“My first encounter with a motorcycle was when I was six years old living in North Texas,” recalled Gary Sipes. He told us his first grade buddy had a Yamaha Y-Zinger and they took turns riding up and down the trails behind his house. “Soon after, my dad bought a Honda 125 ATV and a Suzuki three wheeler for the two of us and from that moment on I was intrigued with anything that had a throttle,” he explained, adding, “I totally enjoyed the sense of freedom and riding as fast as I could, to the point where I was almost out of control. I still love that feeling.” Sipes told us he still enjoys riding whenever he gets the chance. “I enjoy riding cruisers out on the back roads of the Texas hill country and still enjoy turning a few laps on the motocross track,” he explained, “It is something that I will never stop doing.” Gary added he is looking forward to bringing his two children into the exciting world of powersports when they’re older.

Gary recalled that when he was a teenager, he began working as a setup technician for a powersports dealership in Waco, TX. “I put together product and did just about anything I could around the shop,” Sipes said, because he just wanted to be around motorcycles.
After attending Baylor University and working a few years in outside sales, Gary said he told his wife that he wanted go to work in the motorcycle business. “I landed a job at Chrome Specialties (Custom Chrome) in Ft. Worth, TX. I was in sales and really began to understand the business and all of its unique dynamics,” he said, adding, “It was at that point that I knew I was in the industry to stay.” He left the company in 2002 to go work for American IronHorse as a dealer relations manager, Sipes explained, “I truly loved this company and the custom motorcycles we were producing.”
He continued by saying he then went on to work for Yamaha Motor Company as a district manager up in Michigan. “Yamaha is a great company and I really enjoyed my time with them,” he told us, “As it turned out, I was asked to return to American IronHorse as director of sales and later became vice president of sales and marketing.”
Sipes began working for America’s PowerSports in the spring of 2008, he said, when he took on his current position as director of parts and accessories. “We currently own 19 motorcycle dealerships in nine states throughout the USA,” he explained, adding, “We house every major brand including Harley-Davidson. This is the most exciting position I have ever attained. We have a great team and our stores are among the best in the country.” As the director of parts and accessories Sipes said he works closely with all of the company’s vendors and distributors, as well as the parts managers at their numerous stores to ensure they are providing the right parts at the right price at the right time for their consumers.
“They say when you are doing something that you really enjoy, that you really don’t ever work a day in your life. That is where I am right now,” Gary stated, and he truly enjoys every moment he spends working in this industry. He added, “I feel so lucky to do this every day.” Gary said he has many favorite moments, including riding on the Daytona Speedway, meeting most of the industry’s icons and making many life-long friends over the years. “Some of my fondest memories are of the rides I was invited to attend going to Sturgis,” described Sipes. Gary continued by saying, “There were around 20 of us or so, and we made a three day trip through the Rocky Mountains, taking the time to enjoy every scene along the way. It is very important to me to take the time to ride and enjoy the product that we work so hard to make available to everyone else. Because we live in the industry every day, sometimes we forget to take the time to ride and take part in the feeling that brought us into this great business. Get into the wind and I assure you that it will erase all of the negatives that occurred in your day prior to kicking up the kickstand.”
There are many threats this industry has to face every day, Sipes stated, and we need to work hard every day to deliver products to consumers that are wants, not needs. “Therefore, when lenders are not lending as much money as years past, or good folks are getting laid off from work, we feel the effects first,” he explained, adding he also feels that the entire industry has worked hard to make sure the products going out are safer, cleaner and more reliable than ever before, though they still have to worry about the available riding areas becoming off limits. “It seems every month I read about another state tightening up the available riding areas or adding more restrictions,” Sipes told us, “As a whole we, the industry and the riders, must make sure we do our part by being responsible on the trails and hopefully it will be recognized by the powers that govern the recreational riding areas.”
The area for the greatest growth potential will always be in parts and service, he continued, and every year there are more motorcycles on the road and they will need service and parts. “In a slowing economy, it is crucial to our business to maximize our efforts on service and parts,” Gary explained, “These are the core of the business. Every customer that comes in to our dealerships is treated like royalty. We are there to take care of them and their ride. We offer the best selection of parts and accessories while providing timely service performed right. If you successfully manage your parts and service departments, it will bring you the sales growth you desire.”
When asked to offer a piece of advice to others within the industry, Sipes said he would recommend that dealer/retailers know the responsibility they have to make sure the customer has a great experience every time they enter a store. “We all hate the experience we have when buying a car,” he explained, adding, “We get ambushed by the swarming salesman who demands you take a test drive even though you know what you want when you get there. Then you are forced to go through seven pencils by the sales manager before waiting six hours to take delivery. Never is it a fun, comfortable atmosphere where everyone is happy and eager to share the excitement with you, where you can just hang out and be a part of a group that enjoys similar interests.” He reminded stores that everyone is in this business to sell fun and be profitable while doing so and if you offer the best possible customer service all of the time, you will have no issues maintaining healthy margins as your store is worth it. 

