Dealernews Issue#8 June 2019

DN 2.0 #8

DEALER PROFILE+ Then & Now

SUZUKI STEPS UP!+ OEMs In For AIMExpo

INDUSTRY RESEARCH+ eBike Evolution

HONDA HAS A TALON TANDEM+ Sport UTV Offerings Doubled Up

ADVENTURE APPROVED No matter the season, OPEN TRAIL is there for your next adventure or upcoming project.

DRIVETRAIN

BODY

LIGHTING

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CONTENTS 06 WORLD’S LUCKIEST MAN 08 EDITORS NOTE 10 LETTERS+ 12 NEWS+ 16 SHIFTING GEARS+ 20 DEALER PROFILE+ 26 INDUSTRY RESEARCH+ 28 INDUSTRY RESEARCH+ 31 SHOWTIME!

Bob Althoff On Perfect Partners Robin Hartfiel On On Then… And Now The Industry On Dealernews News Dealers Can Use Where’s Waldo?

Coleman PowerSports Then… And Now Dr. Paul Leinberger On B2C Omnichannel Future

32 SUZUKI STEPS UP! 35 eDEALER NEWS

OEMs Committing To Columbus Neo Retro Cafe’ Racer Shocks Goodwood

36 CURRENT 40 eRESEARCH+ 44 OPINION+ 48 OPINION+

50 TALON TANDEM 54 OPINION+ 56 PERSONNEL FILES 58 NORTHERN EXPOSURE 60 DIVERSITY+

Honda Has A Pair Of SxS Game Changers

William Douglas Little On Hayfield Follies Alex Baylon On Positive Attitude

eNews

Donald Musick On eBikes

Robert Pandya On The Only Way To Save Our Industry Unwinding The Vertical Exit Interview

Marq C. Smith’s On The Smell Of Death Alisa Clickenger On The Mid-Atlantic Women’s Motorcycle Rally

62 CONFESSIONS OF A CUSTOMER

Eric Anderson On Drowning In A Sea Of Sameness

Lenny Sims NADAguides On Q2 AIMExpo Updates

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20

35

50

OUR TEAM

64 MIC RIDEREPORT 66 ADVOCACY+

What Does The MIC Do For You? Don Amador On Lessons Learned On The Trail

68 ADVOCACY+ 70 WÜNSCHISMS 75 OPINION+ 76 GEAR+

Scot Harden On Politics, Religion And Electric Motorcycles

Uncle Paul On Aliens

The Anonymous Dealer On Balance

80 GEAR+ 82 PRESS PASS+ 84 VALE+ 85 AD INDEX 86 BACKFIRE+

Charlie Williams MOTOZ Tyres

50+ Years Of Pitching It Sideways!

Ave Atque Vale Sarge Fiesler This issue Brought To You By… John Murphy On The Emperor’s Handbook

Editor’s Choice

Bob Althoff W.L.M. Stan Simpson Vice President EDITORIAL Robin Hartfiel Editor Gus Stewart Creative Director Brenda Stiehl Production Manager CONTRIBUTORS Don Musick Genesys Technology Solutions Dr. Paul Leinberger Denny+Leinberger Strategy Eric Anderson Vroom Network Lenny Sims NADA Appraisal Guides Scot Harden AMA Hall Of Fame/Harden Offroad Hector Cademartori Illustrations William Douglas Little Unique Powersports Charlie Williams Off Road Editor Marq Smith Holeshot Motorsports, Canada Alisa Clickenger Women’s Motorcycle Tours Don Amador Quiet Warrior Racing Joe Bonnello Joe B Photography Uncle Paul Wunsch Love Cycles The Anonymous Dealer Dealer Advisory Board Bob Althoff Chairman Joey Belmont Big #1 Sports Jim Boltz Lynnwood Cycle Barn/WMDA Jim Foster Killeen Power Sports George Gatto Gatto Harley-Davidson Malcolm Hunter Deeley Harley-Davidson Robert Kay Star City Motorsports Bob Kee Destination Cycle Jerry Lenz Beaverton Motorcycles Kurt Mechling Performance PowerSports Don Owens Dothan Powersports Mark Peterson Southwest Superbikes Sandy Stroope Boat World Honda Polaris

ADVERTISING John Murphy Publishing Consultant johnmurphy@dealernews.com Tigra Tsujikawa Sponsorship Manager (949) 861-0863 tigratsujikawa26@gmail.com Blake Foulds Account Executive (760) 715-3045 Blakefoulds@dealernews.com

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Dealernews Magazine P.O. Box 73640 San Clemente, CA 92673 Phone (949) 463-4319 www.dealernews.com © Copyright 2019

I will introduce them as “The perfect partner!” Smart, passionate, innovative, committed, has my back.”

That lead to me thinking about Dealernews… And our Industry.

Does Dealernews have perfect partners? We sure appreciate the early advertisers who have seen our vision and support our work. We need more of them.

If you are reading this and can help us help Dealers, please do.

W.L.M.

By Bob Althoff

THE PERFECT PARTNER

M

aybe you are one of the lucky ones. I am. As some of you know my title is not Owner, or Dealer Principal or even JD, or MBA… It is simply “W.L.M.” As in, World’s Luckiest Man. Yep. For as long as I can remember, just W.L.M. It looks like “WLA” as in the WWII Harley-Davidson military model for those of you non-Harley dealers. It’s also official because it’s on my business card.

I am the world’s luckiest man for reasons too numerous to list here. But at the top of the list is that I asked a girl named Valerie to marry me 45 years ago.

She is the perfect partner. (Please don’t mention this to her.) I love her. I am proud of her. And we have been a great team for the better part of five decades. We partnered in the dealership in 2002 and have been honored to continue the legacy of Lilly Farrow.

I’ve had wonderful business partners along the way.

I hope you have had those, too.

Recently, I entered into a new business partnership.

Perhaps the biggest and most important since that original one with Valerie.

I will be on a podium tomorrow and I was in the shower this morning thinking of how I would introduce my new partners. Then I thought… why not start with exactly what I am thinking?

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As Dealers, do we have perfect partners? Do our OEs really care about our success? How exactly does that “partnership” manifest itself? How about the institutions that exist to support our industry? Do they exhibit the smart, passionate, innovative and committed archetype?

Do they have our back as Dealers? Are they doing all they can to drive the success of the entire industry?

OEM, Aftermarket, Institution or Dealer — we are an ecosystem. We are here to serve our great customers and to make dreams come true. We are all in this together.

So, we darn well better act as “perfect partners” to one another!

See you at AIMExpo.

Right, Partner?

Bob Althoff W.L.M.

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a C2B marketing approach? The same paradigm shift Paul Leinberger has predicted as the future of retail? “I don’t know about ‘experiential marketing’ or the ‘omnichannel’ but we have always believed in involving and engaging our customers, offering everything from demo days to our own auctions.”

Customer-forward focus was something Kim’s father Dillard founded the dealership on back in 1963!

Despite the business being started in the pre-Internet age, Harrison decided to focus on e-mail as the preferred way of communication with their customers very early on. “We phased out direct mail and now 100% of our marketing communication with our customers is through e-mail. That strategy paid off and we now have more than 50,000 e-mail addresses.”

Editor’s Note

By Robin Hartfiel

THEN… AND NOW

O

ther than death and taxes, change is the only constant.

This issue proves it! B2C has become a C2B market according to Dr. Paul Leinberger… and backed up

by Eric Anderson’s Confessions Of A Customer column. eDealernews replaces ICE Dealernews on page 35… and then verified by the numbers guy, industry researcher Don Musick.

The two-wheeled market has become the 2P and 4P UTV industry, or will if Honda has their way with the new Talon.

Even the definition of taboo topics has shifted as AMA Hall Of Famer Scot Harden tells us friends don’t talk about politics, religion and especially electric motorcycles!

Okay so maybe change isn’t the only constant… Good dealers will always be good dealers. They will adapt and overcome, stay on top of the trends and involve their customers. At a time when our industry is threatened by so many external issues from tariffs to millennials not wanting to ride, it is comforting to see someone like Kim Harrison still on the cutting edge, but backed by a generation of best practices.

That is where Dealernews — or eDealernews as the case may be — slots in. We have highlighted success stories and best practices like Coleman PowerSports for 50+ years. The market may have shifted and the trade show moved from Cincinnati to Columbus (note the cover blurbs), but we still believe that there are no more important people in the powersports industry than the dealers themselves!

Dealers: There is no “ColumbUS” without U or US! YOU are key to the future success of our industry. Like our owner and your fellow dealer Bob Althoff suggests this month, we are all partners.

However, when it comes to death and taxes, that is another story, partner!

As shocking as all these changes may appear, it is curious that this industry has been talking about some of the same issues for the past 50+ years. We were already on electric avenue in 1972 when Mike Corbin was setting land speed records on his “Quicksilver” electric motorcycle. Now Bonnier is bringing the Cycle Volta electric movement to the AIMExpo for 2019.

Fast forward from Corbin’s 1972 exploits to 1992. Our cover dealer Kim Coleman (now Harrison) was on the cutting edge of trending with her BMW R100GS Paris-Dakar, arguably the harbinger of the “current” ADV craze. In the intervening three decades between cover shots, she has shifted from ADV to three wheels as she embraced the autocycle movement with machines like the Vanderhall and the Ryker.

But for all the change, she says some of the tried and true methods still work the best. For example she has been a member of the same 20 Group that she belonged to back in 1992… and plans to still be a member in 2022!

In addition to now reaching deep into the new rider market, Coleman PowerSports has a long history of supporting and enhancing the customer experience for existing riders. Wait,

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Former Editor-in-Chief and publisher of Dealernews circa 19902003, Robin returns to the magazine. In addition to having been instrumental in creating the Dealernews Top 100 program (still the industry’s ultimate accolade for a motorcycle dealership), Hartfiel has worked for most of the B2B publications in the Powersports arena. Prior to the trade side, he worked as a beat reporter for a local newspaper was an editor of publications ranging from All About Beer to VW Trends.

THE DEATH OF MOTORCYCLIST For the better part of 60 years I have been waiting for Cycle (dead since 1991), Cycle World and Motorcyclist magazines to hit my mailbox. As an enthusiast, it’s been a big part of the Motorcycle experience for me. I know these guys don’t care, but this is one “Dynasour” that does very little on line (even reading a magazine). Out with the old, in with the new… Just not for me.

Scott A. Craig Last Man Standing Agency Montgomery, TX JUST KILLED MY SUBSCRIPTION I’ve been reading Motorcyclist magazine for decades. By going digital-only you have just killed my subscription. I want a real magazine in my hand. Something I can read anywhere, anytime. Something that isn’t dependent on a battery or Wi-Fi connection.

Michael Frangoudakis Via Facebook MOTORCYCLIST LIVES Did anyone shed a tear for Blackberry when Apple released the iPhone? NO. The only thing guaranteed in this life is change. Every person sharing memories and comments in this thread is proof we have ALL slowly made a change in how we receive and interact with information.

This announcement is NOT sad news, it is JUST news. Are you a fan of the current folks at Motorcyclist Mag? Great. There has been no, as in zero, change in the MC staff. So, now instead of going to your mailbox to interact will the good people of MC Mag, you will go to your phone or computer. As you are right now. Look for all the great stories and video you love at YouTube and motorcyclistonline.com.

630,000+ YouTube subscribers! And the audience is growing. Here’s to another 100 years.

Jeff Allen Bonnier Motorcycle Group Irvine, CA

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CONTENT IS KING! Digital is not the issue with the death of Motorcyclist, I haven’t touched a NY Times hard copy in decades. Motorcycle magazine content has been going toward “lifestyle” type formats. Minimal text and full page pictures are for fashion magazines. While it is specialized, John Ulrich’s Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology has delivered the goods on what an excellent motorcycle magazine should be for those same decades.

Bobby Nevola Via Facebook THANKS FOR A GREAT RIDE Terrible news, but hardly unexpected.

I have fond memories of working on the same floor with the Motorcyclist and SportRider staffs back in the Petersen days, just before the company was sold the first time. Made many lasting connections that stood me in good stead for many years beyond the inevitable layoffs. I feel fortunate to have been there at what turned out to be the end of an era in publishing. Thanks for a great time in my life.

Dan Wildhirt Longmont, CO CYCLE NEWS LIVES Sad. Was told I was shortlisted at Cycle before Hachette administered the final axe. Liked Motorcyclist in Kent Kunitsugu and others eras. Thank goodness Kevin Cameron still has an online presence at Cycle World. And Cycle News is free online every week: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/ Bruce Scholten https://milkandmotorcycles.blogspot. com/ Durham, England STILL HERE! A shame, a crying shame what is happening to so many industry leading print magazines. American Iron Magazine is holding our own and still published every four weeks - 13 great issues a year.

Buzz Kanter, Publisher American Iron Magazine Stamford, CT

TOP 100 DEALERS? Are ya’ll still having the annual Top 100 Dealer competition? We didn’t get an invitation last year and we are worried we will miss it this year, too.

Robert McMarrow II Hattiesburg Cycles Hattiesburg, MS Actually you didn’t miss Top 100 last year because there wasn’t one. Dealernews went dark awhile back, but the original team is bringing it back, including the Top 100 Dealer contest. We interrupted the cycle this year with the Top 100 Industry leaders announced last issue, but we will return to the regularly scheduled Top 100 dealers in 2020.

TOP 100 LEADERS Just a short note to thanks you and the staff at Dealernews for including the Barnett family in the ‘Family Dynasty Leaders’ listing in your Top 100 issue. My wife, Colleen, is the last of the Barnett family. She still works regularly and has since the mid 1960s. We take pride in this being our 71st year in business, still owned and run by the family. We are now into our fourth generation, having our daughter, son and granddaughter working for the business. We are doubly proud to say that every product we make and sell is “Made in the USA!” Dealernews is a wealth of information and I read it cover to cover each month.

Thank you again.

Mike Taylor Barnett Tool & Eng. Ventura, CA

SPEAKING UP I hope all is well. Love what you are doing with Dealernews. I’m so glad it was saved. Great graphics, articles and news.

The industry needs you. I have a new speaker sheet and handouts that I gave to the audience of the MBA graduating class of the Merrick School of Business, University of Baltimore. I’d like to send it to you to keep my industry friends up to date with what I’m doing. Funny how life and times can come full circle.

Best, Frank Esposito, Motorcycle Industry Precisionist Coatesville, PA P.S. Hang on to the Penton JackPiner...

It may end up being a new class when eBikes take over!

PRIMETIME PLAYER Thanks for the Corbin Quicksilver mention in your “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” Editor’s Note in the May issue. Mike Corbin was pleasantly surprised that someone remembered the records set by that machine. Mike Corbin set the Electric Motorcycle Land Speed Record of 101 mph at Bonneville in 1972. In 1974 Mike set a new benchmark of 165.397 mph, a record that stood for more than 30 years.

Greg Hurley, Marketing Corbin-Pacific Inc. Hollister, CA Credit where credit is due! Maybe some of those ebike operations that short-circuited should have talked to Mike about making a real electric “motor” bike? Maybe?

SOUND OFF! Dealernews is indeed back. Join in the conversation by emails Editor@dealernews.com Check us out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dealernews/ Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DealernewsFan/ Follow along on Dealernews.com Tune into the new YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCZE6q4gQ5EIz0nOX4WaXw1w

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JUNE 2019

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ultimately make its way to the American Honda Collection Hall in Torrance, where it will be staged in front of a replica of the company’s original Los Angeles office.

Honda has come a long way since the Pico office in Los Angeles back in 1959. Honda now has 12 major manufacturing facilities in the U.S., including the South Carolina operation where the new Talons are made that Dealernews recently toured, plus 14 additional R&D centers. Today, Honda employs more than 31,000 associates in the development, manufacturing, sales and servicing of Honda power equipment and powersports products, Honda and Acura automobiles, the HondaJet and GE Honda HF120 turbofan engines!

SUMMER SCHOOL FOR V-TWIN DEALERS THAT WAS THEN… THIS IS NOW

As of June, 2019 Honda is celebrating its 60th anniversary in America, and 40 years of production in America come September. To commemorate these milestones, they have gone back to their roots when American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (AHM) first opened for business in 1959. Jack McCormack’s crew barnstormed dealer visits in a small fleet of Chevy pickups. The iconic mage of the era is one of these trucks loaded with a Cub and CB160 parked in front of AHM’s original office at 4077 Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles, circa 1961.

Tapping its U.S. archives and memories of retired Honda associates for details, a 1961 Chevy half-ton pickup was found and carefully renovated, replicating the original paint scheme as used by company salesmen delivering motorcycles to dealers to sell on a consignment basis. These trucks helped American Honda quickly establish a U.S. market foothold, starting in Southern California. By 1965, Honda had become the best-selling motorcycle brand in America with more than 70% market share.

The completed package went on display in the lobby of American Honda’s Torrance, California HQ on June 11 as part of AHM’s 60th Anniversary festivities. After making the rounds of classic car shows and SEMA this year, the truck will

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Time for V-Twin dealers to hit the books for an accelerated summer school course! HardDrive American V-Twin Products has just released their 2019 V-Twin Catalog Supplement featuring hundreds of new products including exhausts, headlights and more.

“We build the supplement to ensure that no matter where a dealer is at for the year, they have the opportunity to stock some new HardDrive products,” explains HardDrive Product Director Gunnar Heinemeyer. “We are constantly expanding brands and products throughout the year.”

Highlights include the latest from Two Brothers Racing, CYRON MOTOR and Pathfinder LED among others. “The 2019 supplement is the perfect resource for dealers to do a midyear stock up with products that have been since added to the catalog,” adds Heinemeyer.

HardDrive is Western Power Sports American V-Twin Division.

After launching as a regional snowmobile parts specialist, WPS has expanded to become a full service powersports distribution business during the past 58 years. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, HardDrive offers V-twin products to dealers nationwide through its six regional warehouses in Boise; Fresno, California; Memphis, Tennessee; Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Ashley, Indiana; and Midlothian, Texas.

Explore the catalog HERE: http://catalogs.wps-inc.com/2019/vtwin_supp/2/

MOVE IT!

Electric motorcycles, tech-equipped helmets… With each passing day, advancements are transforming the motorcycle industry in ways unimaginable to riders of the past. Now, one company is applying that same innovation to help get bikes from Point A to Point B faster and more safely than ever before.

“We’re not just another trucking company,” says industry veteran and Motorcycle Shippers CEO Clint Lawrence.

“Motorcycle shipping is all we do. Our craft is constantly evolving to reflect the changes in design within the motorcycle industry.”

Motorcycle Shippers’ Advanced Shipping System brings motorcycle shipping to a whole new level. Their innovative Perimeter of Protection® skid system provides unmatched safety for a wide range of motorcycles — from lightweights and to extended-length customs. Features include: • Customized secure ramps engineered for safe loading and unloading, delivering an unmatched Perimeter of Protection® • Soft Cinch® tie-downs that protect fragile areas on even the most fragile motorcycles • Four-corner straps that keep motorcycles secure from all angles • A steel-reinforced design stress-tested to ensure a motorcycle withstands any bumps, twists and turns the shipping process brings its way Founded in 1994 as a subsidiary of JC Motors, Motorcycle Shippers is the original motorcycle shipping company.

Providing quick, safe and affordable motorcycle transport to businesses across the U.S. Call 800-730-3151 or click https://motorcycleshippers.com/

BEST DEALER IN UTAH

Third time is a charm? Recently profiled in Dealernews, Harrison EuroSports has been named the best dealer in the state of Utah, again. “I am extremely honored that Harrison Eurosports has been awarded ‘Best of State’ three years running for motorcycle sales in Utah,” says Ryan Stanley, General Manager at Harrison EuroSports.

The simple formula for success? Best people + best product = great results. Sounds simple enough, but that is just the first part of the total equation. “Selling a customer a motorcycle is just the first step. Teach them how to use it, introduce riders to the community and they will come back for more.”

In fact, we ran an entire sidebar on how important event planning and marketing is to the operation. For more on how Harrison EuroSports has managed to be the best of the best, see the full story here: https://issuu.com/dealernews/docs/9102-1545589843/18

JUNE 2019

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REVER SHOWS EAGLERIDER THE WAY

JAY LENO TUNING INTO MOTOAMERICA

Who says nothing good is on TV any more? MotoAmerica president Wayne Rainey and CFO Richard Varner were featured this week on Jay Leno’s Garage where the legendary comedian and former Tonight Show host shares his passion for cars, motorcycles and racing.

Rainey and Varner are featured in a 23-minute segment centers around the custom-built TZ750 inspired Yamaha YZF-R1 that helped fuel the birth of MotoAmerica and what is now the home of the AMA Superbike Series.

“I obviously am not a motorcycle racer, but I love bikes and I’d love to take this for a little spin and see how it goes,” Leno quipped before throwing a leg over the MotoAmerica project bike and taking to the streets around his Burbank, California, garage.

In addition to focusing on the MotoAmerica bike, Leno also discusses Rainey’s career and the beginning of MotoAmerica and what the series has grown into.

