Motorcycle & Powersports News August 2010 : Page 22
SportJack adapter The Sport Jack Adapter is a great accessory for the MC450 Center Jack that allows you to safely raise a motor cycle by the frame. The Sports Jack can used as a stand-alone item, orwith any of K&L ‘s popular MC series lifts. osing interest in fixing them at home? One word: efficiency. Service managers can some-times struggle to get the dealer principal to invest in updated shop tools and equipment. “You have to present some num-bers,” suggests Bell. “It’s help-ful for a service manager to put ogether something that shows the dollars that a piece of equip-ment will generate: ‘If I have this lift, I can turn out three times as many units in the same eight hour day.’” Figures that pump up the profit margins definitely will help sell the prin-cipal on new equipment, and K&L’s innovative YouTube chan-With new unit sales sag-ging, the realities of today’s dealership make the empha-sis on service more imperative than ever. “There’s a pretty large pool of bikes from the mid-’80s to late ’90s,” says K&L’s product/marketing spe-cialist Jim Bell. “These are good machines, and we’re finding people are willing to spend $1,000 or $2,000 to keep them running as op-posed to looking at a new unit for $10,000-plus. That fact has definitely helped drive not only K&L’s sales, but that means our dealers are generating service business and that’s profitable.” According to the Motorcycle Industry Council’s 2008 Motor-cycle/ATV Owner Survey, the average age of all motorcycles in use is 10.8 years. The tradi-tional bike market’s average age is a sky-high 24.4 y reiterate Bell’s point, these units are prime tar for service, and 2008 MIC figures also sho that interest in home wrenching is waning: 40 percent of all rid-ers have their units serviced at an inde-pendent me-chanic/shop or at a motorcycle dealer. 24 August 2010 motorcycleproductnews.com in a shorter amount of time as opposed to trying to talk to someone on the phone, plus it’s amazing how quickly the videos go viral.” That grassroots approach builds consumer awareness with K&L products, opening up sales opportunities for hand tools, smaller shop equipment as well as parts and accessories. Bell also says that the move from 2-strokes to 4-strokes in the off-road aftermarket has been good for K&L supply. “A lot of dirt people are hands on, and they’re just more likely to make a run at it,” he says. Left to right: K&L President, Joseph Lee, Malcolm Smith and Yamaha’s David Oh. Service Efficiency So how can K&L help your service department take advan-tage of this aging pool of mo-torcycles and a population Wheel Weights K&L has expanded its production capacity on steel wheel-weights to the point where the company can offer better pric-ing to its dealers. Weights tie into tire sale profits, so savings here add up quickly to the bottom line. Valve Stems This new Dealer Assortment Kit includes metal, rubberand aluminum tire valve stems along with K&L’s mostpopu-lar styles of caps and cores, all at more aggressive rtJack adapter The Sport Jack Adapter is a great accessory for the MC450 Center Jack that allows you to safely raise a motor cycle by the frame. The Sports Jack can used as a stand-alone item, orwith any of K&L ‘s popular MC series lifts. osing interest in fixing them at home? One word: efficiency. Service managers can some-times struggle to get the dealer principal to invest in updated shop tools and equipment. “You have to present some num-bers,” suggests Bell. “It’s help-ful for a service manager to put ogether something that shows the dollars that a piece of equip-ment will generate: ‘If I have this lift, I can turn out three times as many units in the same eight hour day.’” Figures that pump up the profit margins definitely will help sell the prin-cipal on new equipment, and K&L’s innovative YouTube chan-With new unit sales sag-ging, the realities of today’s dealership make the empha-sis on service more imperative than ever. “There’s a pretty large pool of bikes from the mid-’80s to late ’90s,” says K&L’s product/marketing spe-cialist Jim Bell. “These are good machines, and we’re finding people are willing to spend $1,000 or $2,000 to keep them running as op-posed to looking at a new unit for $10,000-plus. That fact has definitely helped drive not only K&L’s sales, but that means our dealers are generating service business and that’s profitable.” According to the Motorcycle Industry Council’s 2008 Motor-cycle/ATV Owner Survey, the average age of all motorcycles in use is 10.8 years. The tradi-tional bike market’s average age is a sky-high 24.4 y reiterate Bell’s point, these units are prime tar for service, and 2008 MIC figures also sho that interest in home wrenching is waning: 40 percent of all rid-ers have their units serviced at an inde-pendent me-chanic/shop or at a motorcycle dealer. 24 August 2010 motorcycleproductnews.com in a shorter amount of time as opposed to trying to talk to someone on the phone, plus it’s amazing how quickly the videos go viral.” That grassroots approach builds consumer awareness with K&L products, opening up sales opportunities for hand tools, smaller shop equipment as well as parts and accessories. Bell also says that the move from 2-strokes to 4-strokes in the off-road aftermarket has been good for K&L supply. “A lot of dirt people are hands on, and they’re just more likely to make a run at it,” he says. Left to right: K&L President, Joseph Lee, Malcolm Smith and Yamaha’s David Oh. Service Efficiency So how can K&L help your service department take advan-tage of this aging pool of mo-torcycles and a population Wheel Weights K&L has expanded its production capacity on steel wheel-weights to the point where the company can offer better pric-ing to its dealers. Weights tie into tire sale profits, so savings here add up quickly to the bottom line. Valve Stems This new Dealer Assortment Kit includes metal, rubberand aluminum tire valve stems along with K&L’s mostpopu-lar styles of caps and cores, all at more aggressive nel nel (www.youtube.com/klsup-ply) will help convince the entire eam that the quality presented by K&L is second-to-none. Bell compares the video product presentations to a vir-tual trade show. K&L currently has 26 videos on its site and has eed 27,000 hits and count-n virtually demo the MC615R Air Lift or see the MC135 Bead Buster in action. “Video is ong in terms of a eting tool for us,” says Bell. “The nature of the equipment is such that video pres-ation typically will ot of questions When it comes down to it, whether he’s wrenching at home or bringing his bike into your store, it’s crucial that your customer’s bike stays road ready, and K&L has not only the service tools and equipment but also the replacement parts to keep him going for the long haul. Safety Sells I’ve seen some interesting MacGyver-inspired shop se-tups in my day — not only will a jury-rigged shop cost you in efficiency, but it may cause a lawsuit-inducing injury at some point. Safety is a huge selling point
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