to restore and just sold for $5,400. The bike, which would have sold at an original price of around $545, according to Meisner, obviously had increased with value.

“[That bike] shows you how antiques go up in value,” Meisner said.

This is not a hobby to be entered into lightly, though. It takes the better part of a year to do a complete restoration, even for a pro like Meisner. Meisner, who does repairs and minor work for clients, does not restore bikes for others.

“Too many things can go wrong,” Meisner said of working on someone else’s bike.

Working hard to restore bikes to perfect condition only allows Meisner to take the motorcycles out about six to eight times a year. His antique motorcycle club holds annual rides; the next one is scheduled for May 4 in Cherry Valley. But Meisner can remember his days as a 13-year-old kid on an original Whizzer, zipping around town without a driver’s license or license plates.

“Police were always catching me,” Meisner said. “They kept telling me they would take my bike away if they caught me again, but it was the same thing every time.”

Meisner’s normal shop hours are 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The shop is closed on Sunday and Monday.