“It was obviously a wonderful opportunity for us to be on Jay Leno’s Garage,” Rainey said. “Jay has a lot of passion for cars and motorcycles, and he is very interested in what we are doing with MotoAmerica. It was a lot of fun visiting him at his place and getting to know him better. He’s a big fan and it’s an honor for us to get the chance to be on his show.”

If you missed the episode, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfqpp3xY1d8&feature=youtu.be

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There is an app for that! EagleRider and REVER have partnered up to benefit both networks. REVER Pro members get massive bonuses when they sign up for Club EagleRider, a membership that offers 72% savings on motorcycle rentals. Similarly, Club EagleRider members receive greatly discounted rates on REVER Pro services, including 50% off an introductory membership.

“REVER is all about encouraging and facilitating motorcyclists to get out and ride as much as possible,” said Justin Bradshaw, Co-Founder of REVER. “Partnering with a leading brand like EagleRider truly opens up the entire country for those of us who don’t have time to ride to all the destinations on their bucket list.”

Riders are no longer limited to the area they live or even the motorcycle in their garage. With REVER and Club EagleRider, motorcycle enthusiasts can plan a ride anywhere in the country using REVER’s application. Once planned, select one of EagleRider’s Harley-Davidson, BMW, Triumph, Yamaha and brands available at any of EagleRider’s 200+ locations in the US. Current Club EagleRider members receive REVER Pro for 50% off the introductory price, giving unlimited access to features including ride tracking, creation of custom routes, turn-by-turn navigation, ride sharing, off-line maps, communities, in-app satellite and radar weather overlays, automated alerts… and more.

“Using a GPS is great,” says Shawn Fechter, EagleRider’s VP of Sales, “But, the REVER navigation tools are much more than just knowing where to go. We’re excited to integrate the amazing REVER tools to our Club EagleRider member benefits.”

Take the short cut to REVER to learn more: https://www.rever.co/

EX MAKES A COMEBACK

After being counted out, EnduroCross successor series EnduroX will have a national championship series in 2019. Co-promoters Tod Hammock and Eric Peronnard plans for a new indoor extreme off-road racing series have been met with enthusiasm from the riders, teams and potential sponsors. The AMA has confirmed sanctioning for the three-round series and KTM, Husqvarna, Beta, Sherco and GasGas have committed to having their top riders compete.

“We have been very pleased with the progress we have been able to make in just a few weeks,” said Hammock, who also promotes the Kicker Arenacross series. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us to be ready for round one in Prescott Valley on August 24th, but we have enough of the critical pieces in place to move forward with the series for 2019 and look to build on that in the coming years.”

TUCKER ON A ROLL

Tucker Powersports on a roll, literally. The distribution giant has rolled out their 2020 Tires/Shop/Service catalog. New items included in the nearly 1,000 page tome include: Muc-Off – Innovative motorcycle cleaning product line features a 3-step program designed to Clean, Protect and Lube.

Lithium-Ion Battery Chart – New combined BikeMaster Products, Shorai Inc. and Antigravity Batteries chart for quick and easy product comparison.

Kenda Tires – New line of inner tubes designed for motorcycle and ATV tires, as well as trailer tire applications.

Twin Power Shocker Batteries – New line of batteries developed explicitly for V-Twins.

Duro Tire – Redesigned line of performance street, off-road and ATV tires.

Printed versions of the 2020 Tucker Tires ● Shop ● Service catalog are shipping to Tucker dealers now, but if you want the holeshot on tires and shop equipment, check out the digital flipbook at: http://bit.ly/2020-Tucker-Tires-Shop-Service

“After a great 2018 with most of the venues sold out or nearly sold out, I am excited about the potential growth Tod and I can bring to the sport,” added Peronnard, the creator of the original EnduroCross event in 2004. “The interest in extreme racing events is growing both in the US and abroad and the indoor format of EnduroX makes it more accessible to fans so we believe there is room for growth.”

The Pro (Super EnduroX) class will use a three-moto format similar to the FIM SuperEnduro championship with a double row start and 16 riders. The first moto will be lined up based on afternoon hot-lap results. The riders will be inverted from the race one results for the second of the three motos. The final moto will be lined up based on the race two results so the top riders will race three times per event and at least one of those races will require a second-row starting position. Olympic style scoring will combine the results for all three motos to determine the overall event results.

The EnduroX events will also include support classes for Women, Vet 35+, Expert (feeder class to pro) and an Intermediate / Amateur class that will be split into two main events for the night show. Each event will also include a dedicated class for the local club as this proved to be extremely popular in 2018.

So there will be classes for everyone and a full night of exciting racing for fans.

The three races previously announced as tentative have now been confirmed for 2019: August 24th, 2019 | Prescott Valley, Arizona | Findlay Toyota Center October 19th, 2019 | Denver, Colorado | National Western Center October 26th, 2019 | Boise, Idaho | Ford Idaho Center For updates click: www.endurox.info

JUNE 2019

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Brought To You By MotorcycleIndustryJobs.com

Snowbird? Already the dealer principal for three Bar & Shield Award-winning dealerships in Alaska, Dia Matteson has purchased the four stores in Arizona that make up the Grand Canyon Harley-Davidson family of dealerships from Kyle Rose. Dia originally purchased the 3 dealerships in Alaska back in 2012 and was the youngest female sole owner of a HarleyDavidson Franchised Dealership at 25.

She found the opportunity to purchase the dealerships in Arizona and closed on the purchase on 6/17/2019. “I am excited to bring a fresh set of eyes to the dealerships and focus on reinvigorating the community of riders in the area as well as proved an exciting place to visit for events and good old school motorcycle culture and community,” says Matteson. “I am confident these locations have a lot of potential and my team is the right ones to build a new brand here.” For the record, the extended family now includes: House of Harley-Davidson: Denali HarleyDavidson and Kenai Peninsula Harley-Davidson in Alaska and Grand Canyon Harley-Davidson; Grand Canyon Harley-Davidson Shop; Sedona Harley-Davidson and Whisky Row Harley-Davidson in northern Arizona.

Couple of Kuryakyn crew additions as ex-execs from Harley-Davidson and Buell join the aftermarket side of things. Tony Stefanelli is now

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Kuryakyn’s VP of Product Development & Engineering and Lars LaVine has joined the company as VP of Global Sourcing & Supply Chain Operations.

Stefanelli’s career actually started with the space shuttle, fighter jets and stealth bombers before evolving to leadership roles in engineering at both Buell Motorcycle Company (a subsidiary of Harley-Davidson at the time) and EBR (Erik Buell Racing).

His responsibilities at Buell had him leading the development of singles, street fighters, café racers and ADV (the Ulysses). In his role at EBR, he was responsible for the development of the EBR 1190RS Superbike and also a hybrid scooter for Hero Motors.

Stefanelli is an accomplished openwheel race driver and at one time was designated for a spot in the Indy Car CART Series.

West Point graduate and 11-year U.S. Army veteran Lars LaVine spent 16 years at Harley-Davidson and Buell Motorcycle in sourcing, purchasing and manufacturing operations roles. These positions leveraged his acumen for developing high-level global sources for all types of motorcycle components and systems. LaVine developed partnerships with leading suppliers to deliver new technology to Buell motorcycles, such as ZTL (Zero Torsional Load) brakes and the industry’s first motorcycle to use the frame as a fuel cell (Firebolt XB9R). LaVine is a selfprofessed “motorsports nut,” who’s real passion started with roadracing.

At this point he is into everything with wheels, a track, or a propeller.

“Kuryakyn’s continued success will be based on innovation, quality and connection with our customers,” said Greg Heichelbech, president of the Motorsports Aftermarket Group (MAG) Accessories Group. “All three of us have worked side-by-side with some of this industry’s icons and we are ready to make our mark at Kuryakyn. Tony and Lars are leading teams that will create and manufacture the newest, coolest and most exciting products in powersports.”

Western Power Sports continues to FLY right along! Event Logistics wrangler Nathan Titus has added snow bike manager to his business cards. “Nathan has been a crucial part of WPS for many years and has now transitioned into a new role for 2019 as Events Logistics/Snow Bike Manager,” says VP Terry Baisley. Titus traveled with the FLY Racing Supercross rigs across the country this spring, ensuring that FLY Racing assets are at the right place and time for events with truck drivers and location managers.

He has also been heading up a new snow bike conversion kit research and development for WPS in addition to working on all new performance snow apparel and accessories.

Closer to home, WPS has added HR Generalist Darnell Martin to the team. Martin is the newest addition to the Human Resources team at WPS. After an early career stint at Coca-Cola, Darnell decided to leave the corporate world for a career in law enforcement in Houston, Texas for six years. His career took him to Los Angeles where he became involved in Human Resources using what he learned from dealing with a wide variety of individuals through the judicial system. WPS is excited to have Darnell as part of the team and his wealth of knowledge he provides.

Continued on page 18

Brought To You By MotorcycleIndustryJobs.com Continued from page 16

Brandan Smith is now taking to to the streets as the FLY Racing-Street Division and Highway 21 Brand Manager With a background in Dealer Relations and Inside Sales for a distributor of aftermarket parts in the diesel truck market, Brandan has a firm understanding of product flow and processes. Born and raised in northern Nevada, Brandan grew up racing motocross as a kid before settling in Boise. Now, Brandan will bring his knowledge to help develop and sell FLY Racing Street division and Highway 21 products to consumers and dealers across the country. In his free time, he enjoys wakesurfing and snowboarding.

Dalton Braun was originally hired back in 2017 to help Max Steffens with the WPS FLY Racing Team. He has been so successful with dealing with athletes due to his attitude and work ethic, he has been promoted to Pro Athlete Manager. With an intensive travel schedule, Dalton puts in the miles and hours necessary to make sure that FLY Racing athletes are taken care of when riding Outdoor Nationals, Supercross and GNCC events. In his spare timeDalton enjoys being a new father and when he has some extra time, snowboarding and dirtbike riding.

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Nash Powersports has added to their Nashty Customs Accessories team as Jason Watson steps in as manager at the Mesa, Arizona, operation. “I have been riding since I was four years old and have been in the powersports industry since 1998,” says Watson. “I first got my start in the parts department and enjoyed helping customers and being on the parts counter. Went to MMI to become a certified technician and had a blast wrenching on bikes for several years.

Spent five years as a traveling amateur race mechanic. I then realized I wanted to help customers on the front line and came back to the parts counter to help customers properly purchase parts and accessories. I look forward to serving all the new and old customers of The Nashty Nation!

Former ONE Industries CEO Jeff McGuane is now CEO for Fox Racing.

Paul Harrington, who has served as Fox CEO since 2015, will move to the Board of Directors and assist with the transition. Most recently with Specialized Bicycles as the US GM and leader of global markets the past three years, he was president and CEO of ONE Industries from 2013 to 2015. Additionally, as a Director of the Board of Transamerican Auto Parts, McGuane worked to successfully

transition the company from private equity ownership to Polaris Industries in 2016, according to Fox. “The Board and I are thrilled to have Jeff join the Fox team as CEO,” claims Harrington. “During the search process it was clear he is a proven leader with an impressive track record of creating innovative products and successful goto-market strategies around the world.”

McGuane adds, “I am really excited to join the Fox Racing team. I have always admired the Fox brand and all its commitment since 1974 to design and create innovative products that inspire riders around the world. I look forward to building on this vision and legacy of global leadership in technical gear and apparel.”

“There are many things being done to promote motorcycle safety, but we believe there is a lot more that can be done,” says our old pal Rogue. “We invite state motor vehicle agencies to partner with us so we can let them know what we expect from them.

We are currently working on having meetings with individuals in some of these agencies.” One of the original motorcycle rights advocates, ABATE founder and photojournalist, Rogue is now president of Biker Lives Matter.

“It Is free and people do not need a motorcycle to join — they just need to want to reduce injury and death to those who we share the road with bikers. Get more details at: https://bikerlivesmatter.com

DN 2.0 #8

DEALER PROFILE+ Then & Now

SUZUKI STEPS UP!+ OEMs In For AIMExpo

INDUSTRY RESEARCH+ eBike Evolution

HONDA HAS A TALON TANDEM+ Sport UTV Offerings Doubled Up

COLEMAN POWERSPORTS That Was Then… This is Now!

By Alisa Clickenger

W

e have all heard the saying, “the more things change, the more things for being the same.”

Nowhere is that more apparent than with Coleman PowerSports in Falls Church, Virginia. Featured on the cover this very magazine back in April 1992, Kim Coleman Harrison was ahead of her time. Pictured with her BMW R100GS Paris-Dakar motorcycle in front of the Washington Monument, she was on the leading edged of the ADV market and already leading the charge for the growth of the women’s market three decades ahead of many in the industry. Just 28 years old at the time, Harrison was also in transition to take over the dealership her father founded in 1963.

THEN Fifty-six years in business, the dealership was started

by Harrison’s father, Dillard Coleman under the original Cycle Imports name. The dealership began selling just BSA, but picked up Triumph shortly thereafter. Along the way, BMW was added, and subsequently dropped, and in an ever-expanding cycle of success Honda, Yamaha,

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Kawasaki, Suzuki, Ducati, Polaris, Victory, Slingshot, Can-Am, Sea-Doo, Kymco and most recently Vanderhall were all added. Multiple brands came and went through the years, so it is fair to say Kim has seen it all as she literally grew up in the shop. The dealership developed and grew, and moved a couple of times until 1986 when it permanently settled in its current 44,000 square foot Falls Church location.

In 1996 Mr. Coleman added the Woodbridge, Virginia, location, where he built a state-of-the-art facility from the ground up. Dillard retired in 1999 and the two dealerships were sold to POWERride Motorsports, Inc., which also owns two dealerships in Michigan and Louisiana. With the sale the business name was changed to Coleman PowerSports, and Harrison has continued on as General Manager, growing it into a 33+ million dollar business.

With her finger on the pulse of the marketplace, keen eye for innovative marketing ideas, and her laser-focus on being the best dealership in a highly competitive part of the country, she now runs — and continues to grow — both Virginia locations.

NOW Walking around the 2+ acre Falls Church facility, it is apparent that even with the more than 80,000 square feet at both locations, they are still bursting at the seams. Sea-Doos are stacked up outside the locked storage area, customers circle the lot two times to find an open parking space, and at the same time a tractor trailer halts all traffic on the busy street out front and backs into the driveway to deliver yet more goodies for sale. The only traffic that sails smoothly in are the folks arriving for service — customers roll right up to the service entrance where an automatic door opens for them and they ride directly in to the climate-controlled service bay.

Grand opening to public announcement took them a little over two months… once again proving Harrison is definitely a woman who gets things done!

“PowerRide University fits in with what we’ve been doing over the past forty years supporting riders,” said Harrison. “All our brands are represented in the student bikes, and we offer a variety of seat heights to accommodate all riders. I believe that for students to have a good experience in the class the bike has to fit well.” PowerRide University also has the ability to jump start a person’s riding with one on one training. They can help folks with changing gears, improving their balance and getting over their fears.

Continued on page 22

Even though the Coleman PowerSports parking lot can get quite full on weekdays, it gets cleared out each weekend for a great variety of marketing events throughout the year. This is where some of Harrison’s brilliance shines through: in riding season the dealership hosts an event virtually every weekend. Ten to 12 times a year they offer a new rider workshop, which is usually followed by a manufacturer demo day. Harrison has found that combining these events gives the dealership maximum impact.

One activity that’s supported the dealership over the years is their live auction. It started as a way to dispose of vehicles with mechanic’s liens and has evolved into a highly anticipated annual event. Coleman PowerSports now auctions off their scratch and dent bikes and allow customers to enter units as well. “It’s a great way for our customers to put their bikes up for sale. The low $25 entry fee enables them to enter their bike in the auction.

There’s a commission cap of $700, so for higher value vehicles it can save them $2,000 over putting a vehicle up for sale on the showroom floor,” she explains.

Coleman PowerSports has a number of other initiatives to attract new riders; among them their own riding school. Run as a separate business from the dealership, PowerRide University is another division of PowerRide Motorsports, and is under Harrison’s leadership as well.

Offering two- and three-wheeled motorcycle education, they teach introductory classes, basic and advanced classes for riders 16 years of age old and older.

Approved by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation as well as the Virginia Rider Education Program, they can issue students their Virginia motorcycle endorsements after they successfully complete the class. The school uses many of the small, lightweight bikes from Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki, all of which are conveniently for sale at the dealership.

PowerRide University currently has two closed circuit ranges in Virginia and will be expanding into other areas in the coming months. Adopting the two-day training model for the basic rider courses, each of their ranges can train up to 24 students per weekend. Harrison estimates they will train over 2,000 students this first year. In addition to motorcycle courses they’ll also be offering First Aid, CPR, CED and Defensive Driving classes in their Woodbridge training center. This is an incredible accomplishment given that it was only in January of this year when they decided to open the training school.

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Continued from page 21

NOW & THEN In addition to now reaching deep into the new rider market, Coleman PowerSports has a long history of supporting and enhancing the customer experience for existing riders. Downstairs next to the service waiting area they have a training room that’s used for staff meetings, employee training, dealership seminars and also offered to local motorcycle clubs for their meetings.

Does it sound like business on a lot of fronts? Heck yeah.

Is it working for them? Absolutely. Sure, Harrison ends up at the dealership late at night as it’s more than a full time job for her, but it’s her attention to granular details while simultaneously keeping her eye on the bigger picture that has kept the duo of Virginia dealerships under her purview in the lead for so long. Harrison credits her 20 Group for her ability to continually expand and evolve.

She’s been in a 20 Group since she was 23 years old, which is one of the things that has not changed in the years since our first article.

One of the biggest ‘then and now’ changes is that formerly the dealership was using a proprietary computer system built by Dillard Coleman himself, who was an early adopter of IBM computers. Harrison has followed in her father’s technology-friendly footsteps and embraces it on myriad levels. They converted to LightSpeed in the late 1980s and currently use all of the software’s features including CRM, texting and website inventory posting. Now instead of waiting for numbers monthly, instead they track their numbers daily. The numbers are compared to prior year as well as projected to budget.

“Instead of reacting to the business with numbers a month behind, we are now looking at the numbers on a daily basis and can try and make adjustments right away,” said Harrison.

Despite the business being started in the pre-Internet age, Harrison decided to focus on e-mail as the preferred way of communication with their customers early on. “We phased out direct mail and now 100% of our marketing communication with our customers is through e-mail. That strategy paid off and we now have more than 50,000 e-mail addresses,” said Harrison.

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“We usually do two e-mail blasts per week, but that can go up to almost once a day when we have an exciting event coming up.”

NEXT While Coleman PowerSports still struggles with some of the same problems they did in 1992 such as low margins, difficulty in finding dedicated employees and theirs being a seasonal business, Harrison has ameliorated those difficulties with insightful choices of product lines.

These days they’re doing a booming business with threewheeled vehicles. Their Vanderhall models are selling like hotcakes, as are the Can-Ams, especially since the introduction of the Ryker. The autocycle market is incredibly robust for them, with the natural feed-in from their two- and three-wheeled training school.

Continued on page 24

JUNE 2019

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Continued from page 23

Active in her state association and on the Motorcycle Industry Council Dealer Advisory Council, Harrison still finds the time to advocate for the industry on all of our behalf. “I actively participate in the fly-ins into Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers. This is something that, in my opinion, dealers don’t put enough importance on. As dealers it’s almost our obligation to protect the powersports industry. If we don’t have an industry, then we’re not going to have a business.”

Some things have remained the same at Coleman PowerSports, yet a great many things have changed. As the saying goes, if you want something done, ask a busy woman. That is certainly true of Kim Coleman Harrison.

Coleman PowerSports Falls Church 435 South Washington St. Falls Church, VA 22046 (703) 237-3400

Woodbridge 14105 Telegraph Rd. Woodbridge, VA 22192 (703) 497-1500 https://www.wherethepoweris.com/ 24

Beyond being able to buy from you online and through digital channels, shoppers are looking for a seamless and consistent experience across every channel and device. Therefore, the price they find on your website should be the same as the one they find in your store.

The information they view on your YouTube channel should be the same information they find on your website. And most important, their shopping process must be seamless and consistent across all channels.

That is what is called an “omnichannel experience” — and that is what you want to achieve.

Dealernews Research

By Dr. Paul Leinberger

TOMORROW NEVER DIES Omnichannel: The Key to Your Future

R

emember when James Bond took on media mogul Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies back in 1997?

Carver was using his omnipresent media reach to control the news, not just report it. Your mission as a retailer is to master the omnichannel marketplace.

Last month I talked about the importance of having a digital strategy and I said that “having a digital strategy means more than selling online; it means developing a detailed understanding of how consumers want to connect with you – online and in-store, across devices, and through a variety of channels.”

This month, I want to take the importance of having a digital strategy one giant step further – because even an excellent digital strategy is not enough… in fact, The World Is Not Enough (to purloin another 007 reference).

Oh, great, I can hear you saying. Isn’t developing a strong digital strategy enough? That’s going to take time, money and the patience of a saint (two of which are probably in short supply).

You know, already, that just like you, your customers are using multiple channels to shop – and that’s why you are building a strong digital strategy. In fact, the newest research reports that 73% of all shoppers are using multiple physical and digital channels before making a purchase (20% in-store only, 7% online only) Forbes, February 2019.

