Starting up a new motorcycle dealership in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression is either foolhardy or a raw display of gutsy entrepreneurship. Albertans Dave Medoro and Kevan Nyenhuis are adamant that their enterprise, Insane Customs Inc. in Edmonton, is on the road to success.

Insane Customs is the new Canadian distributor for California-built Big Bear Choppers and first Canadian dealer for the American company’s fullyassembled bikes. Medoro started Insane Customs in late 2008 and with new partner Nyenhuis, opened the doors of a modest 5800 sq.ft. store in early 2009. Medoro says with restrained optimism, “We’ve already exceeded our sales target for this year. We bought fourteen bikes on spec. Now we’re down to one.” (When this interview took place in late August, eighteen Big Bear Choppers had been sold.)

Nyenhuis is equally positive about the company’s prospects. He says, “In this economy, Alberta runs in its own little bubble. People here still have money.” Powersport dealers know that customers finance a good percentage of new unit sales, but Nyenhuis insists the Alberta economy is robust for a premium line of custom bikes, and says all eighteen Big Bear bikes sold so far have been paid with cash.

Medoro and Nyenhuis’s business partnership started less than two years ago when the latter was working at a Harley-Davidson dealership as a service manager and in sales. “I sold Dave two Harleys,” explains Nyenhuis, who has been involved with motorcycling for more than twenty years. Medoro, who freely admits he knows very little about motorcycles, says his strength is business. He owns an entertainment promotion company and during Alberta’s latest building boom he owned a concrete and tiling company.

After buying the new Harleys, Medoro says he fell in love with custom bikes and went to Sturgis in 2008. He explains, “I went to Sturgis and I rode every [manufactured] custom bike there. I don’t know motorcycles, so I was trying everything and looking at each manufacturer through the eyes of a consumer. I was blown away by the style, fit, and finish of Big Bear Choppers. For me, they stood apart from all the others. I was so impressed with their bikes I flew out to California to talk to them about becoming a Canadian dealer.” Not only were the owners of Big Bear Choppers interested in signing up their first Canadian dealer, they wanted a Canadian distributor. Medoro jumped at the chance to acquire the Canadian distribution rights. And knowing he had no experience in the operational (service, parts, and sales) side of a dealership, partnered with Nyenhuis.

Medoro and Nyenhuis have gone through the time-consuming and expensive ($20,000 dollars per model) process to have fifteen models of Big Bear Choppers tested and certified by Transport Canada for sale as new vehicles. (Before Insane Customs signed on as Canadian distributor for Big Bear, the American company sold ‘kits’ to dealers in Canada for assembly. With Insane Customs now the official distributor for Big Bear Choppers, unassembled kit bikes are no longer available in Canada.)

After selling Harley-Davidsons for a few years, Nyenhuis says the retail price point is one of the major selling points for the Big Bear line. “[When I was selling Harley-Davidsons, they] sent me to a course. The average Harley- Davidson customer spends about $25,000 on a new bike. They then spend $12,000 to 15,000 dollars customizing it over the next year. Big Bear Choppers typically sell for $46-$48,000 dollars out the door, including taxes.” It’s easy to see that a Big Bear can be had for only a few thousand dollars more than a typical Harley-Davidson would spend on a new bike and custom parts.

Another major selling point of the Big Bear line is the ease of ordering a ‘factory’-built custom bike. Nyenhuis explains, “We try to never replicate a bike. Big Bear will ‘paint to order.’ For the customer who wants a custom paint job, we ask them to bring in photos showing what they like. Our first customer who did this was a guy who liked horses. He said, ‘I want blue with flames and a horse at full gallop.’ [When the bike was delivered] he was blown away. He told us, ‘It was like somebody went into my head and painted the bike!’”

The business partners are well aware that their new enterprise cannot survive on new unit sales alone. Motorcycle service and parts and accessories sales are important revenue generators. According to Nyenhuis, Insane Customs is trying to take a bite of the local motorcycle service pie by offering ride-in, ‘quick’ service. “[Some] dealers are booking service three weeks in advance. We offer simple service like oil changes and tires with no appointment necessary.”

The owners of Insane Customs remain optimistic and are aggressively looking ahead to 2010. “I’m not worried about the Alberta economy. Slowdowns never stay long,” says Medoro, a selfdescribed ‘action-oriented do-er.’ He tells us his major goals for next year are to increase the store’s Big Bear sales by 20 percent, sign up “five to six” Big Bear dealers (the partners say they are in the final stages of signing up their first dealer, on Vancouver Island), and franchise the Insane Customs business model. Integral to this business model is Insane Customs’ apparel department featuring the company's own line of casual and motorcycle wear. The apparel department has already posted strong sales, and the partners say they’ve received several enquiries regarding franchise opportunities. CPT