So what sort of Bikes? I saw mention of a Triumph... and understood you do custom work? Anything similar to the cafe bike stuff that seems to be popular?
That's exactly it... Cafe' racers. Been doing it since long before the craze hit about 6 or 7 years ago. Before every piss ant and his brother even heard of a Kaf, as there called by the true Rocker culture. Got introduced to them when I was 12 years old, and it's been a passion ever since. The company I speak of is DCC (Dime City Cycle), and there generally good dudes. They were able to capitalize on the craze at just the right moment. There very well known at this point, but the real rockers don't really buy into their gig. I was in charge of doing the "Bike of the month" feature for the club I belong to, and I can say, not a single bike has one of their parts on it. They basically cater to what we call the posers. It's good for Triumph in that more younger guys are buying Bonneville's and Thruxtons, and modifying them. For a long time, many of our Bonnie buyers were older guys that grew up with a Triumph, and were getting back into riding after many years.
I built my first Kaf in 1977, a 1970 Triumph Daytona 500.
I'm not limited to Triumph's being the new stuff or the vintage. I've done so many Japanese bikes over the years, I've lost count. Yes, traditionally, a Kaf is a British bike, and just like the "purest" Harley riders not acknowledging bikes with electric start as a real Harley, in many circles, non Brit bikes are not recognized as Kaf's. One of my coolest bikes is a Ducati Sport 1000. About 45% of the parts on it aren't made for it, so lot of custom modifications had to be done. My parts department has a philosophy..... "no worries, Pete will make it happen." If the owner wasn't a bit reserved, the bike would have hit many bike mags by now. He bought it for about 10K, and has over 22K in parts, and then a lot of my time / labor costs into it. People drool over this bike when they see it. I have a few bikes in that class I've done at the shop, and dozens with the average mods.... pipes, carb / EFI work, suspension, bars, and all the little bits to go along with it.
It was pretty comical to watch the general manager, and sales manager get all geeked up when they took the DCC bike for a ride. My 05 with 75 cc's less will out run it in a heart beat, but they don't know any better, but also aren't willing to listen to the people that know better. And, in all honesty, my bike is about average for the club. I have at least three buddies from the club with bikes pushing almost twice the HP the engine made stock.
I'm not looking for fame or glory. Just some due respect from the people running the dealership. It was nice this past October at the vintage festival at Barber Motor Sports Park. Everywhere I parked my bike, there were crowds around it., and it's not even a Kaf at this point.
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