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Note: Omnichannel marketing is not the same as multichannel marketing. Until recently, developing a strong digital marketing strategy meant having a digital presence across multiple channels – hence “multichannel.” You developed a website, a blog, a Twitter feed, a YouTube channel, a Facebook presence and Instagram stories. It didn’t matter so much that what you were doing on Facebook was different from what you were doing on Instagram. Your goal was simply to be everywhere your customers might be and a multichannel strategy achieved that goal.

However, a multi-channel marketing strategy puts the emphasis in the wrong place. Instead of focusing on the customer experience, it focuses on what you are selling. What customers want, however, is a seamless shopping experience with consistent messaging across all channels.

73%

of all shoppers are using multiple physical and digital channels before making a purchase.

20% 7% in-store only

online only

Forbes, February 2019

An omnichannel experience delivers an integrated experience from the customer’s point-of-view. It aligns your messaging, objectives and design across all channels and devices – in service to the customer. For example, let’s say you are looking for a new helmet.

While watching TV but mostly bored, you check your phone for messages and come across a Facebook post from a friend who just bought a new helmet and uploaded a picture of himself in the new helmet. You notice there is a link to a store’s website attached to the photo, so you click on the link. However, your phone rings and you don’t go back to the website.

are looking for, you buy it. After a few days, the store makes a follow-up call to make sure it’s exactly what you wanted.

Later, you pull up the store’s website on your tablet.

Recognizing you, the helmet shows up as a recently viewed item. The information also tells you that the helmet is in stock and the store is just ten minutes away – map included.

That, my friends, is the omnichannel experience: seamless, convenient and customer-centered. It is embedded throughout the “customer life cycle” and it is designed with the customer in mind.

When you finally stop by the store and as soon as you walk in, your phone links to the store’s Wi-Fi network and the salesperson gets an alert that you’ve been viewing a helmet. The salesperson shows you the helmet and points out its features. You take out your phone and check prices at other stores and websites, read customer reviews and scan the QR code for additional information. Satisfied that you are getting a good price and convinced that the helmet is what you

You like it, but a few days later you realize you have a few questions. As soon as you go to the live chat feature on the store’s website, the rep knows exactly what you purchased and is ready to answer your questions. A few months on, the store and the helmet company both check on your experience (via your favorite social network), and still later, the store invites you to join their in-store helmet advisory panel.

What’s the pay-off? “A truly omnichannel operation that spans the customer life cycle will optimize revenue, deliver capital efficiencies like cost savings, spawn operational efficiencies and improve the customer experience overall” (Forrester Research, April 29, 2019). That is why a Bond villain’s modus operandi is important to you.

Simply put, tomorrow never dies and omnichannel commerce is the key to your future.

A perennial keynote speaker for the Motorcycle Industry Council's annual Communications Symposium, Dr. Paul Leinberger has become the powersports industry's de facto futurist/strategist. Dr. Leinberger is an expert in market/ brand strategy and research with more than two decades of social trend forecasting, market strategy and strategic planning. Prior to joining TTD, he was Senior VP of GfK NOP, where he ran the company’s flagship consumer trend services, Roper Reports, as well as the company’s groundbreaking Global Visual Database. His client list reads like a Who’s Who of corporate America: Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Disney, Nordstrom, Microsoft, Levi Strauss, E.& J. Gallo Winery and Toyota, among many others. Prior to his global responsibilities at GfK NOP, Dr. Leinberger was the Corporate Manager in the Product Planning and Market Strategy department at Nissan North America. Dr. Leinberger holds a Ph.D. in organizational and social psychology and a Masters of Urban Planning (Highest Honors). He lives in Irvine, California, and his work can be seen at www.dennyleinbergerstrategy.com

JUNE 2019

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Dealernews Research

By Lenny Sims

BY THE BOOK

NADAguides Market Insights Power The Market Values

L

ast month we took a deep dive into powersports market value vs. traffic. Values were holding their own in the key Side-by-Side categories, but sportbike values were up ahead of the numbers posted for the past three years. This month we focus on activity of consumers, dealers and F&I institutions and the by-brand motorcycle breakdowns based on NADA data from April 2018 through March 2019.

No real surprise that Harley-Davidson continues to dominate the look-up traffic in both the Cruiser and Touring categories‌ but it is eye-opening to see by just how much Harley is ahead of all brands combined in these categories!

Although the most recent data indicates cruisers continue to lag behind 2015 and 2016, they are now running slightly ahead of 2018, with further positive directional movement expected.

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With employment increasing and wage growth at the end of 2018, Sportbikes have seen something of a surge, with Kawasaki winning Q1 look-ups. As a whole, Sportbikes are bringing 6.2% more money than this time last year. Those values are expected to appreciate going into the summer.

The tightest race is in the off-road sector as KTM, Yamaha and Honda are all battling for the lead. Potential tariffs with EU motorcycle manufacturers should impact big bore bikes more than minis, but the balance of power could shift from KTM to the Japanese Big Four. But with unemployment figures at record lows, dirtbike values should continue to hold their own.

About NADAguides.com NADAguides.com, the largest publisher of the most market-reflective vehicle pricing and information available for new and used cars, classic cars, motorcycles, boats, RVs and manufactured homes, offers in-depth shopping and research tools including a broad range of data, products and service and informational articles as well as tips and advice. NADAguides. com also produces electronic products, mobile applications, raw data, web services, web-syndicated products and print guidebooks. NADAguides.com is operated by National Appraisal Guides, Inc., a division of J.D. Power.

J.D. Power/NADA Guides, Inc. 3200 Park Center Drive, 13th Floor Costa Mesa, CA 92626 (800) 966-6232 Fax (714) 556-8715 www.nadaguides.com/Motorcycles JUNE 2019

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North America’s Most Important Powersports Tradeshow and Industry Gathering •

See new products from 500+ OEM's, distributors, aftermarket manufacturers and service providers

•

Powerful dealer education designed to make your business more profitable

•

New floorplan, lifestyle features and schedule make it easier to access the products, tools and education that are most important to the growth of your business

Register NOW

Free Dealer Registration Now Open at AIMExpoUSA.com

+

SHOWTIME

SUZUKI STEPS UP!

OEMS Expand AIMExpo Presence PAGE 32

ROCK ON DOWN TO ELECTRIC AVENUE

Cycle Volta eBike Pavilion PAGE 32

WHY COLUMBUS REASON #10 Game Time!

PAGE 33

SUZUKI STEPS UP!

OEMS Expand AIMExpo Presence

A

half a dozen OEMs have already announced their plans for AMEXpo with Suzuki being the latest OEM to answer the call from American International Motorcycle Expo (AIMExpo) and the Motorcycle Industry Council. The industry is coming together in 2019 through the Together We Rise rallying cry which reflects the urgent need that is resounding throughout powersports as we collectively look to overcome obstacles and seize the opportunities the changing market has presented.

“Together We Rise is a powerful theme for this year’s AIMExpo,” says Suzuki VP, Motorcycle /ATV Sales & Marketing Kerry Graeber. “Coming together as the Powersports Industry to recognize, adapt, and take action in today’s challenging business environment is crucial to our future. It’s time to reinforce that unity, commitment and passion with our fellow business partners, media and customers.”

Graeber gets it! In addition to calling the shots at Suzuki, he is an AIMExpo alumni, having served as the Marketing Director for the event during its formative years circa 2012. “AIMExpo is about re-energizing the entire powersports marketplace… this is important to our industry.”

By being open to both the trade and consumers, the show enables OEMs to present new products, campaigns and connect with customers and dealers in an engaging and meaningful environment. It’s also the best opportunity for dealers to meet their current aftermarket vendors, collaborate and find inspiration from colleagues, find new opportunities, and attend education/business development seminars designed to maximize profit and stay ahead of new consumer buying trends and habits.

“We want to give special recognition to the OEMs who have heard our call and are supporting the industry by committing to this year’s AIMExpo presented by Nationwide,” adds Cinnamon Kernes, VP & General Manager, MIC Events. “They have fully embraced the concept of Together We Rise and we encourage others to join us so that we can all create a stronger Powersports Industry through unity.”

AIMExpo presented by Nationwide – the only trade and consumer show for the North American Powersports Industry – takes place at the Greater Columbus Convention Center on September 26-29. For FREE AIMExpo Dealer Registration, visit the registration portal: https://www.xpressreg.net/register/aime1019/attendee/ lookup.asp?src=DL&sc=&hkey=&iq=&tm= For AIMExpo Housing, click here: https://compass.onpeak.com/e/012604984/0#hotels

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ROCK ON DOWN TO ELECTRIC AVENUE

Cycle Volta eBike Pavilion To Power AIMExpo’s Electric Arena

B

onnier Motorcycle Group and the Motorcycle Industry Council are thrilled to announce the formation of the “Cycle Volta e-bike Pavilion.” Part of a joint partnership showcasing the capabilities of electric mobility on display at the 2019 AIMExpo. The back half of the show hall will be dominated by two large ePavilions.

“With the evolution of electric-powered bicycles and more powersports manufacturers entering the e-bike arena, more retailers are looking to add e-bikes to their showrooms and engage new audiences,” said Andre Albert, Director, Sales and Marketing, MIC Events. “These products create an opportunity to introduce new riders to powersports and are creating a positive impact on the greater powersports industry. It makes sense that our show evolves to showcase this new and growing segment of the market.”

Fueled by Bonnier Motorcycle Group’s recently established Cycle Volta media brand, the Cycle Volta e-bike Pavilions will include a dedicated area of the convention center floor focused on all-things electric, including electric-assist bicycles and motorcycles. Cycle Volta is an exciting digital, video and social media brand constructed to cover the freedom and fun of the e-bike, micromobility and electric motorcycle landscape.

Vendor booths, compelling test rides, and educational “Ted Talk” discussions honing in on the parallels, connections, and benefits of transforming e-bike riders to new motorcycle enthusiasts will envelope the Cycle Volta e-bike Pavilion footprint. Additionally, Bonnier Motorcycle Group and AIMExpo will host an industry and consumer e-bike race in the dirt on Friday, September 27. Media and industry dignitaries are encouraged to attend this exciting, after hours event.

Bonnier Motorcycle Group and Cycle Volta will present the Cycle Volta e-bike Pavilion at the Greater Columbus Convention Center on September 26-29 in conjunction with AIMExpo’s three newly-minted neighborhoods (The Shop, The Alley, and The Camp) which showcase the culture, lifestyle and experiences that affect user’s buying decisions through major market segments.

Dealers: There is no “ColumbUS” without U or US! YOU are key to the future success of our industry. Click the button below and register to attend North America’s most important Powersports Tradeshow:

TOP FIVE REASONS To Attend AIMExpo

L

etterman’s old late night Top 10 schtick notwithstanding, here is a list of the Top 5 reasons why dealers should be heading to Columbus in September.

1: New Products & Show Specials Everything you need to stay ahead of the curve! Hundreds of brand-new models and products will be unveiled at AIMExpo presented by Nationwide - be the first to see and experience them. SAVE with exclusive SHOW SPECIALS only available to dealers attending AIMExpo presented by Nationwide!

2: Meet With Distributors & OEMs Getting face-to-face time with major distributors and OEM’s in an engaging environment is priceless. Be a part of North America’s most important powersports tradeshow where industry leaders, progressive dealers and nearly 500 OEM’s, Distributors, Aftermarket Manufacturers and Service Providers come together.

3: Powersports DEALER Seminars Presented By PowerSports Business Powerful education designed to help your business evolve, grow and become more profitable. Content will be more relevant to today’s business trends, tomorrow’s buyers and their buying habits.

Can you afford NOT to come? The FREE two-day program features 3 unique tracks, and Dealer-to-Dealer Roundtable discussions.

4: See & Be Seen Together We Rise – “A united industry is an industry that is best positioned to move forward together. Getting together in one place at one time provides the best opportunity to unite” The MIC Board of Directors invites and encourages all dealers to attend AIMExpo. With a powerful message and goal of uniting an Industry, AIMExpo is the place where you will find inspiration, thought-provoking ideas and see what’s on the horizon that will help your business succeed. With more than 500 exhibitors, Powersports Dealer Seminars presented by PowerSports Business and an epic Industry Celebration on Thursday night, there’s no better opportunity to network and grow your business than North America’s largest powersports tradeshow. Connect face-to-face. Strengthen partnerships.

Build new relationships.

5: Columbus is THE HEART of Powersports We’re here for the long term. With its vibrant city life steps from the show floor, connected hotels, hundreds of bars and restaurants, and multiple entertainment districts, Columbus sits within 500 miles of 41% of powersports dealerships and more than 50% of the US population. With more engaging educational and industry content than ever before, more after-hours networking and a new floorplan that will change the way you experience the show, Columbus and AIMExpo presented by Nationwide is where you need to be.

WHY COLUMBUS REASON #10 Game Time!

S

peaking of David Letterman’s popular Top 10 Lists, there are actually 52 reasons to visit Columbus. Seems that America’s 14th most-populous city is hopping every week of the year, according to The New York Times travel writer Sebastian Modak. Certainly reason enough for Modak to add Columbus to his tour of top destinations in the newspaper’s “52 Places to Go in 2019.”

So why did NYT choose one of the fastest growing large cities in the U.S. over urban centers in Switzerland, Spain and Chile?

According to his New York Times article “Columbus’ booming city center and revitalized riverfront is why it’s becoming the nation’s fastest growing cities.” While the riverfront is certainly noteworthy, reason #10 on the top 52 list is sports related. #10. Columbus Has No Off-Season!

The city is home to three professional teams — NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, Triple-A baseball’s Columbus Clippers and MLS’ Columbus Crew SC. Additionally, you can find The Ohio State Buckeyes playing nearby or venture to more than 100 of Columbus’ public and private golf courses for a quick round.

But as our dealer owner Bob Althoff notes, September is peak season for riding around Ohio. “The weather is perfect, the roads are spectacular side trips to the AMA Hall of Fame or the National Veterans Memorial & Museum are well worth the trip! Ride to AIMExpo and take the long way home!”

Adding to the non-stop sports action, AIMExpo is bring racing to town! First Friday will play host to an eDirt Bike race powered Bonnier’s new Cycle Volta initiative. On Saturday, Hooligan-style racing invades the show hall. Now with motorcycle riding and racing being added to the docket, Columbus definitely doesn’t have an off-season.

For the full schedule of seasonal events, check out the https://www.experiencecolumbus.com/events/sports/

JUNE 2019

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POWER YOUR

YEARS OF

PASSION

With 500 cold-cranking amps for reliable start-ups in any condition and 32 Ah reserve capacity to power all your accessories, the GYZ series by Yuasa sets the standard by which all powersports batteries are judged.

yuasabattery.com

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ARC SPARKS UP GOODWOOD

£90,000 Neo-Café Racer’s Dynamic Debut Page 37

eRESEARCH

By The Numbers Page 40

POLITICS, RELIGION & ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLES Forget Saving The Planet...

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ARC VECTOR MAKES GLOBAL DEBUT AT GOODWOOD Ironically English-made Arc’s £90,000 zero-emission café racer dynamic debut was July 4th. There have been a number of static displays, but Vector will spin its wheels in anger for the first time in public at the Goodwood Festival of Speed July 4-7.

“Goodwood is the ideal place for us to show the Vector to the people for the first time in anger,” says Arc founder and CEO Mark Truman, who will handle the riding duties. “The unique allelectric neo café racer sports all sorts of kit never before seen!

It is the most amazing thing both to ride and behold.”

Designed and built in Britain, the Arc Vector is said to be the world’s most advanced electric motorcycle. Nothing short of revolutionary, it features an ingenious battery-module carbon monocoque frame. The riding gear is equally advanced. “A connected Heads-Up display helmet and bespoke jacket with haptic motors that makes the riding experience safer and more exhilarating,” he adds.

“Goodwood is a great venue for demonstrating the thrust of Vector’s 399-volt electric motor – which provides a power-toweight ratio of 650bhp per tonne ,” notes Truman. “Goodwood House’s 1.16-mile course will highlight the Vector’s handling and maneuverability; its unique steeply-raked hub-centre steering enables fast changes of direction and stability at high-speed.”

It doesn’t hurt that more than 150,000 rabid motorsports fans and global TV crews will be on hand.

“Goodwood is perfect because it’s a champion of new technology and a best of British event of which we very much hope to be at the forefront. It feels really great to get the chance to ride something so new and advanced on such a prestigious piece of tarmac,” concludes Truman. “It gives us the opportunity to show enthusiasts what the bike is about, let them experience this sensory world on our stand, and help them understand the philosophy and ambition behind what we believe is a truly game-changing electric motorcycle.”

If you couldn’t pop over to England on Independence Day, give them a follow on Instagram or Twitter: @ArcVehicle #Arc #Vector #ADifferentRoad

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EBMW CONCEPT IS A SHOCKER!

BMW says their Vision DC Roadster embodies zero-emission riding joy on two wheels with 100% BMW Motorrad DNA. “The Vision Bike shows how we’re able to retain the identity and iconic appearance of BMW Motorrad in distinctive form, while at the same time presenting an exciting new type of riding pleasure,” explains BMW Motorrad Head of Design Edgar Heinrich. “It is a highly emotional naked bike with electric drive.”

BMW believes “It is the electrical awakening of the boxer engine.” Including the look of its Boxer engine by “hiding” the vertically mounted battery above the motor and incorporating cooling ribs and integrated ventilators as the trademark “cylinder heads” to make sure the bike isn’t at risk of overheating.

See all the details at their video world premiere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1NrgBEeUmc

TACTICAL MOVE INTO USA BY TACITA

Tacita is ready to rally the U.S. market, literally. They have a proven track record with their eRally bikes in Europe and now the Italian motorcycle manufacturer of off-road and street electric motorcycles has announced they will be establishing a U.S. HQ to launch their sales and service operation for North and South America.

HUSKY CHARGES INTO ESPACE

Husqvarna Motorcycles launched its much anticipated EE 5 electric mini July 1 — in Europe anyway. U.S. dealers will miss the fireworks for now, but should see a spark in business when EE 5 arrives in Autumn. Billed as a “fully adaptable, five-kilowatt competition machine,” the EE 5 is intended to compete with any 50cc fuel-powered motorcycle.

The first-ever electric model from Husqvarna, the EE 5 offers youngsters an environmentally friendly way to learn, compete and have fun. “Easily adaptable, the ride height can be simply adjusted to keep pace with an improving or growing rider,” claims the company. “Delivering two hours of riding enjoyment for beginners and 25 minutes for serious racers, the supplied charger takes just 70 minutes to fully charge the lithium-ion battery.”

Top flight components include 35mm WP XACT forks with 205mm, a fully-adjustable WP rear shock, chromoly frame, hydraulic brakes and NEKEN handlebars.

EE 5 TECHNICAL HIGHLIGHTS • State-of-the-art electric motor with 5 kW peak performance • 6 different ride modes, easy to select • 907 Wh lithium-ion battery • Quick charging (just 70 minutes total charge time) • High-end chassis with race proven technology • Ergonomic bodywork and adjustable seat height • WP suspension – XACT air fork and rear shock

“With the launch of our latest product line, the TACITA T-Cruise, the U.S. market is extremely strategic for us,” says Pierpaolo Rigo, co-founder and President of TACITA. “It is one of the largest cruiser motorcycles market in the world and one of the most responding to electrical mobility today.” The Miami area makes sense since they plan to address the U.S. market immediately, and in the near future, the expansion to South America and the Caribbean.

“We are delighted to announce the opening of our first international headquarters in Miami, Florida,” adds Axel Heilenkotter, CEO of TACITA USA Corporation. “This new facility located in the middle of the financial district at Brickell. Our next steps include the opening of a sales and service facility in California as well.” Future TACITA customers will eventually have several locations to demo the 100% electric bikes.

“As electric mobility technology continues to evolve, TACITA is committed to expand —not only our worldwide presence but also our product offerings,” claims Rigo.

TACITA USA Corp.

601 Brickell Key Drive, Suite 700 MIAMI, FL 33131 Info@tacitausa.com +1 (786) 816 6716

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INDIAN UPRISING? KTM & BAJAJ PURSUING EPTW PRODUCTION

KTM Industries AG and Bajaj Auto Ltd. have initiated a serial production project for PTW (“Powered two wheeler”) electric vehicles. The proposed ePTW motorbikes will powered by 3 to 10 kW (48 volt) engines. This platform will support different product variants – scooters, mopeds, small mopeds, under both KTM and Bajajj branding. The eMarket in India and Europe has exceeded expectations (Europe was up more than 20% in the first quarter) accelerating the timetable. Production will begin at Bajaj’s plant in Pune, India by 2022. KTM and Bajaj have partnered since 2007, with Bajaj group having a 48% stake in the Indian operation.

ELECTRIC UTVS SET TO STUN COSTA RICA YAMAHA GOES GOGORO-STYLE

Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co., Ltd. is launching a new electric scooter this summer in partnership with Taiwan Gogoro Ltd. This is the first collaboration between the two companies on a green vehicle. Although relatively unknown in the U.S. we have seen Gogoro innovative battery swap technology for the past couple of years at the major trade fairs in Milan and Taipei.

