We caught up with Chris Ferrell, the driving force behind Greene County Choppers of Springfield, MO, just as he was heading for the airport and a flight to Chicago. No, it wasn’t a Christmas vacation. He was flying out to the Windy City to see a customer who needed some service done on his motorcycle, one of three customs GCC had built for him including the very first GCC “Boss,” their first “Bobster,” as well as a 300 wide tired bike. Yeah, a three-peat customer who may be contemplating a fourth and a fairly clear indication of the level of GCC customer satisfaction.
A big portion of GCC’s success is attributed to its personalized customer service. Like flying to Chicago with their wrenches. Chris has been spinning those wrenches for some 20 years. Back in the day he worked at a variety of shops then one day, in 2003, he built a bike in his garage. He put it up on EBay and it sold. “Hmm, I thought, that went well. Maybe I can do two. Then I thought, well, I could have a little shop away from the house, say just a 1000 sq. ft. building, no big deal. I could be away from house for eight hours a day and just build bikes.”
”That one bike became two bikes, then three bikes, then immediately after we launched our web site up I found myself with six full custom bike orders,” Chris said. “I realized, whoa, now I need to hire people, research product liability and all that stuff. In 2004 we moved to a 4,000 sq. foot building and we produced 25 custom bikes. And it all started with that one bike in my garage.”
GCC has grown into an 8,000 sq. ft. facility, and very importantly, with the new laws now going into force for 2006, GCC is a NHTSA/DOT certified manufacturer so their bikes can be registered like any other production motorcycle. Plus there’s an affordability factor, complete turnkey customs starting around $15K.While financing is available, like any other vehicle through your bank, loan company, or credit union, GCC also provides a link to Capitol One for vehicle loans. They can even assist in acquiring insurance for your bike. GCC has an A+ rating with the insurance industry and has had no problems procurring customer bikes insurance, through most major insurance companies including State Farm.
To add further weight to their product line, and added value “insurance” to their customers, GCC provides a two-year, overall warranty on their bikes and separate warranties for the engine and transmission. Plus they are Kelley Blue Book Listed for the years 2003-2005 and looking toward NADA listing shortly.
Looking back at the motivation for heading out on his own, Chris says, “A few years ago I had the opportunity to work with Larry Currick at Mid-USA Motorcycle Parts in St. Louis, MO as a Product Development Technician in the Research and Development Dept. Larry taught me a lot and gave me the desire to build bikes on my own, namely customs. That experience also gave me a huge insight into the industry that most of us never see. After leaving there I tried to put what I had learned to good use and now with plenty of hard work we have a great motorcycle manufacturing company. We believe in quality work at affordable prices and with that in mind we had a very small staff which included myself, my brother, my daughter, and my wife.”
Asked to describe the GCC style of bike, Chris defers to the customer who came up with neo-retro modern bobber. Says Chris, laughing, “To this day, I’m not even sure what he means by that. I like a bike with hidden wires and extraneous stuff. I can say I really love bobbers, but also the pro street sleek look. Bottom line, we can, and will, build any bike that someone can think up, a bike that’s of a very clean quality ride that everyone can appreciate.”
As for the genesis of GCC’s “Bobster” bike, it was a “customer generated” concept itself and emphasizes the close working relation between client and GCC. Says Chris, “It was our Chicago customer who instigated the bike as he wanted a really high class bobber, with all top drawer components including an Independent gas tank and tons of polishing including the 110 RevTech.”
With 2006 around the corner, GCC will be offering a model line that includes their WT models, the WT designation indicating bikes rolling the wide tire 250. You have a choice between the WT250 Deimos, the WT250 Viper, the WT Viper II (left-side GMA brake-pulley combo and different rear fender and exhaust); WT200 Berserker, WT200 Softail Berserker; WT250 The Boss, the WT250 Comanchero, the WT200 Bobster, the WT200 Gangster and the WT200 Villain Softail. Engine options include the H-D 80, and the RevTech 88, 100, and 110.
