With the summer ending this Sunday, Maine motorcycle enthusiasts know it’s the beginning of the end.

Rapidly approaching are biting cold winds that freeze hands and necklines, roads heavily dusted with tire-slipping sand and, of course, snow and ice. Pretty soon it’ll be time to hang up the chaps, put the batteries on trickle-charger life support, and dig a hog-sized hole through all that junk in the garage.

Keith Stiles, 54, of Windham offers an alternative to garage storage for motorcycles. He is the owner of Behind Bars Maximum Security Motorcycle Storage in Windham at 26 School Road next to the town hall. Besides secure and heated storage, he also offers transportation of bikes, oil changes, detailing, in-house financing on sales, and custom light kits.

Stiles also owns Moonshine Signs at the same location, where he has made custom signs and banners since 1976. He also has a few other tricks up his sleeve.

Before opening Behind Bars, Stiles was approached by the Gillette razor company and asked to store and tour the custom bike they had made to promote the M3 Power Nitro razor. The motorcycle was built by Orange County Choppers on season four of the custom bike company’s television show, American Chopper.

“They made it very clear, ‘no one will be riding this bike,'” said Stiles. He said he loves trucking and showing off the razor-themed bike to big events, such as Nascar races.

On top of all of this, he’s a rock star too.

Stiles said he first got interested in music when he saw The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1963. He started playing the trumpet in a band with his friends, and opened for the jazz-rock band Chicago in its heyday.

Stiles said he quit playing music when it came time to get a job. In 2001, he and some friends recorded an 11-song album. Stiles wrote all the songs and supplied lead vocals and guitar.

“I wanted to have something for my family after I’m gone,” he said. “They’re all songs of the road, they all tell a story.”

Stiles’ music is honest and sincere, a little bit country and a lot of rock and roll. He said the message of his lyrics is the most important part of his songs.

“It’s not something flitty, just trying to rhyme,” said Stiles. “It’s real heartfelt stuff.”

His subject matter includes the open road, growing older, the late Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt and the massive motorcycle rally held each year in Sturgis, S.D.

It was that last one that got him a lot of attention. Some of his music was set to play on the Web site of Swint LED lights, the brand Stiles installs into motorcycles to give them a little flair. After being on the Swint Web site for three weeks, Stiles said big companies started to contact him.

Stiles said he has been approached by Dreamworks film company, responsible for movies such as this summer’s Transformers and the Shrek series, with the intent of using his music in a soundtrack.

In addition, the organizers of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally couldn’t help but notice his song entitled “Sturgis.”

“They ordered 1,000 CDs and hired my band to perform at the rally,” said Stiles. “We hadn’t played together for three or four years.”

Stiles’ band, known as K.L. Stiles, went to Sturgis last month for the rally, along with his wife of 35 years, Valerie, and friend Peter Busque.

“I, for one, am in hopes that this will be the chance for Keith to hit it big time,” said Busque. “It would be great for his family and for our town.”

Stiles said they were playing his music on the street when he arrived and everyone seemed to know all the words.

He and his band performed four times a day for five days during the week-long rally. They were given the VIP treatment and did radio interviews as well.

The official attendance for the rally, billed as the largest motorcycle rally in the world, was 507,234 people.

“You can go for miles in any direction, and it’s just saturated with motorcycles,” said Stiles.

Back home, Stiles has copies of his album “Sturgis and Other Assorted Songs of the Road” for sale at the counter. He doesn’t know if his band’s fame will continue to snowball.

“It’s just a little hobby, but it seems to be growing,” he said.

Stiles1-2 Keith Stiles, 54, at his Behind Bars Maximum Security Motorcycle Storage business in Windham. Besides motorbike safekeeping, Stiles does bike modifications, has his own sign business and tours with his band.Stiles1-2 Keith Stiles, 54, at his Behind Bars Maximum Security Motorcycle Storage business in Windham. Besides motorbike safekeeping, Stiles does bike modifications, has his own sign business and tours with his band.Stiles3-4 Keith Stiles, 54, of Windham and bass player Harold Bailey performed at the worldStiles3-4 Keith Stiles, 54, of Windham and bass player Harold Bailey performed at the worldStiles5: Keith Stiles, 54, of Windham (bottom left) at the worldStiles6: From left: Keith Stiles, Valerie Stiles, Michelle Busque and Peter Busque, all of Windham, at one of the many dives they stopped in while attending the world