Yamaha says the new EC-05 was developed and will be manufactured by Gogoro, but “styled by Yamaha Japan” based on a 2018 collaboration agreement. It will be sold exclusively in Taiwan through Yamaha’s distribution network starting in August but will have access to more than 1,000 “GoStations” across Taiwan to swap batteries.

Yamaha has had a presence in the Taiwanese market since 1996 and enjoys annual sales of 290,000 scooters. The tuning fork folks add they hope to provide more convenient motorbikes to consumers in Taiwan through this partnership with Gogoro.

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It is not an SUV, it is an FUV! Arcimoto is “the world’s first fun utility vehicle” according to the Eugene, Oregon, based Arcimoto, Inc. (NASDAQ: FUV). “We are devising new technologies and patterns of mobility that together raise the bar for environmental efficiency, footprint and affordability,” claims Arcimoto Founder and President Mark Frohnmayer.

The powertrain delivers 75 mph top speed with up to a 100-mile range, and currently in the Fun Utility Vehicle, Rapid Responder and “Deliverator” configurations. Arcimoto adds these are some of the lightest, most affordable and most appropriate electric vehicles suitable for everyday transport in the world.

“Based on these parameters, we have plans to deploy the first international fleet of FUVs to Costa Rica starting later this year in collaboration with Sol Mar Vida,” says Frohnmayer. “Over the span of three years, we intend to deploy 100 vehicles to be used as tourist rentals in Guanacaste Province. Users will be able to rent the FUV directly at beachside hotels from Tamarindo to Playa Hermosa, a stunning stretch of white-sand beaches and world-class surf breaks known as the Gold Coast of Costa Rica.”

For more information on the Costa Rica introduction and more technical details, click on www.arcimoto.com

had another one (not so pristine) that I bought for $35 bucks (Fig 2.). A summers’ worth of pumping gas at the corner Shell station earned me enough for a pile of new parts from the Sears warehouse in Detroit and I was mobile!

Well, sort of. Pedal it like a mad-man to get it started then shift into first then second and I could zip along almost as fast as I could go on my bike. The big difference was that my bike weighed around 25 lbs. while the Allstate was a not so svelte 115 lbs. Still, I wasn’t pedaling. On the few occasions when I’d run out of pre-mix and actually tried to pedal it, that usually spelled exhaustion after a few hundred feet followed by pushing it the rest of the way back.

Fast forward a couple of decades and I was selling Honda and Yamaha motorcycles part-time along with Puch and Motobecane mopeds in Lafayette Indiana. Other moped brands of the time included Garelli, Tomos, Peugeot, Sacks and Solex. Of course Honda and Yamaha had mopeds too, the PA50 Hobbit and LB50 Chappy respectively. Pedal mode on the Puch and Motobecane models, while challenging, was at least doable. Not so much with the Hobbit and especially the Chappy, largely due to their relative weights and low gearing (Puch & Motobecane ~85-90 lbs., Hobbit~120 lbs. and Chappy~160 lbs.). Of the two, the Hobbit was by far the most popular with a retail price point of less than half of the Chappy’s (Fig 3.).

Dealernews Research

By Don Musick

Hobbit Habit Redux

H

ave you ever tried to pedal a moped? I have. It’s not a pleasant experience. My first taste of moto-world in fact was on a Sears Allstate moped (Fig 1.). George Wiseman, one of the cool kids in 9th grade, buzzed around on his at school. I wanted one too! Turns out that George

Its popularity was also fueled by American Honda’s aggressive rebate programs of the time (you could pick one up for less than $300 new). As popular as it was (for non-drivers), the Hobbit’s run in the U.S. only lasted from 1978 to 1983. It was followed by the wildly successful Honda NQ50 Spree, which was pedal-less but still qualified as a moped in some states (as did other sub-50cc models).

Again, from Wikipedia:

The term moped has now been applied by some regional governments to vehicles without pedals such as motor scooters, based on criteria of restricted engine displacement, speed, and/or power output.

This is a misnomer, as they are no longer “mopeds” at all, and might instead be called a “noped” if they appear to look exactly like a typical moped, but no longer include pedals.

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Figure 1

Figure 2 Figure 3 You Say You Want a Revolution!

LiFePO4 and LiMn2O4 and LiNiMnCoO2 … Oh My! With increasingly higher charge densities and lighter weight, LithiumIon batteries have been slowly paving the way towards electrification in the powersports industry. While the first battery technology above (Lithium Iron Phosphate) is widely found in smartphones, watches, laptops and tablets, the other two (Lithium Manganese Oxide and Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) have found their way into powersports products from OEMs such as Zero, Harley-Davidson, Alta Motor, KTM, Vespa and others. However, the operative word here is slowly.

So let’s “back-pedal” a bit and take a look at another industry which has whole-heartedly embraced electrification: eBikes!

Once more from Wikipedia:

Sound familiar? It should! And what’s so revolutionary about this industry segment? Traditionally sold through independent bicycle dealers (IBDs) and chains, eBikes have become a rising star in the bicycle market. In contrast to an otherwise flat market for standard bicycles (Fig 4.), eBike retail has shown near exponential growth (Fig. 5).

Continued on page 42 Figure 4

JUNE 2019

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Continued from page 41

Figure 5 EBike retail estimates for 2018 size the market at ~ 535,000 (~ 3% of overall bicycle retail) and forecasts continuing growth. The increase in eBike demand is also reflected in inventory sell-in as reported by the Bicycle Products Suppliers Association (BPSA, Fig 6.). The eBike “revolution” is also readily apparent when comparing Google Trends keywords “eBike” vs. “Bicycle” as shown in Fig. 7. The geographic distribution (cumulative) of interest trends by metropolitan area is illustrated in Fig 8.

Figure 6

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Figure 7

Figure 8 In an open letter to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRIN) earlier this year, John Burke president of Trek Bicycles wrote: “America is just at the beginning of its E-Bike Revolution. In good retailers in the U.S., e-bikes now represent more than 10% of total sales. We could be looking at a business in the near future where JUNE 2019 43 e-bikes represent 30% or more of sales.�

#StrideOn THE ONE ABSOLUTE GUARANTEE FOR THE FUTURE OF MOTORCYCLING

By Robert Pandya

W

hile the debate over the future(s) of the motorcycle industry continues to percolate, there is no doubt in my mind that as an industry we are still not doing enough to seed future riders. Bikes will change.

Technology won’t stop. Perhaps there will be a rebound for things analogue. Just look at the delta between the Zero SRF and Janus Halcyon. Both are interesting — but ALL brands will suffer if there are fewer riders in the future.

New products won’t increase sales — more riders will!

However, there is one absolutely guaranteed solution to building a future for motorcycling — balance bikes for all kindergartners! The leader of the pack is Strider, where I was named the first ambassador for their All Kids Bike program.

I’m not writing this because of the appointment — I’m writing it to ask you in this industry to challenge me. The inclusion of balance bikes into EVERY kindergarten class in America is the guaranteed path to build the future of motorcycling.

Convince me there is something more compelling. I’ll bet you can’t.

It’s simple: once every kid can balance on 2 wheels, some will continue to ride bicycles into their young adulthood and some will become motorcyclists. In the US there are currently 28.5 million kids between ages 5 and 11. If the powersports and the equally challenged bicycle industry actually get behind the movement to teach every kid how to ride, even the current percentages of ridership guarantees powersports success in the future.

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If bikes are integrated in every elementary school gym program, within a decade the results would be wholly beneficial. Kids on bikes learn better, have fewer health and ADHD problems, learn how to move through the environment more efficiently — all without a screen in their faces. As a bonus, many parents will buy bicycles to keep up with their new riders. Families riding sure sounds familiar…

This is the catalyst opportunity we are looking for. This will produce a generation that understand riding the way we all understand stick and ball sports. This is the one solution.

I get it that OEMs need to focus on current unit sales — but without real attention to the future, we are all in big trouble.

I have heard it said many industry enthusiasts feel that the current OEM myopia is going to be our undoing. That some senior managers seem to be waiting for retirement, and others are too scared to rock the boat. So how about this challenge? Every OEM commit to getting their home town school systems fully equipped with balance bike training?

This is good PR, right outside your window with your own employees kids benefitting. Then watch your products start to move.

Riding brings clarity. We learn to ride better by not staring at our front fender as we go through a corner, but to look up the track to see where we want to go. It’s time to apply that same principal to the powersports business and work together to increase our potential customers. Hey - keep your head up and #StrideOn

Yo HONDA! There are 17 Elementary schools in Torrance.

An easy experiment is to fund the $70K needed to equip every school with an All Kids Bike program that is good for 5 years. You spend that much on a press introduction. You will see ridership grow faster than any equal spend on a marketing campaign or product discount.

When Arlen Ness passed away, Polaris Industries donated $12k towards funding 4 schools in Moorhead MN, Arlen’s home town. Bravo — within a few years, every kid in Moorhead will know how to ride and might even become the next big custom builder. U Motors is just down the street in Fargo, let’s see how their CRF 50 sales go in the next 5 years. I’m sure that the local Polaris dealer, Wheels, will see an uptick in interest for the Ranger 150 too.

Robert Pandya has been in the motorcycle industry for nearly 30 years in which time he worked with a multi-line dealership, and OEM’s including Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Buell, Victory and Indian. He’s been a spokesperson for the IMS tour, and contributed to several magazines with both photography and writing. In 2017 Pandya hosted a panel that put 25 industry and enthusiasts together to discuss the state of motorcycling. The free report is still available at www.MotoGiveAShift.com.

He is currently managing the “Discover The Ride” program for the International Motorcycle Shows, and the “Double Down Charity Program” for Strider Bikes that facilitates custom branding and donations to charities including the AllKidsBike.org initiative.

So here is something to chew on if that sounds impossible; In addition to the 28.5 million elementary school aged kids, there are 20 million kids younger than 5 in the US. And they can get on a Strider as young as 14 months. Just do the math. This is our future. Balance bikes are the one solution!

His riding interests include anything with 2 wheels and his collection of bikes ranges from a 1946 Indian Chief to dirtbikes, a Guzzi, a sidecar rig and a Zero FX. Swinging between inspired and infuriated by the motorcycle industry, he has made it a mission to increase ridership for the benefit of all brands in powersports.

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22 Strider 14x balance bikes, training and certification for the PE teacher, helmets, pedal conversion kits, approved curriculum and five years of technical support. Win-win!

The DDCP is designed to increase ridership at every level and to empower those who share in the vision of more kids on bikes; learning balance, gaining health benefits and ditching screens. “We are very excited about the DDCP and what it means for increasing youth ridership,” says Strider Bikes founder and Chief Enthusiast Ryan McFarland. “We wanted to create wins at every level, and this program empowers our fans, like-minded companies, and brands to use their influence to help create more mobile, happy and healthy kids across the US.” The Double Down Charity Program is directed by Robert Pandya, a 25-year motorcycle industry veteran known for working on new ridership initiatives, increasing female ridership and his general enthusiasm for motorcycling. “I could not be more excited to work with Strider and share the mission of All Kids Bike, as well as work with individuals and companies who see how positive and powerful it is for children to learn how to ride,” says Pandya.

Strider Double Down Charity Program Increasing Youth Ridership & Boosting Two Charities Via Balance Bikes

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ith more than 2 million sold worldwide, Strider Bikes is the leader in balance bikes for children, but that is just the starting line! This spring the South Dakota-based operation decided to double down by launching a new custom Strider program designed to further increase youth ridership and charitable donations.

The Double-Down Charity Program (DDCP) will support partner-designated 501(c)(3) charities and the Strider Education Foundation’s All Kids Bike, a national movement to install Kindergarten PE Learn-To-Ride Programs into public schools.

The Double-Down Charity Program enables a company or brand to design a custom graphics package including a competition style number plate and a complete sticker kit. Then, for each customized bike sold, the partner’s designated 501(c)(3) charity receives $20 and All Kids Bike receives $20. One of the first to step up was Arlen Ness Enterprises.

As sales climb over 200 units, the designated charity will receive $4,000, and one school gets a Kindergarten PE “Learn-To-Ride” program care of All Kids Bike consisting of

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“I know through personal experience that getting out on two wheels, powered or not, is one of the most freeing and inspiring ways to move through life. Combining that inspiration with the opportunity to elevate charities and accelerate the All Kids Bike mission is truly energizing for the whole industry.”

Pandya will manage the DDCP, working directly with partners to assist with graphic design and communications and act as a liaison with Strider Bikes. Each unit will be sold directly via a custom-built website page at www.Striderbikes.com, meaning the partner has nothing to inventory and no responsibility for fulfillment. Pandya will work with the partners to increase program exposure to their audience through social media and PR, and high visibility events integrating with the partner’s marketing teams.

“We have developed a program for large companies, celebrities, and charity organizations,” he explains. “With the goal of having an entire generation of children exposed to riding on two wheels, we know that there are many out there who will immediately understand the quadruple win of kids getting a custom Strider bike, two charities benefitting, and the partner being associated throughout the whole program.”

To kick off the program, Arlen Ness Enterprises announced the debut of their Double Down Charity Strider that will benefit the Grand Multiple Myeloma Translational Initiative at the University of California San Francisco and All Kids Bike donations toward the schools of Moorhead, MN. Arlen Ness, the patriarch of the family custom motorcycle business, which includes his Daughter Sherri, son Cory, and grandson Zach, passed away on March 22, 2019 after a battle with Multiple Myeloma. “I know that Dad would have been really happy with this program,” says Cory Ness. “The Grand MMTI helped him manage his cancer and deserves our thanks. The chance to teach every kid in Dad’s home town about the fun and friendship that comes from being on two wheels is a perfect tribute to a man who simply loved to ride.”

Motonation, established in 1999, is an American brand of engineered motorcycle apparel.

Every Motonation apparel model is extensively tested by veteran riders with decades of riding experience and a “man-cave� full of National and International trophies.

Motonation apparel offers dealers a high profit margin (50+ points!) apparel solution that is not outdated by a new collection at the change of each season and only includes the top selling product categories, sizes and colors. Simple and clean, with very few logos the Motonation apparel collection is timeless, traditional and profitable!

From the riders point of view Motonation offers an apparel solution for riders focused on product value, the utmost in features and fit at a reasonable price. Motonation apparel also meets strict quality and safety standards via some of the same production sources as the larger-expensive brands.

Consider a break from the crowd and reduce your apparel obsolescence, inventory levels while increasing profitability, become a Motonation apparel dealer today!

Strategic, exclusive market relationships are available.

1 . 8 7 7.7 8 9.4 9 4 0 | m o t o n at i o n .c o m

“As part of the strategy of transformation and moving responsibilities back into the business units, Tony Vacchiano, our CFO, and I will be leaving the company at the end of June. This is not a surprise for Tony and me, it is a natural progression of the plan that we set in motion with the “Unwind” strategy.

“Starting next week, the leaders of our business units, Chris Lindstrom, Greg Heichelbech, Mike Kennedy, Sebastian Bretschneider and Zach Parham will report directly to the MAG Board of Directors. Our board has added two new members, Matthew Sheahan and Greg Ethridge who is also Chairman of the Board. Both come with tremendous experience managing private equity-owned companies.

EXIT INTERVIEW WITH HUGH CHARVAT Unwinding The Vertical

O

n June 26, 2019 Motorsport Aftermarket Group (MAG) CEO Hugh Charvet alerted the MAG brands, Tucker Powersports and J&P Cycles teams that he was moving on. This bombshell dropped just weeks after a public announcement that MAG was going back to a decentralized business model in what was internally known as “unwinding the vertical.” Dealernews had a chance to speak with Charvat on exactly what that strategic shift really meant, not knowing that we were getting a de facto exit interview. His candor and clarification were enlightening, but now he has stepped aside. Going in reverse chronological order, here is his announcement of the team, the original “spin off” announcement and then Charvet’s comments on what this strategy meant.

“When I started at the company last year, I spoke to you about the importance of transforming the company to be more nimble, more efficient and more profitable,” is what Charvat said to the team. “I’m very happy about the progress we’ve made on parts of this transformation.” This process was made from the time he was hired in November of 2018 (see timeline).

“Five weeks ago we announced that we were ‘unwinding the vertical’ and treating our six business units as independent businesses. Not all of our competitors are happy that we are driving customer service and independence within our business units,” claimed Charvat. “I take that as a further reinforcement that we are on the correct path for our business units.

“We’ve also ensured that we have tremendously talented leaders for each of our six business units. We still have work to do in being nimble and profitable, but I’m confident we’ve set the wheels in motion to get there.

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“I have sincerely enjoyed my time at MAG and I think we have made meaningful progress in a tough and transforming market. I have really enjoyed getting to know you, my teammates, and witnessing your passion for the great brands we have. It is not often that you can take your hobby and passion and make it your job. I want to thank you for your support and professionalism as I have gotten to know you and your businesses.

“As I depart, please know that I am proud of the business unit leadership team we’ve built. They will continue to drive the unwind strategy while building their businesses and brands into the category killers they can and should be.”

UNWINDING THE VERTICAL MAG To Spin Out its Businesses Six Business Units, including Tucker Powersports and J&P Cycles, to Become Stand-Alone Businesses May 21, 2019 - Dallas TX - Motorsport Aftermarket Group (MAG) today announced a new and significant change to managing the multi-brand organization to its 1,500 employees.

“While our business units will continue to collaborate where helpful, there will be no corporate mandate to do so.

And we’ll ensure complete independence between Tucker Powersports, J&P Cycles and our four other business units by making them stand-alone businesses. This demonstrates our commitment to supporting our dealer customers.”

“We now have great talent leading each of our business units, so the board and I feel that this is the time to unleash those individuals and all of our great employees to return our brands to the status they’ve enjoyed in the past without the operating restraints that have been in place as MAG.” Known internally as “Unwinding the Vertical,” Charvat indicates that the change will be good for all the company’s stakeholders. “Aggressive companies led by great leaders will certainly have a positive impact on the powersports industry. Our goal is to lead in every product category where we compete.”

In recent months, MAG has pursued and hired top industry talent to fill significant roles, including powersports industry veterans Mike Kennedy (see sidebar), Greg Heichelbech, John Potts and Greg Blackwell.

EXIT INTERVIEW “So the spin out play on words may have sounded like too much like spin off,” said Charvat in our exclusive followup interview. “No brands are actually being sold off at this time. They will however go back to being independent businesses…. That means they are free to go to market by any means that make the most sense to the individual brand.”

To further clarify, “this is about speed! Tucker is an exceptional distributor and there are obvious synergies,” explained Charvat. “However the brands are not required to go to market though one and only one distributor.”

When questioned that this approach seems to be a 180 from the strategy that former MAG CEO and prior Tucker Rocky president Eric Cagle had implemented, Charvet’s short answer was, “I don’t know Andy Graves and I never met Eric Cagle… this organization must be more flexible and more responsive to the market needs.”

Part of this flexibility and meeting market needs was to bring former VP John Potts back to Vance & Hines and bring in former Harley exec Mike Kennedy as president.

“Full disclosure, I spent the first couple of weeks of my MAG tenure out in California getting the lay of the land from Potts and Terry Vance. When a guy like Terry Vance speaks, you listen! When both Terry and John say to hire someone like Mike Kennedy, you do it!”

“On a personal note, to have Terry Vance providing input and to be re-engaged with the brand he created is absolutely great… I just need to be smart enough to listen to what he is telling me!”

Although V&H was going full speed ahead, Charvat admits some of the other business units in the MAG portfolio were still facing issues. “There is a lot of work to be done, but we are on the right path with all the brands. There is new energy, excitement and hopefully a better direction being provided to the teams.”

It is also rewarding… or was at the time. “What other industry do you see tattooes on people? At the end of the day, I’m lucky that my hobby and my professional career are perfectly aligned. I am looking forward to staying on the gas!” …and then three weeks after we talked, Hugh Charvat and his CFO Tony Vacchiano had hit the road!

MAG Hires Andy Graves As CEO, Replacing Brian Etter - January 2015

Tucker Rocky/Bikers Choice Hires Caterpillar’s Eric Cagle As President - October 2016

Dan Coutney Out As Tucker Rocky President - February 2016

MAG Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - November 2017

Chris Lindstrom Appointed MAG Off-Road Group President - May 2017

Mike Kennedy Back In The Saddle At Vance & Hines

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ack in April Vance & Hines brought in Mike Kennedy to take the reins as president. Kennedy’s career spans stints with Harley-Davidson in both the United States and the United Kingdom as well as leadership roles at BRP and Buell.

“Mike’s energy, experience, operational expertise and relationships are essential to taking Vance & Hines to the next level,” said Charvat at the time. “He’s the right leader to help Vance & Hines reestablish its dominance in the industry and continue our commitment to creating new and innovative products.”

Kennedy also has history with Vance & Hines. In 2003 he hired Vance & Hines to operate the Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Racing program. “If I searched through resumes for a year, I wouldn’t find a person more perfect for this job than Mike, adds company co-founder Terry Vance.

“I couldn’t be more excited that he’s joining the company.”

