Peak Performance Powersports

Hi, I'm the Gadget Guru Andy Parr and you're watching TheVog. net. I'm here at JPM Performance Power Sports in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. And here with me is Michael and Pete. You're the owners of this place. Yes, we are. Okay, how long have you had this stewardship for? We're in our eighth year. Okay, and here you have Yamaha and Victory. Why don't you tell us about the dealership? Well, we started out as just a Polaris Victory dealership and then Yamaha had come to us and asked us to take on their line as well. Now, let me point out, your father and son, when you first started, was this your business or did you all start this together? We started it together. Okay, so what's it's good. I mean, we're here every day so it was just a big family I mean, it seems that I see reality shows these days where people and families in the motorcycle business, they don't always get along. I hope that's not the case with No, no, we always get along. Sometimes we don't always agree on everything, but we do get along. Well, now when you started your business, the motorcycle market was doing well. Victory was just coming up in the market then the economy kind of sloughed up. How are things for you now? The economy has not sloughed off in this dealership. I think our customer base is a majority of it is military and when the soldiers were gone, yes, things were slow, but we've moved along and now it's doing well. Okay, well, let me point out, you're just a few miles down the street from Fort Campbell, from the military base right down here. Did you say that's where the majority of your business comes from? Yes, I'd say 75% of our business comes from the military. Okay, now what do you do? How is it different selling to a military buyer than it is an average rider coming in off the street? Because they are soldiers, we do and we can relate to them and what they do. We give them discounts even if they don't own a motorcycle or have bought one from us. Sometimes a little more work to get on a bike, but all in all, it works out really well. Now maybe it's just me, but I think it's pretty much a no-brainer. You've got a bunch of soldiers right down the street from you. You're selling an American-made motorcycle. Is that a pretty easy sell these days? Yes, it is. And the fact that Victory supports the military, they have a rebate on the motorcycle just for military, police officers and firemen is a good program. It shows them that we in fact care about them. Okay, now Victory has pretty much a wide variety of bikes in their lineup today. Do you see different soldiers coming in looking at different models? I mean, what are the younger guys going for? What are the older guys going for? Yes, the younger guys are more into the sport bike market, the high performance layover, the tank kind of bike. And then you get your older ones that are getting ready to retire or higher ranking people that tend to want to do the cruiser market. They're a little more relaxed and want to lay back a little bit rather than the sport model. Now you have Yamaha here as well. So do you think that's a pretty good mix? You get them in for the sport bikes. So Yamaha, then you have the heavyweight cruisers with Victory. Does that work for Yes, it gives them, the Yamaha gives some as a first time buyer that they can buy a less expensive bike and get a feel, make sure it's what they want to do and they usually come back and upgrade to a Victory. Now soldiers have different service needs than an average rider does because they could be deployed. They're out, they don't know when they're coming back. Then they come back and they want to ride. Do you have ways that you deal with your soldiers to get them on the road faster? Yes, the ones that are deployed, their bike usually sits in a storage or a garage for a year or so. They tend to have carburetor problems because of the gas sitting and we make arrangements to go to their location, pick up their motorcycle, bring it here, service it for them, get it going good and then put them on the road. Now do the newer fuel injected bikes, do they require as much service as the old carburetor bike? Not so much now because there's not air getting, it's a closed loop fuel injection system, the air doesn't get to the gas in the bowl and it doesn'tend to go bad as best. Okay, now I'll drop this one over to you. You've seen Victory come a long way in a short amount of time. You've been a dealership for eight years. What do you think is really motivating the sales of Victory at this point? Being another option for an American made bike, something dependable, you can be somebody different not a follower. Also I have to ask, people are asking about apparel. Now I'm looking around, I see you've got a bunch of t-shirts, helmets, jackets, everything here. Are people coming in? Is Victory getting better with their apparel option? Yes, they are. I think they've got a long way to go with their apparel market but they're getting better at it, yes. Any other thoughts that you want to throw in? What you can tell people why they should stop by here when they're in the middle Tennessee, southern Kentucky area? They should come by here, show them a Victory, let them ride a Victory and that pretty much does it. Now Victory really made a bold statement with their test ride program. I know when I bought my vision, not a lot of other dealerships were allowing test rides. Has that really gotten more people to ride the bike out the door for you? Yes it has. You can tell somebody about a Victory all day long. It's hard to explain to somebody how they handle, how they feel, how the whole bike operates and then we put them on a bike and we let them go ride it and they come back and start telling us about how great the ride was, how great the handling is, how great the brakes are. It's just an easy way to seal a deal and help somebody make a decision on which bike they want. Okay, you've already seen Victory come a long way. Where do you see them going in the future? Now they've more towards a younger crowd, they've always been with the older crowd but now with Would you agree with that? Yes I would. It's a neat handling motorcycle. I'm not an ape hanger guy either, but when you ride one you just kind of fall in love with them. They grip the road, they handle so well, they just feel Now I notice you don't have any in stock right now. Is there a reason for that? I can't keep them. So they're selling pretty well. Well gentlemen I want to thank you very much for your time and I gotta tell you, I really enjoy your dealership and let me point out, I just happen to be in this part of town or this part of the country on a Sunday. They opened up the dealership to allow the vlog come in here and guys I greatly appreciate you taking away some time from your family to allow me to come in. That was very nice. Thank you. Thank you very much for coming. It's definitely my pleasure. Hey, if you're in the middle Tennessee, southern Kentucky area, come on and stop by JPM Performance Power Sports. It's in Hopkinsville, Kentucky and it's granted. There are some gorgeous roads around here so it's a really pretty ride to come up. For TheVog. net, I'm the gadget guru Indy Parr and I'll see you on the road and online.