While making one of our trips to see family in Kansas, we decided to hit the factories. Not much of the wife's "Motor Company" (Kansas City HD) since they were CLOSED for visits - no word on when they will reopen, but the workers all seem to ride to work. A shit load of bikes in the lot and they can park right up front. We hit the place at the lunch break and the folks all seemed real friendly.
So, enough of what's not opened. Off to the "Dog Farm" in Wichita. We tagged up with Brian Ellis on the sales floor (Thanks for the heads-up P8RIOT!) :up: Brian is a truely great guy and took the time to take us all around the place. Prime guy to talk to about the place and the history of the company. The same shirt thing was a fluke, but didn't hurt
Here's Brian with a cut-away of the 107 the shop built up for fun;
The place is well organized and the folks are happy to chat. The assembly area is really huge and the bikes move around on a mobile rig along the line. No conveyer belts here -- things move on when they are ready and not before.
This spot should look familiar to those of us that check out the BDM calendar girls on the website
The paint shop occupies a big chunk of real estate - as it should since that is what separates a BDM bike from alot of the others. The folks in that shop are great to talk to and are doing some AMAZING work. Truely a pleasure to see work and makes you want to send your bike back for an ink job. Learned an important fact -- they don't normally airbrush on nipples unless the customer asks for them
No trip to the ranch is complete without seeing the warehouse - a complete sea of bikes and color. We looked around for a long while and there is some great work on display there.
The main building holds some of the milestone bikes on the showroom floor.
The 20,000th bike
The 10,000th bike
The 5,000th bike
The First Chopper
The bike used in the movie Armageddon
I HIGHLY recommend any excuse to go to the factory. You'll really get a sense of what goes on behind the scenes and the people the work hard everyday to make a great bike -- after all, you're riding one right? :lol:
What's up with Vickie?
She's doing great!!! We wanted to tagg up with her, but the schedules just didn't work out. We did chat on the phone and she's working a GREAT job with the Department of Treasury. She's in a training program for most of the summer, so that's cutting into Rally Time, but she says the riding will be more fun since she's not caught up in the drama of the biz now. She sounds like her happy self and it was great to chat with her again. Next time, I'll stay sober enough to drink with her.
So, enough of what's not opened. Off to the "Dog Farm" in Wichita. We tagged up with Brian Ellis on the sales floor (Thanks for the heads-up P8RIOT!) :up: Brian is a truely great guy and took the time to take us all around the place. Prime guy to talk to about the place and the history of the company. The same shirt thing was a fluke, but didn't hurt
Here's Brian with a cut-away of the 107 the shop built up for fun;
The place is well organized and the folks are happy to chat. The assembly area is really huge and the bikes move around on a mobile rig along the line. No conveyer belts here -- things move on when they are ready and not before.
This spot should look familiar to those of us that check out the BDM calendar girls on the website
The paint shop occupies a big chunk of real estate - as it should since that is what separates a BDM bike from alot of the others. The folks in that shop are great to talk to and are doing some AMAZING work. Truely a pleasure to see work and makes you want to send your bike back for an ink job. Learned an important fact -- they don't normally airbrush on nipples unless the customer asks for them
No trip to the ranch is complete without seeing the warehouse - a complete sea of bikes and color. We looked around for a long while and there is some great work on display there.
The main building holds some of the milestone bikes on the showroom floor.
The 20,000th bike
The 10,000th bike
The 5,000th bike
The First Chopper
The bike used in the movie Armageddon
I HIGHLY recommend any excuse to go to the factory. You'll really get a sense of what goes on behind the scenes and the people the work hard everyday to make a great bike -- after all, you're riding one right? :lol:
What's up with Vickie?
She's doing great!!! We wanted to tagg up with her, but the schedules just didn't work out. We did chat on the phone and she's working a GREAT job with the Department of Treasury. She's in a training program for most of the summer, so that's cutting into Rally Time, but she says the riding will be more fun since she's not caught up in the drama of the biz now. She sounds like her happy self and it was great to chat with her again. Next time, I'll stay sober enough to drink with her.
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