“There’s huge power in this brand,” said Kennedy. “Forty years of innovation, quality and being a dominant player in racing is just the start. We’re in a rapidly evolving industry and I want to make sure that Vance & Hines remains the top choice for riders and dealers long into the future.”

MAG Announces Andy Graves’ Retirement - July 2018

Tucker Powersports Rebrands - June 2018

Greg Heichelbech Named President Of MAG’s Accessories Group - October 2018

Departure Of Former Tucker President, Eric Cagle - October 2018

Motorsport Aftermarket Group Hires Hugh Charvat As CEO - November 2018

Tucker Powersports Adds Greg Blackwell SVP of Sales & Marketing - November 2018

Tucker Appoints Sebastian Bretschneider President - June 2019

MAG To Spin Out its Businesses - May 2019

JUNE 2019

MAG CEO Hugh Charvat Moves On - June 2019

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HONDA DOUBLES UP ON TALON Power Lab 2019

By Robin Hartfiel

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onda may have been late to the party when it comes to the performance side-by-side segment, but they are definitely making up for lost time! Just six months after rolling out the Talon 1000X and 1000R — and just weeks after we toured the factory in South Carolina, Honda has doubled up, literally. Wraps came off two brand new 4-seater Sport Side-x-Sides at the Power Lab 2019 dealer event in early June.

“In 2013 we laid out our plans to get into the Side-x-Side market and how we were going to step-by-step get into multipurpose machines, build a firm foundation with product and technology and also planning for other categories,” explains Chuck Boderman, Vice President of American Honda’s Powersports Division. “At this point we have just had our 4-wheeled experiential meeting and being able to share the progress we have made together over the past 6 years with our dealer network has been really exciting and impressive.

We have grown that foundation in our multipurpose sales channel dramatically by 600%! Now, having released the 2P and the 4P Talons, along with the Fox Live Valve technology, this has set the foundation for our Sport category step-bystep.”

Regional managers and top performing Powerhouse dealers were brought to the TexPlex facility in Midlothian, Texas to see first hand the launch of the 4P Talon, experience the Fox Live Valve technology and put the 2P Talons through their paces on a couple of courses to truly experience the difference between the X and the R designations. “While we are doing this, we are letting out our plans for the next three

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years, through 2021 in order to build on that Sport foundation and also reinforcing our multipurpose foundation and ATVs,” he says.

“Over the next few years we are going to be looking back saying we have a good foundation but we are still going strong… there are several other new introductions planned between now and 2021 across Side-x-Side and ATVs,” he hints. “That is the really significant part for our dealers, we are growing together and we are looking in that direction to keep that growth strong.”

“Since the two-seat Talon models hit the market a few months ago, it’s been fun to see how ready customers were for a sport side-by-side touting Honda’s legendary refinement, durability and performance,” adds Chris Cox, Honda’s Experiential Marketing/Public Relations Manager. “By far the most common request we’ve heard in that time is for the capability to carry additional passengers, so it’s gratifying to bring the Talon 1000X-4 and Talon 1000X-4 FOX Live Valve to market so quickly. Like their two-seater siblings, these models introduce new technology to their category, and we’re confident that they’ll set new standards as well. Now, more people than ever can experience the fact that ‘Life is Better Side-by-Side.’”

Honda took the opportunity to introduce its new semi-active electronic suspension to be found on the forthcoming 1000X4 FOX Live Valve model. A collaboration between Honda, FOX and Bosch, the system takes data from multiple sensors and adjusts all four shocks 16 times per second in a choice of Normal and Sport modes. Honda claims the result is unmatched handling, with minimal body roll and stellar high-

speed tracking in rough terrain. Front and rear travel are 14.4 and 15.0 inches, respectively. This model also comes standard with electronic Launch Mode for lightning-quick, full-throttle acceleration off the line. Launch mode?

That’s right Honda is going racing with the Talon! Fresh from winning the Baja 500 in his Ridgeline-based Class 7200 truck, Jeff Proctor was on hand to talk about Honda’s plans to go racing with the turbocharged Talon… wait, what? Turbo and launch control? “Note the racing number on our prototype,” points out Proctor. “We are going head to head with the top turbo UTVs at select high visibility races including the Baja 1000, UTV World Championships, Mint 400 and King Of The Hammers.”

Well that explained why the guys from Jackson Racing were at the Power Lab training breakouts. Jackson Racing turbos will be available as a dealer-installed option very soon! While Boderman would neither confirm nor deny the existence of a Jackson Racing turbo-equipped mule in the paddock, we can tell you that it is fast! Almost zero lag time and a noticeable punch in the seat compared to the stocker with only a couple pounds of boost… um, that is if the keys to such a preproduction unit were to have been left out before the dealers arrived.

POWER LAB “This is our third dealer experiential event. When we started these, we wanted to be able to create an atmosphere and environment where we could get groups of dealers together to have really good facet time with American Honda and network together to learn about product, experience the product and talk about business. We wanted this to be on a more intimate level, not just another giant dealer meeting. We worked hard at the first two sessions to create a full blown Power Lab. The whole idea is to bring in waves of dealers, have some business conversations in what we are calling our Power Lab sessions.”

That explains the lab coats being worn by the presenters in the Power Lab “salons” — break out sessions to explain the technology, P, G&A and even outside vendors.

“We have these vendors here for our dealers to learn from, network with and build relationships with… everything from internally with Honda South Carolina manufacturing personnel to R&D from Ohio, Honda Motor R&D from Japan, to outside vendors like CDK. Part of our connected dealer initiative is to really start to improve the efficiency of how we do business with the dealer and American Honda with this great dealer management system. We’re going to be expanding on this Power Lab concept over the years.”

On the technical side, representatives from Fox and Bosch were on hand to explain the Fox Live system, Oscar Jackson’s team to talk turbos, Honda Financial Services to discuss wholesale and retail financing, and fun stuff like Procter Racing to support the announcement that we are going racing, he adds.

“I just want to say thank you to the dealers for all of your dedication. The relationships we build with our customers and our business relationships with you are invaluable. We have made a lot of progress since 2013 when we got into the Sidex-Side business with the Pioneer line and now we are going to make great strides with the Talon line. Let’s keep working together to keep your businesses successful and profitable.”

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WHAT THEY SAID There are global brands that can impact a market not only with the products they introduce but even with the products they do not. In the powersports world that company is Honda. Respected by both their customers and marketplace adversaries, revered for their creativity and engineering, and legendary for many of the game changing models they’ve introduced, the question is always, “What will Honda do?” In the off-road world that question revolved around when and even if Honda would release a high-performance Side x Side. Honda has answered. ~ John Arens SxS Illustrated “We figured this was a given, but Honda pulled the covers off of its 4-seat Talon much faster than any of us thought possible. The overall “look” of the Talon 4-seater is either loved or not, but no matter what you think, it’s made for fun and functionality. Surprisingly, Honda 2-seat and 4-seat Talon models share about 88% of the same parts. This not only makes service items easier, but it also makes adding accessories easier to any Talon. If you have a 2-seater and want to update because you expand your family in the future, many of your existing Talon 2-seat accessories will fit on your 4-seater. ~ Casey Cordero off-road.com “We’ve been hoping for a machine like the Talon from Honda, but we didn’t expect two different sport models to be released at the same time. Most of the legion of Honda faithful are enthused with the new machines. Remember that there are literally millions of riders out there who discovered wheels and motors thanks to Honda, whether that Honda rolled on two, three or four wheels. Those are the faithful—riders who worship the fun and reliability they grew to expect and rely on with Honda products. A large number will be sold for the simple fact that these are Hondas, but many more will be sold because they are great machines that are a lot of fun to drive.” ~ The Staff Of Dirt Wheels Magazine

“While many people think Honda is late to the game, they do not rush to get a new model out. Plus the powersports division of Honda USA can tap into many of the product development and testing facilities used in their automotive division. This discipline gave me confidence that every piece of the Talon has been thoroughly tested. I was very pleased with the DCT transmission. It has a mode for everyone including the aggressive driver and someone that wants to explore at 30 MPH. On the plus side there are no CVT belts to worry about. One negative I thought about is how larger tires will affect final drive ratio. It may prove difficult or costly to adjust gearing if that becomes necessary. ~ Jon Crowley UTVGuide.net

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“Only fools and newcomers try to predict the weather,” or so they say, but I can predict the rain will come at the most inopportune time possible with 100% accuracy!

So, after cutting three fields on day one, I went to the barn where I store my hay rake and backed the tractor in to hook it up. Interesting note: last season, my hay rake broke and I had to borrow a neighbor’s rake to finish my hay. While doing that, I’d taken mine to have it repaired and, when I picked it up in the Fall, I brought it home and stored it in the barn where it belongs.

Have you ever taken something somewhere and paid $500+ for a repair, only to get it out when you need it and realize that the repair was never actually done? No? Yeah, this was a first for me, too.

So, after a few fuming phone calls to an uncaring and unapologetic service manager, I found myself knocking on the same neighbor’s door again. “Hi. Any chance I could borrow your hay rake again? Yes, I did take it for repair. I wouldn’t recommend that shop, by the way…”

Day two found me (finally) raking hay well into the night and watching the weather forecast like a hawk. The storms predicted for Thursday had now moved to Wednesday evening and I knew I’d be cutting this close! As I entered the third field with cut hay waiting to be raked, my tractor suddenly sputtered, then died.

WINNING! Hayfield Follies

By William Douglas Little

S

ell the dealership… become a gentleman farmer. It will be fun… and a lot less stressful than running the store — or so they said!

People have a complete misperception of farming. They seem to think that it consists of riding around in a tractor, listening to country music all day. They honestly believe it’s something that retired people do to keep busy! Nope — that would be gardening. Farming is just downright brutal, and it can be just as brutal as any off-road race and makes me miss the “low-stress” of running my dealership. Oh… and for the record, only about 10% of my playlist is country music (Its mostly 80’s era hair metal).

This year, I was excited to have an early hay harvest. You see, all of the rain in the Midwest has damaged a lot of farmland, but for those of us lucky enough to be on high ground, we’ve got a huge amount of thick hay just screaming to be cut.

What I normally do in August, I started doing in early June this year, netting about 3-times the normal yield! However, like so many things in life, with the extremely good comes the extremely bad…

Having to work in 3-day windows between rain is tricky. You have to cut the hay on the first day; rake it into windrows for drying the second day, then bale it and put it away on day three — almost always with storm clouds looming.

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Unable to figure out the problem, I made the 2-mile hike through the pitch-black woods back to the equipment barn and unhooked the baler from my larger tractor, then drove it back to where the broken tractor sat. I detached the borrowed rake, then spent 15 minutes muscling the heavy implement in a half-circle, since I couldn’t move the tractor it was formerly attached to. I then hooked up to my big tractor and finished the field, just in time to get home by 2:00 a.m.

Now, one might think those are enough problems already, but I was just getting started! The next morning, I detached the (borrowed) rake and reattached my baler to get started as early as possible. After letting the morning dew burn off of the hay, I tested several sections and determined that it would be dry enough to bale by about noon. I drove to the field, pulled the hydraulic lever to test the baler gate and suddenly felt a burning sensation down my back!

As I turned my head to see what was going on, I accidentally bumped the lever with my hand and received a face-full of hot hydraulic fluid spraying from the top of my hydraulic stack and through the opened back window of the John Deere. I’d just blown my hydraulics!

Thankfully the tractor dealership is not the same as the hay rake repair joint and, unlike the latter, the former understood how important this was. They had a customer with 40 round bales on the ground, two broken tractors and storms predicted for that evening… in the farm world, that’s about as close to panic as you can get. They sent a guy straight over.

Does your dealership offer roadside emergency service? Do you have a support trailer out at the track on the weekends? Tractor dealers get it… motorcycle dealers, not so much.

Nearly $1,000 later, I had two working tractors once again and a late-afternoon start to baling three fields of hay. The skies were clouding up fast, the wind was picking up and the temperature dropped nearly 15-degrees. I recognized the feeling from years of racing Hare Scrambles; this was man and machine versus nature.

It was going to be a grueling race to the finish at speeds higher than the manufacturer of said machine would ever have imagined it being pushed, and a driver getting the literal crap beaten out of him while bouncing over rugged terrain! Ever drive a tractor through a field that’s been long-ago disced in the wrong direction? There’s not a whoop section around that will beat you up worse! Plus, tractors don’t have 12” of suspension travel!

According to my Apple Watch, sunset was supposed to occur at 8:29 p.m., but with the pending storms, I found myself turning on the tractor’s headlights in the second field by 7:45. For some reason, the Air Conditioning had stopped working and the cab was sweltering, so I had opened all the doors and windows for some air which, when I turned on the lights, caused about a gazillion bugs to enter the cab and begin attacking me, but I remained unfazed. Like those Hare Scrambles of my youth, I was determined to push myself beyond the limits, to beat the odds… even if it meant gnats in my eyes and whatever that was that kept climbing in and out of my right nostril!

By 9:00 I was in the third and final field, pushing the equipment beyond its capabilities, but everything was still working. Normal baling on my rig is done in B2 or B3 gear range, depending how thick the hay is. I was running C3 with extremely thick hay, leaving a trail of unharvested waste behind me like the contrail of a jet, but figuring I was getting most of it into the baler.

A few scattered drops hit the windshield and the winds had blown most of the bugs from my cab. The engine temperature gauge was operating near redline and some funny sounds were coming from the PTO, but I was close and for some reason, the storms seemed to be parting and making a complete circle around me! No kidding — it was visible on radar and everything. I could only assume that God had seen enough cruelty take place and He now wanted the underdog to win?

I wrapped the last bale and returned to the barn to switch the baler for the hay trailer. My wife drove that rig and I jumped on our older tractor with the hay spike, then we set off as fast as we could go to start collecting the hay, 8-bales at a time.

An unlikely doubles-pair, my wife was driving that tractor for her first time, all the while dealing with the constant threat of the oddly never-arriving storms and me yelling like a madman, “Go Here! Go There! Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!” Somehow, she kept it together and we brought back 3 loads, then 4; each time putting them all into the barn and going back for more.

By the time we got back with the 5th and final load, it looked as though our magical hole in the weather were about to implode! I started spiking hay bales as fast as I could, racing them to the stack in the barn, then flying out for the next one. My bad knee was a swollen basketball from over-working the stiff John Deere clutch and, just as I picked the very last bale from the trailer and cleared the barn door, the Armageddon of all rainstorms dumped from the skies!

Having parked the spike tractor, I limped back into the rain slowly with my arms outstretched, just looking at my wife in complete awe. She climbed down from the cab of her tractor and joined me; both of us looking up into the wind-driven downpour like drowning turkeys trying to see what’s hitting them.

There we stood, silently; my arm over her shoulder and her arm around my waist, soaking wet in the wee hours of the morning — exhausted, sore and as happy as we could possibly be, because we’d won.

William Douglas Little is a former radio personality, stand-up comic, an auctioneer, a former multi-line dealership owner an author and a father of three. He lives on his farm in rural Missouri with his wife Beth. Find William’s book, “Mexican Bowl Fishing: And Other Tales of Life” on Amazon.

JUNE 2019

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particular business, but can drive customers across town to another shop, send them online… or even drive them out of the market completely. It happens more than we like to think.

It’s important to remember your attitude affects not only you and those around you, but also your sales and your service reputation. Keeping a positive attitude is critically important. Take a second and think about the type of business we’re in… remember what made you interested in the motorcycle industry in the first place. There aren’t a lot of industries where fun is the rule rather than the exception. People don’t go to the bank or the grocery store for entertainment. They go because they have a specific need. It’s not exciting to pull a gallon of milk from the refrigerator section of your local grocery. And it is certainly not entertaining to hit the gas station on the way home in your gas guzzling SUV just so you can get to work the next day.

Personnel Files

By Alex Baylon

THE WORLD NEEDS DITCH DIGGERS, TOO! The Power Of A Positive Attitude

S

ometimes it can be hard to remember why we work in the motorcycle industry… techs trying to beat flat rate, sales trying meet impossible goals, dealer principals just trying to keep the lights on. I know how hard it is to make an easy living in the powersports field. Sometimes you have to ask yourself what made you want to work in it in the first place?

I have been very fortunate to be in this industry for 28 years.

I will retire someday never really knowing much else… other than asking “Paper or Plastic” during a summer job at the local grocery store and experiencing what hard labor was like when I was loading tile up a two-story ladder. These memories have really made me appreciate working in the motorcycle industry. They also help me maintain a positive attitude… a bad day in the motorcycle business still beats teetering at the top of a spindly ladder in the hot summer sun with a hod full of roofing tiles!

I have visited hundreds of motorcycle shops across the country and I have seen what the power of a positive attitude… and the consequences of what happens when someone doesn’t have it. Customers walk into a motorcycle shop and have a terrible experience all the time. Maybe the salesperson was rude or condescending, or the parts person made them feel like an idiot. How often does a customer walk into the shop and no one even noticed them? Any of these things will impact how we view that

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You know what IS exciting and entertaining? Riding motorcycles, UTVs, ATVs and even scooters, dare I admit it. It’s fun to put a bunch of cold weather gear on and go snowmobiling, or to hit the open water on your own personal watercraft — as comedian Daniel Tosh said, “have you even seen an unhappy person riding a Jet Ski?” In order to bring that type of fun to people there have to be people who are willing to show up, make the sale, perform the maintenance, or even just supply parts WITH A SMILE. Those are the lucky people… the real purveyors of fun.

However, eventually, even those lucky souls who spend their days selling fun can end up in a rut. It happens for all sorts of reasons, some related to the job and some related to off-work issues like family problems. I can’t solve your personal issues, but I can give you some tips on how to keep work interesting and ways to remind yourself why you do the work you do. Also reminding our dealership management that you set the tone for the shop.

Let me give you an example. Just last week I was visiting dealerships in Northern California and Nevada when a shop owner offered this great tidbit. “We just had a customer trade in two Sea Doos and we had two other used Sea Doos in inventory so we took the employees to the local lake to “test” them to make sure they were good. We had a BBQ with 8 employees and their families.” They truly took advantage and remembered why they work in this great industry! Not only that, but the dealership had a great team building day that will make them closer friends and create a tighter knit group of employees.

The most important thing to remember is that your attitude affects everyone and everything around you. Want someone to have passion for the sport? Then show them the passion you have for it. Staying positive and sharing that positivity can help you stand out — not only with your coworkers and managers — but also with customers. Your attitude can affect whether a customer returns or goes someplace else for their fun fix. Always remember in the back of your mind that famous line from Judge Smails in Caddyshack: “Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too!”

5 TIPS 1) Be A Continuous Learner Doing the same type of work can get boring if you don’t expand your horizons. Think you have reached the peak of excellence?

Think again. The motorcycle industry is always changing. There are always new gadgets, farkles, types of bikes, and ways of doing things that could keep you learning until you die. And guess what? If you ever do learn absolutely everything then you’d be in the perfect place to write a book about your knowledge and share it with others.

2) Teach Others Speaking of sharing with others, a great way to keep things interesting is to teach or mentor other people. Think of ways to help others learn what you know. Take on a project to get new riders riding. If you have the property for it, create a pump track for kids to ride a strider or STACYC… parents are dying to find things to do with their kids. Talk to the local high school and start teaching kids about working at a dealership, maybe we can keep the mechanic jobs off life support by introducing it to new kids. Again this is a small investment in time and it can easily be done a couple of times a month for a couple of hours. get some interns for school credit. You get to teach others, you get free labor, and maybe even get a new rider/ customer that wasn’t exposed to this industry before.

3) Positivity Is Contagious Just like the flu, being positive can affect those around you.

Don’t surround yourself with negative people. If you do have a negative coworker, consider talking to them about whether

there’s anything you can help them with. Maybe they don’t understand how to do a particular task that you can do well (see #2). Or, maybe they don’t have the passion it takes to be in the motorcycle industry and it’s time for them to move on.

Don’t be that negative person. If you find yourself needing a break and getting frustrated, take the break. Walk away and then come back. With a fresh perspective you may realize it is easy to be more positive.

4) Get A Shop Pet Did you know that studies show being around pets lowers blood pressure and makes people happier? There is plenty of dealerships out there that have a shop mascot. I don’t know about you, but when I see a dog in a shop it creates conversation and immediately breaks down walls. I can’t help but think about man’s best friend with man’s favorite toy. You can decide which is which. If you’re an employee talk to the owner and get his thoughts, and if an owner and don’t have a dog, talk to your employees.

5) Set Realistic Goals & Don’t Beat Yourself Up Keeping a positive attitude is easier when things go your way…which they will do more often if you set reasonable and realistic goals for yourself. Don’t expect to start in parts and move to general manager in a year. If you set reasonable goals, if you happen to not meet them, don’t beat yourself up.

Everyone is allowed to make mistakes. As you’ve heard, it’s not the number of mistakes you make, it’s what you learn from them and whether you keep trying that counts. more on that in the next issue.

MIJ Industry #PROfiles

Dealernews is honored to work with Motorcycle Industry Jobs to recognize the people who make up this great industry.

“When you start reading the Industry #PROfles, you will notice that 80-90% of them get their start at a motorcycle dealership,” says MIJ founder Alex Baylon. “The dealers are on the front lines and have always been the heart and soul of the industry. Without motorcycle dealerships, most of us wouldn’t be where we are today, so part of our message is always going to be ‘support your local motorcycle shop.’”

