This story has two metal flake chapters. Bob Kay a major VP, for Bikers Choice, for over 20 years lived the biker lifestyle. He studied the industry, components, built bikes and rode with the best. I’m not kidding, Bob attended every major event for two decades, researched every part developed and worked with the finest talents in the industry almost from the beginning.
The corporate ladder got the best of him and he shifted gears. Since his family moved to Texas, on a farm outside Dallas, Bob went to work for American Iron Horse as a Vice President of Marketing and design. He helped the company launch their apparel line and the gutsy Dallas Chopper models, but it still didn’t feel like home, although the production bike-building bug bit him. He still believed that a pure custom motorcycle experience could be delivered to today’s rider, but AIH wasn’t doing the job. So Bob struck out on his own.
You can imagine the level of determination, the desire and the dedication that it took Bob to ascertain that AIH wasn’t doing the job and he felt, confidently, in his chromium heart, that he could make a difference, improve the quality of the machine and deliver an experience that would answer all his previous doubts. Bob was born from the old school. He knows choppers like Stephan King knows horror or like Spielberg knows movie direction. “Nobody has the choice to personalize, really customize their bike,” Bob said, and he was determined to bring choice and control to the customer.
That brings us to part two of this epic, the custom experience. Bob believes that if you’re going to buy a custom bike, it needs to be customized to your taste, riding style and size. “We don’t believe that custom bikes are made up of four models, three paint selections and a seat change,” Bob said. “We don’t floor models, but deliver a system containing substantial knowledge and lots of choices for the customer.”
There’s several strident issues or chapters of the Code of the West that need to be available to new riders, specifically. The veteran rider, chopper enthusiast, needs alternatives, since they already live by the code. There’s three elements that new riders must understand and take into consideration when developing their custom experience plan: First their riding style. They need to be able to communicate the type of riding they wish to perform on their custom. Are they strictly around-towners and need slow speed, high traffic handling capabilities? Are they freeway Jammers, who like to feel the power of this monster across the county or the state? Or are you a road race fanatics and love the feel of a rapid-handler cutting through the twisties. And, of course, there’s every variation in-between. These are critical issues.
Next, styling enters the picture. What type of custom rocks your boat? Will that custom perform to your riding style specifications? Will it pick up the girls you want? Will it fit your frame? These issues are not as critical, but they are major preferences that each rider needs to understand. For instance, I love bobbers, but I’m 6’5”. I over-power them.
Lastly, no motorcycle is worth a damn, no matter how it runs or looks, if the rider doesn’t fit, must hang onto the bars, feet vibrate off the pegs or won’t reach the controls. Comfort level is a key, critical issue, for the custom experience to run full circle.
That’s where Bob came into the picture. His goal is to deliver the knowledge, understanding, variety and components to answer all the above serious questions. First Hardbikes is delivering a great deal of information on line, through the Hardbikes.com website. They want every prospective customer to be able to pick, choose, alter and reinvent their ideal custom over and over.
Next, with a plan in mind, Hardbike dealers are trained to take customers to the next level. Each dealer has a Hardbike design center including two simulators, a chopper and a pro-street, designed to perfect any riders seating position with altered foot controls, 1.5 inch push-up seats and three variations of handlebars. “Each simulator contains a DVD system and state of the art speakers to deliver tunes, movies and or in-depth information to help the customer make informed decisions,” Bob said.
A large part of this process is the custom bike building experience. If you’ve ever built a bike you understand the hopes, the dreams, the creative rush, the anxiety of waiting on parts and the shear joy of completing a ride. Whether you build bikes or have them built you feel the joy and pain of the struggle for completion.
From the web site beginning, they want each customer to feel apart of the process and design configuration. A Hardbike is not a model per se, but a pure custom based on several foundations. There are no specific paint jobs. You pick your base color and add the graphic of your choosing. You pick the exhaust, the chassis, the seat, wheel styles, bars, mirrors, etc. The choices are limitless.
With your plan in hand you take it to a Hardbike design center guru and refined your dream machine. Once a consumer has ordered his bike, he or she and his dealer, will be notified at the following key points, in other words they keep you in the loop:
1.Welcome letter confirming receipt of custom Hardbikes order
2.All parts have been received to begin the customer’s specific bike
3.Sheet metal has been prepped and sent out for paint and graphics
4.Painted sheet metal has been received
5.Build process has started
6.Bike is scheduled for completion on __/__/__
7.Bike build is complete and going through final inspection
8.Bike is scheduled for delivery and should arrive at your dealer on __/__/__
9.Your bike has arrived at your dealer
Each customer will be kept abreast of every aspect of the build, and his bike will be delivered to the dealer within 90 days. “You’re not forced to put your money down and pray,” Bob said. “The build is like an adventurous ride. It’s all part of the joy of owning a truly custom motorcycle.”
Anytime, day or night, you can roam into Hardbikes.com and touch on the Bike Wizard section. With each experience you can build a bike, change the wheels, colors, bars, frame styles or pipes for a taste of your dream machine. When you’re ready Bob and the team at Hardbikes is poised with a state-of-the-art facility and components, to build your fantasy ride. For most this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, do it right the first time and it will bring you joy and pleasure, not to mention girls, for years to come.
–Bandit
