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8 Ways Motorcycle and Powersports Dealerships Can Manage Demand with Speed & Efficiency
Demand for motorcycle and powersports dealerships is at an all-time high, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to make a sale. Inventory shortages and delays have created challenges that only add to a growing list of problems many consumers see with today’s motorcycle and powersports buying experience. Find out how you can uplevel your dealership experience in this free webinar. We’ll cover 8 ways motorcycle and powersports dealerships can manage demand with speed and efficiency, meeting customer demands and helping you make the sale.
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:
Speakers Greg Jones, Content Director, Power & Performance Group
Reach out to Greg Jones at (330)670-1234 ext: 272 for general listing questions. You may also visit our contact us page and submit your inquiry with your questions and contact info.
Reach out to Greg Jones at (330)670-1234 ext: 272 for general listing questions. You may also visit our contact us page and submit your inquiry with your questions and contact info.
Motorcycle & Powersports News offers three unique newsletters designed to deliver business intelligence to powersports dealers and other industry professionals who sell and service motorcycles, scooters, UTVs, ATVs, electric motorcycles, karts and more in the United States. Subscribe now to receive the MPN Newsletter, the MPN Off-Road Newsletter and the MPN V-Twin newsletter directly in your inbox every week. If a powersports dealer carries it, MPN covers it. Dealers have come to count on Motorcycle & Powersports News as their No. 1 resource for researching products and services in the industry.
Motorcycle & Powersports News offers three unique newsletters designed to deliver business intelligence to powersports dealers and other industry professionals who sell and service motorcycles, scooters, UTVs, ATVs, electric motorcycles, karts and more in the United States. Subscribe now to receive the MPN Newsletter, the MPN Off-Road Newsletter and the MPN V-Twin newsletter directly in your inbox every week. If a powersports dealer carries it, MPN covers it. Dealers have come to count on Motorcycle & Powersports News as their No. 1 resource for researching products and services in the industry.
ByMPN Staff Writers on Jul 8, 2022
At the recent Fuel Cleveland show, we ran across James Brown’s custom Harley featuring a 1950 pan bottom end, 1968 Shovelhead heads and some sweet custom paint work. This Dayton, OH motorcycle is our Ride of the Week.Click Here to Read MoreAdvertisement
This 1950 Harley-Davidson features a shovelpan engine and clean cut side-swept exhaust among other custom additions. Not to mention, it boasts an attractive vintage-style paint job done by owner James Brown in just two weeks! Check it out!
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What came in as Big Blue goes out as Orange Fury.
A custom tribute bike is nothing new. However, a custom bike inspired by Arlen Ness had better be on a different level. Hawke Lawshe of Vintage Technologies is just the guy to ensure his builds stop you in your tracks. Just one glimpse isn’t enough of this golden 1966 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead named Pure Nastyness.
You can argue that custom motorcycles are often more art than function, especially when you’re looking at bikes done by folks who have been at it a long time. They’re constantly upping their game with every build they do. Take Hawke Lawshe, for instance. The man behind Vintage Technologies was recently featured in our Ride of the Week series thanks to his custom motorcycle named Azureous. At the time, we weren’t sure if anything could stand out as much as Azureous did, but we were wrong.
Another custom build of his, named Pure Nastyness, just might take the cake. Each bike was seen at Mama Tried and each is a testament to Lawshe’s ability to create truly amazing motorcycles. This one, however, is a tribute to the late Arlen Ness, one of the most famous American motorcycle designers in the industry, so you know the build had to be good!
“I like to build bikes like an onion, the more you dig through the layers the more you’ll find,” Lawshe says. “Some of the neck components in the frame were actually the original blanks from the ‘70s parts. I narrowed the chassis up a little bit to try to compliment the digger/drag bike theme that I was going for. It’s kind of a melting pot of two styles – they’re both fast and low, but one isn’t shiny, so I blended them together and this is what we came up with.”
The heart of the bike is a 1966 Harley-Davidson Generator Shovelhead engine. Lawshe decided to swap the front and rear cylinders and then spun them 180 degrees, so that all the intake and exhaust charge come out the left side of the bike.
“It gave me the ability to balance the camshaft side and the B-side and give it a little bit of depth to both sides,” Lawshe says. “I did that basically to just fill that side of the bike up. When you look at it from a rear view, you can kind of see it’s more symmetrical that way instead of just everything hanging off it, and it balanced the bike out a lot more.”
For the engine setup, Lawshe chose to use rare nitromethane drag racing cylinders from the late ‘60s with an exposed rocker box system. It also features a Rotrex centrifugal supercharger off of a SeaDoo jet ski and a Super B S&S carburetor, which was one of the first original hot rod parts for this era of bikes.
Aside from the Harley-based engine, you can’t help but notice the bike is absolutely drenched in gold. From the paint to aspects of the Borrani high-shoulder wheels to the chains and more, gold adorns this bike from head to toe.
“I weld all my chain links together, so for these gold chains I did it here too in order to get rid of all the rivets and pins,” he says. “This gold set is probably my favorite so far. I make little figure eights with the welder and I sculpt and polish them after. I also custom made the wheel hubs themselves. These are original Haul-Crafts that I’ve narrowed. I converted the back one to an actual drum brake system.”
While Pure Nastyness is a tribute to a legendary bike builder, Hawke stresses that he builds his bikes for everyone to enjoy.
“I make my bikes to help get someone hooked,” Lawshe says. “I want to make sure they stop and check it out.”
If you have a motorcycle, ATV, UTV, snowmobile or jet ski you’d like to feature in MPN’s Ride of the Week series, please email MPN Content Director Greg Jones at [email protected]
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