In addition to recognizing industry pros, Dealernews is also working with MIJ to create a job ticker tape of the latest positions opening in the industry at the Dealernews.com site. Check it out at: www.dealernews.com/Industry-Jobs “Tell us your story,” adds Baylon. “We would love to feature you! Click here to fill out the questionnaire: www.motorcycleindustryjobs.com/industry-profiles/

MotorcycleIndustryJobs.com founder Alex Baylon has been hiring and firing people in the powersports industry for 25 years.

Currently with a major distributor, he has also been with Dragon Alliance, Ceet Racing, MX GP Services in Europe, Acerbis USA, Motonation/Sidi Boots and Scott USA. He started MIJ as he saw a need in the industry for people who are passionate about the motorcycle industry to have an employment outlet. The motorcycle industry like many others has always recycled employees from one company to another and it has always been done by word of mouth. MIJ allows companies in the industry to post their openings and give others in and out of the industry a chance to apply and insert new blood and fresh ideas in the many opportunities in the motorcycle industry.

JUNE 2019 57

Northern Exposure

By Marq C. Smith

THE SMELL OF DEATH Are We Having Fun Yet?

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ecently, my wife and I went looking for a new car. It was brutal! Almost every salesperson we talked to seemed to have heard, minutes before we got there, that their wife had left them, their children were sick and their dog had died. No one was having any fun… being in the car dealership was just a way to make a living.

Now, I realize that selling cars and trucks is a somewhat different world than selling powersports products, but surely it can be made to be enjoyable? In this day and age of electronic distractions that outnumber anything experienced by any previous generation, it is up to us to bring back a little fun. Be the place that is so enjoyable, so much fun to go to, that no one of any age can stay away.

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Are you that shop? Does your staff smile and joke with clients? Do they create an atmosphere that says, “We know something you don’t, but if you keep coming back, you’ll learn it, too!” That’s the secret; and that’s what a lot of shops out there are missing.

How many times have you been in a shop on your travels, and thought “I smell Death?” I was in a shop in the south recently. It was right across the road from a Taj Mahal H-D dealership. The Harley dealership seemed to have gone down the right road; the staff was friendly and obviously having a great time. They wanted me to be “In” with their group. It was a great experience.

The other shop, however, was disorganized, untidy, and while it was a multiline dealership and had plenty of units in stock, there was no attempt to show any of them off.

The staff was listless, and had no spark whatsoever. The building was unique, but any carpet there was way beyond its “best by” date, and there was dirt and litter everywhere.

In short, there was a definite aura of death in everything I saw.

It was incredibly depressing, and the staff was not helpful at all. I left as soon as I could, and I don’t think there was one customer there for the entire time I was wandering around.

It was not a great experience. I’ve never been in the area since, but I will bet that the shop is either gone or hopefully been sold to someone who turned it around.

By “fun factor “I don’t mean an atmosphere of adolescent pranks, but creating instead an atmosphere in your shop where it’s a place that people look forward to going to. And, yes, you can create a place of fun without attracting what I call “Shop Rats” — those who just take up the staff’s time without buying anything.

We sell leisure products; people use them for recreation.

Buying them should be a good time. Your customers should be talking about the fun things that happened at your store the last time they were there. So, don’t have the smell of death. Make sure everyone is having a great time. Including the customers.

What about your store? Are there lots of other powersports dealerships in your area? Great competition? Are they having a good time? Is your staff having fun?

I used to work for a fellow who was wonderful to be around. He had a good sense of humour when we were all together, but when he was around clients, he was as serious as a brain tumour. I, on the other hand, have always had fun selling motorcycles. I remember him looking at me in horror as I was standing on my desk having a discussion with a customer on the price of his bike. I was standing there because I needed his full attention (It worked, by the way!). With even the most serious clients, if I can get them smiling and laughing, the chances of a sale go up greatly.

I will always approach customers with a joke, and usually get a smile. Most of the time… Of course, if I don’t get a smile, that then becomes the challenge. It is imperative that you, as the mentor of your employees, create an atmosphere whereby your staff can be free to be themselves, and have some fun.

A powersports shop is unique. For a relatively small amount of money, your clients can have hundreds of hours of fun, both by themselves and with their friends. It gets them outdoors, and also can be great exercise. Their experience at your store has to reflect that.

I’ve seen some shops where the owner has never had a good time in his life, and it shows in the attitude of the store employees. There are few smiles and no real rapport with their customers. Quite often, the shop is just a business, and the owner is not emotionally connected. He hasn’t promoted the fun factor within the ranks of his employees.

Marq C. Smith has been involved in motorcycles since he was 17 years old. He worked for Canadian HarleyDavidson importer Trev Deeley as well as being the dealer principal for his dealership Western Powersports (not to be confused with the American Distributor Western Power Sports) for 21 years. He currently works at Holeshot Motorsports, in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. He taught rider safety courses for 10 years, and still is involved in making sure new riders get proper training. When he is not working in a dealership, he tours all over North America by motorcycle. He does plenty of dirtbiking and ATV riding as well. Famous Last Words: “I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

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get the younger generations interested in purchasing power toys.

The crowd at MAWMR certainly seemed to validate my theory.

All the three-wheeled riders I spoke to cited physical reasons for turning to three after riding on two wheels. To a one they were entirely ecstatic about the ability to continue ride and to take part in these types of gatherings, just as they had done before. Apparently Can-Am’s Spyder campaign for the past decade has paid off — to the benefit of physically challenged riders and other autocycle manufacturers alike.

The third comment of the law of threes happened at the other end of the longevity of riding spectrum: kids balance bikes.

We’ve seen Strider making a tremendous investment in PR and boots-on-the-ground brand advocates for their campaign to get more kids on two wheels (see Robert Pandya’s piece on page 44). The collective hope is that these young bicyclists evolve into fans of powered two wheelers as they mature and develop their own economic power. It’s a brilliant approach, actually.

By Alisa Clickenger

MID-ATLANTIC WOMEN’S MOTORCYCLE RALLY Things Happen In Threes

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hree events this week have me rethinking the industry’s belief that people “aging out” of being motorcycle riders.

The demographic has certainly changed from from older males making up the bulk of the baby boomer ridership, but have they really aged out or been replaced by a more diverse market? That includes customers as well a product.

I arrived at the Mid-Atlantic Women’s Motorcycle Rally (MAWMR) on Wednesday to see a significant number of three-wheelers in the parking lot. More than I’ve ever seen in the past in any rally parking lot. The variety and level of customization was astonishing, so much so that I took a stroll and captured a few of them with my camera. Little did I know that the next day I would see another whole another set of threes, only in a slightly different context.

Thursday I was on assignment at Coleman PowerSports to write this issue’s cover story (starting on page 20). A leading powersports dealer in the Washington, D.C. area, GM Kim Coleman Harrison spoke at great length about the everincreasing impact of three wheelers on the dealership’s bottom line. And indeed, a variety of Vanderhalls, Can-Ams, Nikkens and Slingshots had prominent placement at the front of Colman’s retail space.

It occurs to me that autocycles are currently lengthening our collective riding careers well beyond the zone where those riders with balance and orthopedic issues might have stopped riding altogether. There’s a burgeoning extension of the oldest riders’ ages due to the ease of use vehicles — through them, we’re able to keep those older folks riding longer. Through three wheelers, we’re also keeping these aficionados’ dollars invested the industry longer, thereby giving ourselves some more leeway while we sort out how to

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But what’s in the middle? How are we going to help those Strider kids make the leap from human-power to electric or gas power? And how are we going to sustain the investment that the OEMs have made in the R&D for our current betterand-better marketplace, right here and right now? I suggest we invoke the power of the Moms.

Mothers, and women in general, are the key to the longevity of the powersports industry. It’s a much bandied-about statistic that women control 85% of household purchases. Women decide how the family spends the majority of household money. True fact. Beyond that, women are usually the ones who say ‘yes my kid can ride’ or ‘heck no, my kind isn’t going to ride’.

What if we started rethinking the health of the industry in the middle of the spectrum and focused on getting more women to ride right now? Women are most strongly influenced by other women. When more women ride, more families ride.

And when more families ride, we’ve got the next generation of riders already in the powersports pipeline. And that is the middle third of the market that’s going to build a better, more sustainable industry.

Things really do happen in threes… and women are that third rail that charges it all!

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different.” It simply feels odd nowadays to walk into so many powersports stores across America and be reminded of a Petco, Target or Chief Auto Parts store. Strangeness has given way to sameness in most retail environments… and I miss it.

More dealerships are subscribing to the cookie-cutter, OEmandated recipe in their layouts and product offerings. Now a BMW, Harley, Triumph or Honda Powersports store looks the same anywhere you go in the country. Could the online shopping experience now be more interactive, engaging, informative and individualized than the... um, the repeatable brick & mortar dealerships of today?

MIC statistics show more franchises now exist under fewer retail rooftops. The total number of outlets since 2011 is down by 1/3, but the number of available franchises has remained level. You likely “inherited” a new brand or two in the past 6-8 years when one of your competitors sold out, closed his doors or bit the dust.

Confessions Of A Customer®

By Eric Anderson

DEALERS GOING DOWN FOR THE THIRD TIME? Drowning… In A Sea Of Sameness

I

s it just me or are all motorcycle shops starting to look the same? Maybe it’s because I visit so many of them, they are beginning to blend together into my brain like multiple pantones in a paint can. I ride motorcycles because they’re different from the norm, so noticing any sort of retail replication is a formula that begins to worry me. Has architecture, technology, distribution and retail efficiencies reduced the powersports shopping experience to a generic model repeated everywhere?

This all means there are more machines crammed into the same retail space as before, right? The showrooms of the past have evolved into crowded storerooms of today, overwhelming to anyone walking in the door. The view of a sea of handlebars, roll cages and taillights is overpowering as more units are packed into what appears to be more of a Costco model than a boutique motorcycle store.

Rarely do I see a new model motorcycle displayed on a 30-degree angled pedestal under spotlights. The “ooh-aah” factor seems disappointingly less when a Panigale is just one more machine added to the packed indoor parking lot.

Shouldn’t motorized masterpieces be showcased like the Hope Diamond on wheels? Or treated like a piece of art temporarily on display at the dealership on its way between the manufacturer and its next owner? Step right up… or look down at the 8th bike from the end.

This isn’t whining, it’s simply noticing the Emperor is naked.

This column started 29 years ago looking at powersports dealerships from the customer’s viewpoint — the person who pays retail prices in your store. It’s not about what you want — it’s about what we want. See Dr. Leinberger’s columns the past couple of issues, we live in a C2B world these days.

The ongoing battle between cash registers and wallets has continued and evolved. The Recession-surviving dealers seem to have minimized their superfluous creativity and maximized their fundamental strengths. Understandable indeed, but while you are pulling in the purse strings and cutting back on the extraneous, don’t forget what got us motorcyclists here in the first place — individuality!

Samo-samo! Nice Honda F6B, but it’s lost in a uniform level parking lot of handlebars and tail lights.

We customers live on a street somewhere with neighbors who nickname us things like “Motorcycle Guy,” “Moto Mick” or “Harley Hal.” We earn those names because nobody else on the street rides a bike, ATV or UTV. We are unique individuals in our own small worlds and we are proud to be different. Standing out becomes part of the fabric of who we are. Walking into a cookie-cutter Starbucks, McDonalds or Target with our helmet in hand announces we are “somebody

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Better! Note the changes in elevation and wide spacing for a showroom — not a storeroom.

Ever been to a powersports auction? The used bikes are parked in a massive warehouse… exactly the same way many of the new units are parked in retail showrooms (sic) today.

The only difference between these two environments is wholesale price and retail price — the efficient “line ’em up” display techniques unfortunately seem to match.

same aftermarket brands everywhere — especially the big distributor’s house brands. Everywhere! Selection of aftermarket brands inside dealerships has narrowed in the last few years down to those which are the easiest to stock, easiest to re-supply and the most well financed. Some distributors even offer to manage your aftermarket P, G & A inventory for you if you exclusively partner with them. The smaller, premium, dealer-direct brands are forced to go more online since they cannot afford to send a sales rep in every 2 weeks and provide free “stock rotations.”

Personally, I like creative showrooms — emphasis on “show.”

Shoppers want a show and not an inventory display — visit a Nordstrom’s, then a Payless Shoe store — see the difference?

Give us some sizzle, something we likely haven’t seen in a motorcycle shop lately… or else get into the wholesale I understand that you had to cut back manpower in all auction business. For 25 years the Dealernews Top 100 Dealer departments. Unfortunately, the result has also been a competition has recognized and celebrated originality and corresponding cut back in trying new things. Minimizing the creativity because that’s what powersports customers want. risk of inventory is also minimizing the likelihood of seeing We are all a little different from our neighbors, so we tend anything new when I visit your dealership. Could this lack of to be attracted by differences… and turned off by sameness. newness and diversity — perceived or real — be one reason why floor traffic is down and “clicks” to e-commerce are up?

Is there just a single industry supplier for slatwall, glass counters and lighting? I guess there is for Harley dealerships Traditional dealerships and their forceful OEMs have very because they’re really looking alike these days (save for the possibly brought this “sea of sameness” onto themselves, “town” on their “custom” T-shirts being different). I won’t get busting open the door for new cooler retail experiences like into that battle with Milwaukee any more other than to say we Revival Cycles, Standard Motorcycle Company or Southwest used to love collecting those HD shirts with different towns Superbikes. Heck, some of these even have a barber shop, on them because each dealer was so uniquely different. Now, salon and co-op garage. Now, that’s different!! not so much. Would you buy a Starbucks “Dallas” or “Detroit” T-shirt when all the stores are identical anyway? I am not as The view of the world from a motorcycle is different than from inspired to stop at dealerships along my riding routes as I a car. The viewpoint of a rider looking at his local powersports used to because I already know what to expect. Unlike Forrest dealer is also different than a car driver looking at a Ford dealership or Chief Auto Parts store. A car is a commodity. A Gump’s box of chocolates, the thrill and surprise is gone! motorcycle is a way of life. We riders are looking for a shrine of It isn’t just the unit side, look at the parts, garments and uniqueness instead of another flounder in a sea of sameness. accessories departments, too. I am starting to see the Please, save me from drowning!

COMMUNICATIONS Longtime Motorcycles.org Connections Help with New Media Promoting ridership, rider training, and riding gear, working with our staff to reach new and big audiences, actors Ian Ziering and Ingo Rademacher have been a part of the Motorcycles.org circle for decades.

Known for their television work, Ziering from “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Sharknado,” Rademacher with “General Hospital,” both are using their own social media channels to help get future riders interested in two wheels. Read More

COMMUNICATIONS Autoweek Heads to Fastrack Riders with Motorcycles.org Motorcycles.org, the industry’s media outreach program, invited Autoweek’s West Coast Editor Mark Vaughn to Fastrack Riders last month to experience the Rider Development School. The result was a great feature story, with photos, about yet another way to enjoy motorcycling: a terrific entry-level track-day rider course. It’s on the Autoweek website and is slated to be in the magazine, enjoyed by many car enthusiasts since 1958, and reaching a considerable audience of motorheads and auto industry influencers.

Yamaha provided the MT-07 motorcycle for the track day at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, with the bike prepped by Boyko Racing in Costa Mesa.

“There’s a whole new world of performance possibility out there, and I got a taste of it,” Vaughn wrote in the piece. “Maybe I will come back. Many riders do. In fact, many do all their fast riding here, instead of on mountain roads. There are benefits to that.” Read More

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QWR believes that OHV recreation sites in California and the West will continue to face the likelihood of more intense wildfires over the next 10-20 years. We also believe that creation of skilled agency and/or volunteer dirtbike-based strike teams will have an ever increasingly important role to play in delivery of timely and strategic post wildfire recovery efforts on narrow OHV trails that are largely inaccessible by larger vehicles.

On a related tangent Post Wildfire OHV Recovery Alliance (PWORA) was finally listed on Facebook as a non-profit.

Feel free to join me in donating to the launch of PWORA as a listed non-profit charity on Facebook. It is also an Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501 (c) (3) charity. The IRS confirmation allows POWRA to obtain corporate insurance, receive grants/donations and complete agreements with land agencies. It is a significant accomplishment that will enhance our capacity building efforts as we address the ongoing impacts of the 2018 wildfires and head into the 2019 wildfire season.

Dirtbike-Based Post Wildfire Recovery Project of 50 Inch Trail Mendocino National Forest - Grindstone Ranger District

LESSONS LEARNED ON THE TRAIL There Is An Important Role for DirtbikeBased Trail Crews

by Don Amador

O

ne of the lessons the Quiet Warrior Racing/ Consulting land use team and our Governmental agency friends have learned is that there is a critical role to be played by dirtbikes during the ongoing post wildfire recovery efforts. This message has been driven home during the recovery efforts for three federal destination OHV areas devastated by the 2018 450,000+ acre Mendocino Complex Fire.

Downed Trees on 50-Inch Trail (BEFORE) Mendocino National Forest - Grindstone Ranger District

The subsequent record rain fall this winter and spring continues to cause even more issues. Every day highlights the need for skilled dirtbike-based “strike teams� to perform important hazard mitigation tasks on the narrower 50-inch or single-track motorcycle trails.

While some BLM Field Offices, National Forests, and Ranger Districts have excellent trail crews or volunteers that can buck out downed trees or repair trail damage on routes used by larger OHVs such as SxSs or 4x4 vehicles, it appears that many Government agencies do not have the staff in-house with those advanced dirtbike riding skills to deploy on narrow trail-based hazard mitigation projects.

As you know, intense wildfires can destroy important OHV management tools along narrow routes such as trail delineators and signs. Debris flows and downed trees can also impact trail access and in many remote areas they are most effectively addressed by dirt-bike based post wildfire recovery trail crews or strike teams.

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Bucked Out Downed Trees on 50-Inch Trail (AFTER) Mendocino National Forest - Grindstone Ranger District

Don Amador has been in the trail advocacy and recreation management profession for almost 29 years. Don is President of Quiet Warrior Racing/Consulting. Don served as a contractor to the BlueRibbon Coalition from 1996 until June, 2018. Don served on the California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission from 1994-2000. He has won numerous awards including being a 2016 Inductee into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame and the 2018 Friend of the AMA Award. Don currently serves as the government affairs lead for AMA District 36 in Northern California. He may be reached via email at: damador@quietwarriorracing.com

Please tread lightly and travel only on routes and in areas designated open for motor vehicle use.

Remember, Respected Access is Open Access.

THIS PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT IS POWERED BY

larger issues from the start. I think the technical term is “shit-misted”. Of course, it doesn’t help that it comes along at a time when, as a society, we are more polarized than ever before on topics like climate change.

Instead of saving the planet, I encourage motorcyclists to look at electric power as they would any other new technology, and form opinions based solely on their value proposition as motorcycles. We’ve done this before when we went through a similar, although admittedly not as radical, technology shift a few years back when it came to two-strokes vs. four strokes for the off-road market. Battle lines were drawn; proponents lined up on both sides of the fence. In the end, four-strokes prevailed and look what we got for it.

POLITICS, RELIGION AND ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLES Forget Saving The Planet, Can eBikes Save Our Industry?

By Scot Harden

J

udging from some of the feedback I received on last month’s issue on electric motorcycles it’s pretty clear no other topic in all of motorcycling draws more angst or ire. It’s the third rail of any conversation regarding the future of motorcycles, particularly motorcycle racing. And just like religion and politics, eMotorcycles remains a topic best not discussed amongst friends. However, at the risk of poking the bear one more time, I want to share a few more thoughts on electric motorcycles in the hopes of shifting the focus of the conversation… and possibly even shedding some of the baggage that surrounds them.

The majority of my professional career has been spent helping bring new motorcycles to market for OEMs, including KTM and Husqvarna. I also spent six years doing the same for an electric motorcycle manufacturer, where I developed a clear understanding of the technology; it’s benefits and limitations. In the process I heard every objection imaginable from the press, dealers and consumers. Even my close friends and industry colleagues looked at me like I had grown a third eye when they learned I was working for an electric motorcycle manufacturer. As a group we are nothing if not deeply passionate about our sport and, as it turns out, fairly rigid in our views about what constitutes a “real” motorcycle.

As some of your recent responses demonstrate, the biggest challenge facing electric vehicles is its connection to hot button topics like global warming, governmental regulation and personal freedom. Unfortunately, electric technology adoption has been filtered through the lens of these much

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PROS On the plus side, much lighter, more technically sophisticated, high power four-strokes are now the norm. On the downside, higher retail prices, increased maintenance and operational costs resulting, as some might argue, in declining ridership. Driving this technological shift was the need to meet more stringent emissions requirements or, as some might conclude, global warming and increased governmental regulation. The difference between now and then, I don’t recall arguments against four-stroke technology connected to global warming nearly as strongly as they are today on the subject of electric vehicles.