A major move for 2006 will be a focus on supplying a line of custom bikes to dealers across the country as well as continuing to build frame-up customs for individual customers. Say Chris, “We’re working toward a goal of delivering four bikes a week to dealers and helping set up three to five bikes on their showroom floor plus supplying literature about our other model lines for their customers to check over.” So don’t worry, they won’t all go to the guy in Chicago.
Up for sale at this particular moment right off the GCC showroom floor is one of GCC’s 2005 WT200 Villain models. As we said the WT stands for wide tire. The Villain, while that stands for the bike’s attitude thanks to the bodywork, paint, 200 rear tire and RevTech 110 inch motor and all the GCC special touches. Says Chris, “This bike was built for the guy who wants a screamin’ chopper with all the cool extras GCC offers but at a working man’s price.”
(This particular bike has a few shop miles so it’s an even better deal.The bike is listed at a MSRP $19,499.00 as pictured with the base bike starting at $16,999.00.)
2005 GCC WT200 Villain Specs
110 CI RevTech Black
6 Speed GCC Black Transmission
Black All Balls 1.6 KW Starter
BDL 3″ Open Belt Primary and Clutch
21×2.15 40 Spoke Billet Hub Front Wheel covered w/a 21″ Avon Tire
18×5.5 40 Spoke Billet Hub Rear Wheel covered w/a 200 Avon Tire
Solid Billet Pulley 70 the
SS Rotors Front and Rear
Chrome Stock Brakes
Frame is 6″ up and 4″ in the backbone with 1 3/8 tubing
Rake is 46* with 5* Billet Trees
12″ Over Front Forks with Billet Lower Legs
Seat with Extra Padding
“Y Pipes” w/2-inch Exhaust
Mikuni HSR45
Legends Classic Polished Billet Forward Controls
Billet Handlebar Controls
Billet Turn Signals
Custom Kickstand
Chrome Horse Shoe Oil Tank
Chrome Billet Sidemount Lic/Tailight
GCC Puts the Custom in Custom
When you order your bike GCC also offers a choice assortment of product options including the new GCC Airide Seat for taking the rigid out of rigids. The system is made from billet aluminum sealed canisters so you don't have to worry about punctured airbags or gaudy looks and automatically equalizes the pressure to both sides and can be adjusted on the fly.
Call us for details. In the near future you can buy it separately as a kit for most rigids, pricing around $1300.
Your choice of powerplants includes completely assembled RevTech® 100 and 110 cubic inch engines pre-run at the factory and backed by a two year or 20,000 mile limited warranty. As far as your engine’s looks, you can choose either black or natural Aluminum Finish. Also available is a black wrinkle finish with highlighted cylinder fins or with a natural aluminum finish while all engines include chrome accessories. For the ultimate in show and go, you can opt for the Polished Finish. (Before assembly, GCC smoothes the raw castings and show polishes the cylinders, heads, and engine cases.)
To get your rolling in style GCC has a menu of tasty wheels, and at no extra charge with matching rotors and pulley. The styles, to give you an indication of their look, include Bayonet, Maltese, Diamond, Cut-Out, Swept, V-Spoke, Scallop-Swept and Road Rave
For locking down those wheels, GCC offers a selection of Wilwood's 4-piston aluminum GP 300 and GP 310 calipers designed and engineered for use on 1984-2003 Harley-Davidsons, standard equipment on the Greene County model line of choppers. The calipers are available in polished or chrome finish. There are also high performance racing calipers available in stainless steel.
Got a Trailer, Need A Cool Car?
Greene County also features a Trade-In department with a variety of bikes coming and going with the finished ready for delivery GCC Motorcycles covered by a limited two-year warranty and RevTech’s engine warranty. The transmissions are also covered by a five-year 50,000 mile total replacement warranty. Recently something with four wheels showed up, part of a trade in for a GCC Deimos, in this case a 1940 Chevrolet Special Deluxe 2 Door Sedan that spent most of its life in Laredo Texas away from harsh winters. It’s a driver with original motor and tranny plus new upholstery, and it’s still registered. A perfect car for pulling a bike trailer. Hey, even the radio works.
You can “tune” in Greene County Choppers by logging on to http://www.greenecountychoppers.com, calling 417-866-9229 or emailing Info@greenecountychoppers.com