Setting aside the sound issue for a moment, let’s look at the primary ownership experience differences between electric and ICE. Here’s a short list on the plus side: Electric motorcycles are 80% more thermally efficient than internal combustion (much less power loss through heat), no vibration, practically zero powertrain maintenance, ease of operation (no shifting or clutch), extremely low operational costs, fantastic torque and acceleration and fuel costs averaging a little over a penny a mile. Anyone looking for basic transportation, commuting and short, fun weekend rides; electric motorcycles offer everything a traditional motorcycle does in terms of sheer fun and excitement.

Moreover, electric technology is already having a big impact on the youth motorcycle market. Kids are riding in backyards, in vacant lots and in all sorts of places they couldn’t ride before simply due to ease of operation (no

shifting or clutch) and lack of noise. We need look no further than the success of companies like Oset and STACYC to see how important they are to the future of motorcycling.

And soon KTM will add a full electric mini-cycle line to its e-Freeride. Husky already has announced its new EE 50 (see eDealernews elsewhere in this issue).

CONS On the downside, electric motorcycles have limited range (currently less than 100 miles On-Highway) and therefore limited utility. In addition, they require excessive downtime when it comes time to refuel/recharge (measured in hours not minutes). The technology comes at a premium price (30% - 100% over ICE). Then there is, at least in these initial stages, the legitimate concerns about obsolescence and diminished resale value as Moore’s Law impacts the technology curve.

No question, eMotorcycles have some real barriers to entry.

Even the biggest e-proponent has to take into account these serious obstacles to ownership. It also explains the main reason why current e-sales amount to less than ½ of 1% the total motorcycle market.

Note: we still haven’t addressed the issue of saving the planet or the massive carbon footprint of current battery technology… nor will we! The argument here is are eCycles “real” motorcycles?

SOUND OFF Instead of the environment, let’s discuss sound. Honestly sound can be argued as both a pro and a con.

Pro: Quiet bikes provide for a heightened sense of awareness and zen-like peace of mind while riding and as mentioned above may be beneficial in opening up new offroad riding areas.

Con: Admittedly, quiet bikes are not everyone’s cup of tea.

Some will argue sound is one of their primary attractions for riding, and a safety issue as well. In the end, let’s call it a draw and leave sound as a matter of personal preference.

THE BOTTOM LINE Electric motorcycles should be judged solely on their value proposition and whether they satisfy your needs and requirements as a rider. Quit trying to connect them to global warming, governmental regulations and whether or not they are a part of some hidden agenda to control your life, ruin our sport and kill all our fun. Frankly, we have much bigger fish to fry on real issues affecting motorcycling’s future (e.g.; trade wars, land use, declining ridership, etc.).

One thing is certain, electric power will play a major role in the future of motorcycling. It’s already positively impacting some model segments. The technology is improving at a rapid rate and just one generation in battery chemistry and energy density away from solving the main objections against them. The more electric vehicles on the road, the less pressure on fossil fuels, oil reserves, and gas prices.

This alone should keep internal combustion viable for years to come.

I for one am excited about having more options when it comes to motorcycling. At the end of the day motorcycling is, at least for me, about kinesis and freedom, the sensory experience I get from riding the machine, from unfettered movement through space. It’s about escape from daily life, work and other pressures. It’s about discipline and competition; a lifestyle that celebrates quality time with friends and family. Most of all its about the joy I get every time I twist the throttle.

BTW, the last electric bike I rode weighed less than 500 lbs. and had 140 ft./pounds of torque! Trust me, it was a very joyful thing and never once when I opened the throttle did I think I was saving the planet!

AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Scot Harden has enjoyed a nearly 40-year career as one of the world’s top off-road racers and compiled a set of records that few can match. From 1971 until his final professional race in 2007 — at the age of 51 — Harden mastered a wide range of off-road disciplines. He also has compiled an impressive executive management resume within the motorcycle industry as a brand builder, race team manager, sales professional and product planner with such companies as Husqvarna, KTM, BMW, Zero Motorcycles and Best in the Desert. Harden also is owner of Harden Offroad, a business consulting practice. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2008.

JUNE 2019

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Wünschisms

By Uncle Paul

Maintenance

Keeping Aliens From Another Planet Happy

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wünschism #72 declares, “Things were going fine; now they’re back to normal.” So, we’ve got this new Alien From Another Planet spinning wrenches on-line for six months.

He’s doing okay for the moment, smiling, whistling while he works… Life is good. What are we going to do to ensure this state of bliss continues? How do we hang onto this guy? Beats the hell outta me. Uncle Paul’s as confused as the rest of you. Tell ya what, why don’t we do some “brainstorming” (same as what Uncle Paul calls a “drizzle”) and see what comes of it. We’ll make a game of it. I’ll throw out a buzz word, you think about it, then read Uncle Paul’s take on the subject. Sounds like fun! Speaking of fun, I want you to cut out these pearls of wisdom each month and set them aside in a special folder. About a year from now, you will have a comprehensive operations manifesto for running your service department.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------What Makes Aliens Happy? od love’em… motorcycle mechanics, a.k.a. Aliens From Another Planet. Uncle Paul is an Alien From Another Planet; I be a High Commander. I knows. Er, uh, well…

Maybe when I say, “I knows,” that’s a bit incongruous when it comes to the subject of Aliens. I suppose it’s like saying Uncle Paul understands bow-legged ladies. Been hanging out and fiddlin’ around with both for a number of years, and still don’t seem much further along than where I started (with either group).

G

Aliens get off on being treated like “real people.” I know that.

They respond to praise and goodwill. They seem to have the same needs and desires as most humans. I know all that,

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too. Might as well just come out and say it: “Uncle Paul thinks motorcycle mechanics are anthropomorphic.” I also think Aliens can morph into humans after a long period of time spinning wrenches on line. Don’t laugh, this is serious stuff.

Teenagers do it. They morph from know-it-all babbling idiots to know-it-all blubbering adults, happens all the time. I’m tellin’ ya, I think these guys morph!

Walk back there to the grease pit of goo, a.k.a. your service area. Uncle Paul calls it a “day-care center for adult lookalikes.” If your shop maintains three or more mechanics, one of the three will probably be a High Commander. Take a look at his tool collection. Look at the snapshots of race bikes. Think about the weekends and days off he’s spent at the race track.

He might even have special schooling certificates hanging in his work area. Do you see a commitment here? Do you realize all the time and money he’s devoted to his craft? Good, solid motorcycle mechanics do what they do because they love doing it. They’re committed and dedicated, I’m tellin’ ya.

Can you say the same thing about your other employees?

What does that salesman bring to the job? A pencil, mouse pad and hangover, most likely. How committed and devoted is he to his craft, to your business, to our industry?

The days when Little Joey could crawl from under a car and “fix” a friend’s motorcycle are over. Our two-wheeled freedom machines are getting more and more complicated, with more and more precision fit and finish. Technology is pushing the design and development of new equipment and new innovations forward at a blistering pace. It’s tough breaking into the field of motorcycle mechanics… and just as difficult keeping up with it. Personally, I think a person choosing to become a professional motorcycle mechanic is very special.

I kid them a lot, but I’m not sure owners and managers think much about the respect or appreciation afforded these guys.

Might be important to think about this a moment.

Fair young maidens? Females? The opposite sex? Sure, Uncle Paul knows all about them. The bride and me have been hitched for 34 years. It took her a couple of months to break me in, and a couple more to break me. Now I have her exactly where she wants me. Figuring out Aliens? Now that’s tough!

Shop Day Once every four months, one of Love Cycles’ Aliens From Another Planet rotates to “Shop Day.” This is volunteered (without pay) labor and is used for plant maintenance, special training, shop projects, even as a learning tool — anything management needs done around the shop that is non-income producing. That’s the only rule… no customer work. It can last a full day, or only a few hours — management’s option.

Most always, I’ll have virgins (first-timers pulling Shop Day duty) clean the main service-area floor. Out comes the electric scrubber, mop, water bucket and soap. It’s an all-day work marathon. Know what? From then on, that particular Alien will tend to the shop floor like it belonged to a Marine drill instructor. “Better not walk past an oil spill without wiping it up!”

Shop Day is a great way to keep equipment serviced or repaired, too. Drain the compressor, change light bulbs, repair air hoses and electrical cords. Jobs requiring a mechanical touch, a strong back and weak mind — any little janitorial and maintenance jobs that need attending to are all addressed on Shop Day.

Uncle Paul sometimes uses Shop Day to spank a naughty Alien.

We’ve got a supplies and paint cabinet at our shop. One day, I walked by and noticed multi-colored spray-spots all around the cabinet. Seems my merry minions were too lazy to test their paint cans on a piece of cardboard or something. The wall was close, it was handy… squirt! squirt! squirt!

Now understand, Uncle Paul has a real nice place, here. Fresh paint, wallpaper, fancy lighting… except for the supplies locker wall, which has these drippy, multi-colored, ugly test spots all over it. First I thought about going into my crazed Nazi act.

Nawh, that’s more amusing than terrifying. I thought I know who the “main” culprit was, but no one is gonna fess up to something like this. So when Shop Day rolled around, I had a chat with the main suspect:

U.P.: “Yo! Alien From Another Planet! Today is Shop

Day for you, right?

Alien: “Yassum, masser.”

I glanced at a computer list titled, “Shop Day Projects.” This is a reminder list of Shop Day activities, as well as specific duties or jobs to be performed.

U.P.: “Says here ‘Paint locker wall.’ Let’s go look.”

Alien: “I don’t do dat, Uncle Paul.”

U.P.: “Hey, no problem. Big Leroy lives in our ceiling,

he musta done it. Get a paint sample off the

wall, go by Home Depot and pick up a quart of

color-matched paint. Purchase a brush and

some thinner, too. Here’s some money.”

Alien: “You want me to spend my Shop Day painting

this crummy wall?”

U.P.: Yeah, kinda nasty looking, huh? And see where

some idiot missed the wall and sprayed the

cabinet? Clean that mess up with the thinner,

too. When you finish that, we need the varsol

vat cleaned, and some other odds and ends.

Thanks, Bud!”

Shop Day is also a good time for special individualized training, like dyno experience, special tutoring on electrics, learning the parts system better, shop project bikes, maybe even reading a tech article that would benefit the Alien. As long as you don’t try to profit directly from Shop Day, i.e. no customer work.

I haven’t had any complaints from the Aliens about this. They spend a lot of time in that shop, so the least they can do is give up eight hours (three times a year) to maintain it. Shop Day. It works.

Time Out/Time Off We’re pretty loose about time off at Love Cycles. With Houston’s mild weather and virtually no winter, the climate kind of flops around from mild-hot to harsh-hotter, so we don’t have a true slow season. The shop is open six days a week, but Aliens are rotated to single mechanic status on Saturday. Some folks like Mondays off, some like a long weekend. Then there’s the annual event when you leave friends and loved ones to spend time with your family, a.k.a., the Christmas/New Year holidays.

Deer-hunting season, sick kids, motorcycle racing, flounder runs, parakeets that need a hysterectomy. Whatever.

“Tell management in advance, don’t let time off interfere with shop or personal production goals, don’t expect to be paid for it, but take whatever time off you need.” That’s the policy at Love Cycles.

Wünschism #60 states, “The reason mechanics don’t come to work on time is because it makes their day longer.” Tardiness is not tolerated without a phone call within 30 minutes of the normal ETA. If an Alien is expected in at 9 a.m. and decides not to come in, or can’t make it to the shop by 9:29 for whatever reason, he’d better pick a phone up and dial it. Drag in here at 9:31 a.m. without a call, and Uncle Paul gives you “time out” — the day off without pay!

Alien: “But Uncle Paul, it’s only one minute past the

cut-off!?”

U.P.: “No, you’re 31 minutes late. I’ve already

scheduled your work to others. I haven’t got time

to juggle jobs and workers according to each

person’s morning arrival. No, take the day off.”

Alien: “Honest, Uncle Paul, my Rottweiler ate the alarm

clock. Didn’t make a sound. I couldn’t call until

11:00, cuz I was asleep… No! I was sick! Yes,

that’s it, sick and asleep.”

U.P.: “Uh huh. Take the day off. Buy yourself a new

alarm clock and some laxative for the dog. Call

me at four, tomorrow afternoon.”

Alien: “Tomorrow?!”

U.P.: “Yeah, I’m giving you a couple of days off, to get

this tardiness business straightened out.

Alien: “I can’t afford to lose two days of work!”

U.P.: “Then spend tomorrow looking for a clock that

doesn’t look like a dog biscuit, and a job that

makes coming to work on time optional.

Now, get outta here ‘fore I kill ya.”

It’s not really important why Aliens need time off. The fact is, they do. As long as their absence doesn’t skew job scheduling, production, or financial goals — and as long as management knows about it beforehand — I see no problem with a lenient time-off policy. However, tardiness upsets the flow of the shop, it screws up scheduling, it’s distracting and it’s hard on crew morale. Keep the reins tight here. Record all unauthorized absences and tardiness in your Alien’s personnel file. This is good info to have during goal and production reviews.

Noise & Music Did you know our auditory system (the ear) sends signals to the brain, which instantly decides whether it’s noise, information, or music? Me neither, I just made it up. But if I was a brainbuilder instead of a motorhead, that’s how I’d design it. Uncle Paul has tinkered with this music-in-the-workplace thing for years. Most of what I’m telling you is true.

Music is brain-candy. The human brain plays games with itself when it hears music, some form of mental masturbation, I suppose. It enjoys anticipating which musical notes are forthcoming. So Uncle Paul wonders, “If it’s having such a good time diddling with itself, how well is the brain handling other multi-tasking activities during play-time?” Motor skills, handto-eye coordination, problem-solving, that sort of thing.

Continued on page 72

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Continued from page 72

Noise and most music seem to me to be distracting in the workplace. Music is not always helpful in all work environments.

Studies aren’t conclusive. I know for a fact, Alien noise is at least a health hazard. Freaks with bones in their nose, screaming in Alien tongues, exploding guitars — Geezum! I’d just as well listen to some love-struck sheepherder moan about a favorite ewe that just left him for a goat.

There’s no other way to say it, but Uncle Paul doesn’t buy that elevator-music-in-the-workplace con, either. That stuff is nasty. Yuk! I even tried my personal favorite, classical music.

After suppressing a bloody insurrection attempt by my crew, within a month the radio volume was cranked up to toxic, and the whole damn service area was shuckin’ an’ buckin’ to that Carmen Ho and the Taco Bell Canon. So much for culture enhancement.

The psychoshrinks are now saying the best background music has 50-65 beats per minute, largo classical or newage instrumentals played at moderate to low volume. This is supposed to keep the creative juices flowing and improve the Alien’s brain-like think device when performing light mechanical tasks. Seems to me they oughta promise more than “light mechanical tasks,” though. That’s all we’re getting’ now. If you get real bold and decide to try this idea, check out a two-volume CD titled Winter Solstice by Windham Hill.

Moonlighting I’m not gonna waste your time going over all the evils of moonlighting. Yes, it takes cash flow away from your business and, yes, an individual is feathering his own nest at your expense. But those aren’t the only problems with Aliens working on the sly. It leads to tons of no-no’s.

I’ve heard every excuse in the world as to why an Alien “had to moonlight on this one job, for a friend.” I still don’t buy it. It’s still a direct violation of shop policy and a condition of employment. He promises not to, then he does it. They invariably violate Wünschism #1.

What if a good employee comes to Uncle Paul and says, “Yo, Fat Man! I’ve gotta chance to trade out some scooter work for a re-build on my truck tranny. Got any problem with that?” or “Mein Fuhrer, I must werk on ze racing moto, voud you gif me your blesszinks?” or even, “Uh, Uncle Paul, I owe a friend a favor, and he’s got a little 650. Would it be okay if I threw in some plugs and oil, kinda freshen it up a bit? I’ll do it on my time, at his place. I owe the guy.” Don’t even ask me to give you the answers… Duh!

Employees know Uncle Paul’s drill. If a customer approaches one of my Aliens to do sly-work and I found out about it, I confront the customer and run his creepy butt off. Invariably, the Alien exposing this slime-bag will get slipped a “grant” for his efforts. Whenever one of your mechanics gives you that blank-face-flat-line-Alien-stare-look-of-null when confronted about side jobs on the sly, remember Wünschism #39: “I may look dumb, but that is just a disguise.” Uncle Paul doesn’t tolerate that crap!

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Interruptions & Disruptions Love Cycles does not allow pagers, cell phones, Walkman radios, personal boomboxes or satellite dishes on business premises. Remember back in an earlier section when I told you about Aliens being distracted? How they work in time clumps and can be “disturbed” without the world coming to an end? Uncle Paul told you that so you could gear up scheduling procedures to handle quickie cash flow jobs (In An’ Outs).

Remember dat? By designating a single wrench spinner to the task of In An’ Outs, we can restrict the disruption nature of interruptions to a single individual.

Interruptions, particularly “outside” interruptions, must be strictly controlled in the Alien’s work environment (service area). It’s nearly impossible to eliminate interruptions and disruptions, so tight control is what we’re going after here.

Uncle Paul doesn’t play personal secretary to mechanics, either. True emergencies excepted, no personal calls. What the Aliens don’t understand (until it’s explained to them), is me and the paper-lady are the only folks shagging the phone. Not only is a personal call interrupting Alien work, it’s now adding to management’s workload, interrupting our jobs. Whenever anyone calls a mechanic at this shop, we might take a message and give it to the Alien at the end of his work day. Then again, maybe not; we don’t guarantee delivery like FedEx. It doesn’t take long for telemarketers, girlfriends, drug dealers, ex-wives, mommies, drinkin’ buddies, bill collectors, probation officers or friends to figure out “They ain’t getting’ through.”

We don’t allow buddy-visits, either. If an Alien feels a need to entertain an out-of-work pal, he should do so off-premises, on his day off. Nor do we allow customers to hang out “so they can learn something.” If they haven’t “learned something” by now, seems to me they’ve gotta bigger problem than they’re fessin’ up to. No dogs, no kitty cats, no children, no nothing.

Pretty simple, actually. No interruptions, no disruptions, no distractions; just Aliens From Another Planet spinning wrenches and swaying to new age music.

Written Warranty I think Love Cycles and Pro Italia in Glendale, California, may be the only shops in the country that offer a six-month written warranty on service work (parts and labor). Six months is probably overkill for most service shops; three months should basically accomplish the same thing. The point is, a written warranty sends the message, “Quality work is a serious matter with this outfit,” to customers and Aliens alike.

Warrant your word in writing. I know, I know, standing good for your word is contrary to all Canons of Lawyering. Do it anyway. You’ll need an attorney to draft this document. Try to find one that’s experienced with consumer advocate laws.

Prior to drafting the actual document, the warrant, you must counsel the lawyer on your far-reaching and dangerous idea.

See, lawyers are like Aliens; they operate to their own drumbeat. You must define and explain concepts, ideas, sometimes even words like “is” and “sex.” Mainstream English, stuff normal humans take for granted. The following outline is only a communication guide for you and your attorney. “We Are Not Practicing Law Here!”

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Continued from page 72

Guidelines Your shop desires to guarantee its work with a warrant in writing.

The document is to contain wording simple enough that even another lawyer can understand it. No weasel clauses, no fine print.

You wish to guarantee parts, labor and customer satisfaction for a period of ____ months after job completion.

Awarding the warrant will be shop-optional, discretionary. You do not intend to issue this warranty on jobs or bikes considered incomplete or dangerous; on “split-work” or abused bikes; on bikes subject to adjusted chargers or unintended use; on bikes considered to be beaters or racebikes.

If the customer returns with a problem, the shop retains the option of fixing his problem or putting the machine back to its original condition and refunding the customer’s money.

Keep it simple… not more than a half page.

Be careful here, a warranty places you in shark-infested waters: America’s legal system. Obviously, we won’t issue this guarantee on over-the-counter parts sales or to hobby shoppers. But we routinely issue it for electrical work and the components used in those jobs. Two things I want you to think about. One: In more than 20 years of wrench-spinning, Uncle Paul’s gotten two OEM electrical parts that turned out badin-the-box, only two. Most always, the Aliens mis-diagnose the problem or burn up another unit because they failed to figure out the cause of the problem to begin with. Two: Say you needed a new generating system for your 52’ Hatteras Salon (all customers think you’ve got one dry-docked at your summer villa). The boat dealer installed a new one only 31 days ago, it failed and he’s telling you it’s “electrical, so it’s outta warranty.” How do you feel about that? Even if it’s true, even if it’s not the installer’s problem, what kind of taste does it leave in your mouth?

A generous, up-front warranty can help you. Use it as a sales tool, not a weapon. It also provides you with an excellent reminder to keep quality at the forefront of your business.

A written warranty can be a competition crusher, too. “We are not inexpensive, we turn out excellent work, and we back it up with a six-month guarantee.”

Do Your Thing It took Uncle Paul a long time to figure out I shouldn’t let other people run my affairs or overly influence my business decisions. That’s why I don’t pay my Aliens a percentage of what I charge the customers. What does that have to do with the value of anything? Did you get half of the gross on the last new motorcycle you sold? Did the OEM say that was okay?

Value is a hard thing to pin down — I wanna make those kind of mistakes on my own.

Do you really think your shop’s hourly labor rate can’t be considerably higher than the guy’s down the street? Especially if you do a better job in a timely manner? Uncle Paul has a hard time buying that business of “comparative shopping intangibles.” I’ve never had a problem telling the customer I’m better than my competition. You don’t have to bad-mouth anyone to make the point, either. No ego-talk. Just explain your skills and schooling, your shop’s credentials, what’s been accomplished, what you intend to do. Any disparity in rate loses significance, if you employ this technique.

Uncle Paul culls customers and work. If the customer starts bad-mouthing right off the bat, I’m steadily trying to figure out ways of sending him down the road, without hurting his feelings. If I have to do battle over every last penny on a job, I certainly don’t have enough profit built into the work for that nonsense. Ya don’t have to take on every job that comes through the door. Nor should you allow the guys down the street to set your labor rate, “cuz that’s what they charge.”

And tell any mechanic who wants a percentage of your gross labor rate that you’ve been toying with the idea of a free labor promotion next month. He can have all of that.

I’ve never had a problem telling the customer I’m better than my competition.

You don’t have to bad-mouth anyone to make the point, either. No ego-talk.

Just explain your skills and schooling, your shop’s credentials, what’s been accomplished, what you intend to do.

*Paul Wunsch was the owner of Love Cycles, a service-only shop located in Houston, Texas.

“Wunschisms” are truisms that, according to the author, are often plagiarized or modified clichés – statements quoted so often that the employees of Love Cycles have numerically designated the most popular. Paul passed away November 21, 2003 but his wit and wisdom live on in the pages of Dealernews.

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four hours on busy Saturday afternoons, the rest of the week, the staff are either just standing around or fighting over every customer who enters the shop. Everyone makes less money… And they are not happy. And they leave. And everyone talks about the good old days.

Would it not be better to train your salespeople to qualify the customers, so that they can move on to the ones who are ready to buy? Or maybe the sales manager could talk to a few people, and hand off the ones ready to buy off to a good closer. I know that I’ve always enjoyed getting on the floor on Saturdays, or other busy times, and when I sense that there is a sale going to happen, I can ease out of the process, and hand the sale off to someone who can wrap the sale up quickly.

Anonymous Dealer

BALANCE

What Happened To The “Good Old Days”

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alance. Yin and yang. Not too hot, not too cold. The sales floor is a constantly changing environment.

I often see shops with a team of salespeople that is stable and doing a good job. Everyone is happy, and sales are going well…

Then they’re not! Sales drop off. Staff leave. New people come in, things are different, and all of a sudden, everyone is talking about the “Good old days.” What happened?

Usually it’s management who has destroyed the previously stable landscape.

I’ve seen sales managers who have decided that salespeople are making too much money. But in a commission situation, if it’s set up properly, and a good salesman is making $100,000 a year, that means that the shop is making a $400K to $500K a year, plus any service, parts and accessory sales that are spinning off of these sales. In all cases, when a manager or owner limits the commission structure, sales and morale decline, or disappears. People leave, and go elsewhere. There’s new staff. They have to be trained.

Everything falls apart. Built up systems collapse. It’s never the same.

I’ve always believed that sales people should be fat and happy. The more they make, the better my store does. If a commissioned sales person makes a huge paycheck, I’m only too happy to sign it. Some owners don’t see it that way, though.

On the unit sales floor, I’ve seen owners come in on a busy Saturday and notice that some of the customers are not being attended to immediately. He panics, and before you know it, there are two extra sales people on the floor. While there may now be enough salespeople on those three or

I’ve seen some stores hire part time sales people to take up the slack on those days where things are going crazy. So now you have a salesperson that is only there on the busy days, and picks off the sales that the full time employees could have had. The employees who were there on the slower days, trying to drum up business are now denied the fruits of their labor.

You never seem to have enough employees, just like you never seem to have enough space. So you can bitch about the odd customer who may have been ignored, or you can figure a way to handle a rush of customers that seem to show up like a group on a 50 seat bus. Without destroying the balance on the showroom floor.

With a bit of investigation, you might even find, as I have in the past, that a particular wandering unattended person might just be there waiting for a service appointment to end, or perhaps he had been approached by some staff, told them that he was “just looking” and didn’t need any help.

There are, of course, two possibilities in this case; he may be “just looking” for sport, or “just looking” for a new bike.

A good salesperson will qualify these people and get to the heart of the matter. Quickly. That’s where training will come in. And once you get a well-trained sales team, do not upset the applecart by over-reacting when the odd person is seemingly unattended. It will often happen, no matter how many people you have on staff.

It’s all about balance; making sure the needs of the customer are balanced by the morale and the livelihood of the staff.

It’s all up to you!

Yes, our international man of mystery is a real dealer; no we are not going to tell you who he is. Saying the things that you are thinking, without risking getting the franchise pulled. The Anonymous Dealer has more than three decades experience at the dealership, in every position from porter to dealer principal.

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Phoenix Rises!

By Robin Hartfiel

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’ve said it before, I’m a sucker for a new story or an old bike. High tech and retro can capture my fickle funny bone (and more importantly activate the crowbar to crack the editorial wallet). The Phoenix Handlebars story is one of those tales that takes me back to the roots of this industry and why we got into it.

“No matter when you first rode a motorcycle, it most certainly left a lasting impression,” say Phoenix Handlebars founder Jason Gearld. “Because here you are still here all these years later and you still love to ride. So do I. That’s why I created this brand. Over the years, the challenges of riding dirtbikes has continued to grow. Land closures, rising prices of motorcycles, four-stroke maintenance hassles, and just regular life in general. But through it all, you find the time, the money, the desire, the excitement and most of all, the fun.

“That is why I created a brand that celebrates and honors those who work 40+ hours a week and still find time to clean an air filter on Thursday night before bed so they can be ready to ride on Saturday morning.

They are the heros to our story.”

They are also the backbone of our industry.

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Photo by Jason Gearld

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GENIUS FROM PHOENIX

Albert Einstein said “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” That is what we set out to do in creating our 50/50 Grip. The tried-and-true single compound that we know has worked and worked well for countless riders for decades. Then we added the half waffle style that keeps traction where we need it and smoothness where it belongs, too — on your palm. Each grip comes with our signature gold safety wire. Even Albert couldn’t deny that should be included. While our 50/50 Grip has three channels for the safety wire, we made sure the one closest to the inner flange has been moved 5mm to allow pliers to spin freely when putting on the wire. We are not all built the same, but we have designed a grip that will satisfy even the pickiest of hands on the gnarliest of rides. We are not all built the same… But we all share the same passion for moto. https://www.phoenixhandlebars.com/grips

MONKEYSHINES FROM YOSHIMURA!

Full disclosure, my brother and I shared an original 1960s era Honda Monkey as our first bike… and I have an unnatural desire to get another one. Problem is the new ones don’t look quite right. However the latest authentic bits are now available from Yoshimura, including this right side cover for the 2019 Honda Monkey. “Made of ABS plastic, this cover takes care of that bald spot that happens when the stock high mount exhaust is removed,” says marketing manager Erick Bartoldus. “This is perfect when using a low mount exhaust like our GP Magnum or Straight Cyclone systems.” Each unit is unpainted and comes with all mounting hardware and instructions straight from Japan. Available exclusively from Yoshimura. https://www.yoshimura-rd.com/collections/honda-monkey-2019/ products/honda-monkey-right-side-cover-516-400-3000

MOBBER FOR MINIS

Not everyone is a fiend for Monkeys like I am, but there are plenty of Grom guys, Z125 and Benelli TnT135 pilots in need of replacement rubber when they ride the wheels off these little beasts. Shinko Tires has launched a brand new Mobber Tire, a perfect addition to the increasingly popular small-bore bike market, according to Shinko Brand Manager Kyle Isaacs. This DOT approved tire is a playful allterrain powerhouse packed into a small package. Designed to let riders be as comfortable on pavement as dirt, the Mobber is an all access pass to all environments. “Shinko took the tried and tested 504/505 off-road tires and redesigned them specifically to meet the needs of the small-bore bike market,” says Isaacs “The all-new Shinko Mobber tires are true off-road performers giving riders the DOT requirements they need while on the streets. Adventure riding and off-road mobbing on small bore bikes.... that’s what the Shinko Mobber was built for.” https://www.shinkotireusa.com/product/mobber-tire/280448

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ACE IN THE HOLE

The Trilobite tale is one that bears repeating as the Czech brand comes from the heart. Company founder Martin Solar’s chance runin with Motonation’s Bill Berroth has resulted in an influx of product innovation, technological advances and timeless styling. What’s not to like? There are two new pants and jackets coming in addition to the Ace and throwback Rally waxed cotton jacket already available.

Although the upper shell of the Ace looks like denim, it is actually made of strong Polyester fiber which provides a high level of abrasion resistance. There is a fixed Tri-Tex® 10,000/10,000 waterproof and breathable membrane inside for waterproofing and breathability.

Oh, yeah, the outside of the jacket is hydrophobically treated to repel water. High tech meets timeless denim style, indeed! https://www.motonation.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idprodu ct=8509&idcategory=198

WATERWETTER

Back in 1979 racers at Red Line Synthetic Oil started making products for racers… now they have more than 100 products. When flat track legend Willie McCoy got hooked up with them, it made me take a second look at WaterWetter. While it is not exactly a “new” product, it certainly has a compelling story. Basically by lowering the surface tension of coolant, WaterWetter lowers engine coolant temperatures, reducing cylinder head hot spots. In addition to its increased cooling abilities, it also keeps aluminum engine internals from corroding. Want to become a Red Line dealer? Click here: https://www.redlineoil.com/become-a-dealer

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN

SRC Moto is introducing a new product line focusing specifically on accessories for the Royal Enfield Himalayan. “We see a need for innovative, high-quality accessories over and above what’s traditionally offered by the OEM and overlooked by current aftermarket companies,” says Scott Hart, President of Moto Stuff and SRC Moto co-founder. “These mid-sized motorcycles are fun, versatile, agile and affordable which is bringing many first-time riders to the growing adventure motorcycle segment.” A formal Dealer Program is being officially launched for Royal Enfield dealers located throughout the USA and Canada. https://www.srcmoto.com/collections/himalayan-all/

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MOTOZ HYBRIDS Gonzo Gets Some Traction

By Charlie Williams

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ack in the old days if you walked into the break room of most magazines and threw a set of knobby tires on the floor… well, the first thing is all the people wearing fingernail polish leave the room in a huff. Then the V-Twin editor and the Sport Bike editor go back to their phones; the Adventure guy acts interested, but they won’t fit his ride (they never do). so he’s just being polite. Soon it’s down to a grunt like me and the janitor who claims seniority and wants to make a tire swing for his grandkids.

See the thing is, to test a tire one must change a tire… And changing a motorcycle tire is one of the most blood letting activities known to humanity, short of leeches and a woman’s moon cycle.

It takes a special breed, one strong enough to bust a bead (and several knuckles), yet dumb enough to agree to change a tire.I didn’t get this gig because I’m smart or funny, no, I was just willing to take the job.

Hence today’s “Knobby Tire review.”

Motoz, pronounced Mo-Tozz — or as I like to butcher it and call ’em Moe-Toes! The Australian brand is made in Thailand and gaining traction in the American market. The tires are designed in Australia, tested world wide and then built in a Thai factory that’s been making tires for 40 years. Motoz owns the moulds and secret formulas — the brains behind everything is Australian, and they know riding.

Even as this was being written, Mr. Motoz was “Tyre” testing at the KTM Adventure Rally somewhere in the Australian outback. How cool would that be?

Motoz offers a wide range of off-road applications, lots of Adventure and long distance compounds. There are also Arena Hybrid and Mountain Hybrid tread patterns and compounds. Compounding is one of Motoz strongest subjects, ranging from entirely natural rubber to mixes of synthetics and natural rubber, they provide customization not readily available in giant production runs.

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The Arena Hybrid is an interesting tire, it has a super soft carcass in the foot print, but stiff sidewalls. It’s a real cross between a trials tire and a knobby. If you have not used a trials tire off-road it’s truly an amazing experience. Sure, there are drawbacks, side walls so soft the tire doesn’t turn well, plus the little trials knobs don’t work in mud. But the traction of a trials tire over slick roots and rocks is amazing and in many cases I’ll take the drawbacks of the true trials tire in exchange for riding over impossible sections.

The Arena Hybrid addresses the two big issue, it’s an open knob pattern so it works better in the mud, and the carcass has stiffer sidewalls so it will turn. Traction is tremendous, not quite as good as a trials tire, but way better than a standard knobby. Here’s the best feature: Since traction is better, I spin the tire less and the tire lasts longer. Whoa, did that just happen? Less spinning means more moving forward and less environmental damage, too. Oh am I winning now!

Less spinning means less wear. My rear tire has 800 miles on it and it’s finally starting to show a little wear, but traction is still tremendous.I could easily get 1,000 miles out of this tire… or more.

Of course Motoz are more expensive and hard to find, but wow the performance is sure worth the journey. Motoz offers the same tire in “Gummy Rubber” too, I can’t wait to ride one of those cause the regular is phenomenal. Motoz offers 21” tires with the same recipe, I’ll let you know about that right here, once I’ve put a few hundred miles on one.

Okay, I know this is sounding like one of those Blow Job articles Bernardo warned us about, so I’ll break it way down. Traction is really good; it lasts forever, it weighs less than average, the people behind it are true motorcycle guys. They are also odd and obscure and following their own drummers. I give this one two bloody thumbs up. http://www.motoztires.com/

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MILNE CUP KICKS OFF 50+ SPEEDWAY SEASON Same As It Ever Was!

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In fact, it wasn’t until another Costa Mesa local Bruce Penhall went to Wembley in 1981 that another American would win the World Championship on the 500cc machines burning pure methanol running wide open… with no brakes!

The sounds and smells of speedway are just part of the experience… so is the dirt in your beer for the uninitiated with seats in Turn 1.

Only 185 yards long, 4 lap races just take a couple minutes or as longtime announcer and worthy successor to Flanders and Huffman, former racer Terry “Ike” Clanton, explains, “Speedway is a party interrupted every two minutes by a race.” Well, double that during the infamous “Harley Night” events. Nothing quite like seeing a couple dozen riders of questionable skills taking to the track on borrowed baggers… Now that is a party!

However, the Milne Cup kickoff limits the craziness to the Division 3 rookies and the sidehacks (1,000cc and nitrous since “normal” speedway bikes aren’t loony enough). Not to worry, says second generation International Speedway promoters Brad and Jaleen Oxley. “Harley Night will be back this season… a couple of times.”

The husband and wife team have confirmed an 11 race schedule for 2019. The former two-time National Champion, “Rad Brad” keeps his father’s legacy going strong… although he says he is the caretaker in a self-deprecating way. Indeed, he is a hands-on promoter who does everything including track prep and janitorial work if that is what it takes to keep the show going on.

Somehow the curious combination of family friendly (kids line the crash wall to high five the racers as they parade by to start the festivities), to the fact there are no brakes and Speedway-sized beers flowing still seems to work. Same as it ever was, pitching it sideways since 1969!

or the past 50 years, the “bull ring” at the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds in Southern California has hosted Speedway racing on weekend nights throughout the summer. Generations of SoCal kids grew up to Mean Gene The Dancing Machine’s chants of “More Beer” offset by the dulcet tones of Bruce Flanders and legendary Motormouth Larry Huffman in the announcers booth.

A combination of great racing, semi-controlled chaos and a genuinely positive vibe that began with the first race during the Summer of Love back in 1969 continues to this very day.

Started by the 1937 World Speedway Champion Jack Milne and the “Godfather” Harry Oxley, their families now carry on the tradition. And as tribute to Jack, the Milne Cup kicks off each new season with the winner’s name going onto the very same trophy presented to him at Wembley in England See the full 2019 Costa Mesa Speedway Race schedule on when he beat his brother Cordy to win that 1937 world title. the website: http://costamesaspeedway.net/

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JUNE 2019

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Photo by Joe Bonnello

Ave Atque Vale Sarge — Robert Allen Fiesler November 21, 1951 – February 18, 2019

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lthough Robert Fiesler a.k.a.

Sarge passed away back in February, we wanted to honor him in conjunction with the kickoff to the 51st Speedway season at Costa Mesa. The start of each season is marked by the Milne Cup in honor of America’s first Speedway champ, Jack Milne. The Milne Cup was a favorite for Sarge… he won Division 3 in 2015, and in 2011 he finished third in the 13th annual edition of racing for Jack Milne’s 1937 Queen’s Coronation Cup. Ave atque vale — the Latin phrase for “hail and farewell” as those attending a Roman officer’s funeral would say — is appropriate for Sarge. Fiesler served in Vietnam with the U. S. Army, and was a 35-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. However at the Costa Mesa bull ring Sarge was saluted as a racer working his way up through the ranks, dreaming of making the First Division.

It is with great sadness that the family of Robert Allen Fiesler (“Sarge”) announces his passing at home, surrounded by family, after a brave struggle with brain cancer, on Monday, February 18, 2019, at the age of 67 years. Robert will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 20 years, Susan, and his son Rob. He is also survived by his mother, Lois Garner, sister Ivy Garner Oakes (Kenneth),

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his sister Deborah Fiesler Doucen, all residing in Texas, and a brother, Allen Dale Fiesler. He has two nieces, Kirsten and Chrissie, three nephews, Chris, Jason, and Corey, and a great-nephew Grayson. Robert was predeceased by his father Dale Allen Fiesler.

Robert served in Vietnam with the U. S. Army, and was a 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. He is remembered by his family, friends and colleagues as a man who lived a life defined by integrity, loyalty and dignity.

A man who was tough and strong, but also kind and generous. A devoted

husband and loving father, and selfless in his service to his country, community and others. A friend to all, happiest when he could make someone smile.

A Funeral Service in memory of Robert was held on Friday, February 22, 2019 at the Harbor Lawn – Mt. Olive Memorial Park, with Pastor Wade Whitcomb officiating. Memorial donations in memory of Sarge can still be made to Devil Pups Inc., Youth Program for America, P. O. Box 1540, Wilmington, CA 90748.

Godspeed Sarge!

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SHARK Helmets...........................................................53 STACYC..........................................................................39 Steelcore.......................................................................63 Suffragists...................................................................61 Tread Lightly................................................................67 Trilobite........................................................................87 Tucker Powersports....................................................25 Vroom Network...........................................................73 Western Power Sports.............................................2-3 Yuasa.............................................................................34

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• “How lucky that I am not broken by what has happened and am not afraid of what is about to happen. The same blow might have struck anyone, but not many would have absorbed it without capitulation or complaint.

Bad luck, borne nobly, is good luck.”

• “Purge your mind of all aimless and idle thoughts, especially those that pry into the affairs of others or wish them ill.”

• “We live only in the present. In this fleet-footed moment. The rest is lost and behind us, or ahead of us and may never be found.”

• “No human action can be well taken without reference to the Divine.”

• “When the sovereign spirit within us is true to nature, it stands poised and ready to adjust to every change in circumstance and to seize each new opportunity.”

Backfire

By John Murphy

THE EMPEROR’S HANDBOOK

F

“

riends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears!” Okay, so this bit of rhetoric was penned by that English bloke Bill Shakespeare rather than a real Roman. But now that I have your eye, allow me to take an opportunity to share with you some of my favorite quotes from a real Roman philosopher and leader. The Emperor’s Handbook is a new translation of the “Meditations” by the 1st Century Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius.

I find myself referring to this book time and time again. While I am not exactly carving out one of the largest empires the world has ever known, I do frequently wonder ‘Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them.” Wait, that is from that Bill guy again.

In all seriousness, consulting with Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations” always seems to bring some semblance of rationality to my life, no matter what the hell is thrown my way.

Please note that these quotes are all notes to himself, never meant to be published or shared, and yet, I find them to be evidence of the fact that history does indeed repeat itself. It also makes me think that Marcus Aurelius may indeed be the most important “Philosopher King” in history.

Here some of my favorite musings, in no particular order.

Find the ones that pertain to your lot in life and and hear the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, now that you have lent me your eyes and ears:

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• “Nature insists upon whatever benefits the whole.”

• “Always run the shortest course, the one laid out by nature.”

• “How, at this moment, am I using my mind?” “This is a question worth asking all of the time.”

• “Let this be your one joy and delight: to go from one act of kindness to another with your mind fixed on God.” • “Bear in mind that the measure of a man is the worth of the things he cares about.”

• “Don’t fear the future. You will face it, if that is your fate, armed with the same reason that protects and guides you in the present.”

• “Living is more like wrestling than dancing: you have to stay on your feet, ready and unruffled, while blows are being rained down upon you, sometimes from unexpected quarters.”

• “Modest in victory; graceful in defeat.”

• “Whether speaking to the Senate or to the humblest person, use language that is respectful, but not affected. Let your speech be plain and honest.”

• “Nature allows nothing that you can’t handle.”

• “Be ready, and welcome it when it is your turn to experience change, for there is nothing like it to heighten the sensibilities and elevate your mind.”

• “What nature gives is best, and best too at the time it is given.”

I wish you all a safe and profitable Summer.

Sincerely, John Murphy Publishing Consultant

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