Kelley Messinger said he began riding motorcycles in 1965 with his first bike, a 1963 Honda step thru 50, which he bought new during that summer from Wenatchee Honda in Wenatchee, WA. “They are still in business. Gary the salesman who sold me the bike is now Gary the loyal Cyclops customer,” he laughed. “After riding the rich kid’s Tote Goat at age 13, I was hooked on the idea of two wheels. The Honda 50 was affordable and got close to 200 miles to the gallon,” he explained, adding, “My reserve was an 8 oz. whiskey bottle which fit in one of the side covers. The gas tank held only .9 of a gallon, with no reserve.” At the time the bike was less than $300.00, Messinger told us, but it still took all his cherry and apple picking money to pay for it, as well as the money he earned from his part time job working for the local veterinarian.

Later Kelley said he bought a 1950 stock Harley, model EL (61 cubic inch high compression), tank shift with foot clutch. “I rode this bike everywhere all the time. From Wenatchee, WA, to Casper, WY, several times and all through the Pacific Northwest,” he recalled. Kelley told us this was during the days when Harley-Davidson would give out pins if you rode 25,000 miles in less than two years. “I knocked the 25,000 miles out in seven months,” he laughed, “When winter closed in, I bought a Harley sidecar from Val’s Harley-Davidson, the sub-dealer in Moses Lake, WA. One trip through Wyoming in December I had myself and a friend shoveling through drifts to get into Casper.”
Messinger told us his first actual job in the motorcycle field was in the fall of 1968, where, having just returned from Vietnam, he took a job working as a part time mechanic for Stradley’s Harley-Davidson in Walla Walla, WA. “My first assignment was to tighten the heads on a 1941 Knuckle Head,” Kelley described, adding, “I asked ‘How tight?’ and Marv said, “As tight as you can get them” and, you guessed it, now one of the bolts won’t tighten up at all, but Marv kept me on. Marv Stradley is still alive at age 96 and is still working on Harleys in his small shop in Walla Walla, WA.” This job lasted for about four months, before he took on a position at the Post Office as a letter carrier, Kelley added. 
Currently, Kelley told us he rides a 2006 Triumph Tiger with a Ural sidecar and adventure touring is his favorite type of riding. Messinger, shown here stuck in a mud hole with his Tiger along the Continental Divide, said as far as he knows he is the first to complete the Continental Divide with a sidecar.
He told us he started working with the Washington Department of Corrections in 1975, where he helped design a rehab concept called the Washington State Penitentiary Motorcycle Association. “Activities included teaching motorcycle repair/restoration, building custom seats and supplying them to Drag Specialties,” Messinger explained. As a result, Kelley said he ended up riding a 1937 Harley model ULH through the “big yard” inside the walls of the Washington State Penitentiary.
In 1982 Messinger reported he moved on to work at Cyclops Distributing, where he began his career with the company as a manager, a position he held for two years before moving up to vice president of sales until 1985. Kelley said he worked as an outside sales rep for Hahn-ASI from 1985 to 1986 and then as the operations director for MSI, a Hahn enterprise, in 1987. A year later he went back to Cyclops Distributing, this time as the company’s president, the position he holds today, he explained, and in 2001 he also began designing products for the KLR650 for the Studebaker Corporation.
Kelley told us he really enjoys working with real people who enjoy motorcycles and one of his favorite moments came while he was working in Sacramento with Michael Hahn (president of Hahn-ASI) and Jimmy Sun (vice president of Hahn-ASI). “At the time, Jimmy Sun drove the largest Mercedes you could purchase in 1987. With Michael riding shot gun and myself in the back seat, we came to a one-way street with the traffic flow going west. Michael told Jimmy to turn east (the wrong way). Jimmy obviously said to Michael, ‘Michael that is the wrong way though!’ Michael told Jimmy, ‘I don’t care, turn now!’ And there we were going the wrong way on a one way street, right in the middle of Sacramento of all places,” he laughed.
The largest threats concerning the powersports market are companies who continue to fail in drawing in the large numbers of young people into the industry, Messinger explained. “The younger crowd is starting to take notice of the adventure touring market; the dirt action plus street action is appealing to young people,” Messinger explained and it is a challenge to ride above and beyond the Arctic Circle. “My 21 year old daughter rode a KLR650 from Rosalia, WA, to 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle in 2006, as documented by Canadian Biker Magazine,” he told us, adding, “The only bikes you can get for this kind of riding, which are affordable, are the Kawasaki KLR650 and the Suzuki DL650. Honda and Yamaha have the bikes affordable and available in Europe but have failed to notice this fast growing segment in North America.”
The cruiser market has grown so much that the numbers alone will keep it relatively healthy for another five years, Messinger continued, but recommended keeping an eye on the Sturgis Rally, as it is a good indicator of whether or not “the party is winding down.” Kelley told us he has attended the rally every year since 1997 and, in 2006, for the first time in 20 years, riders could ride into Deadwood and find a hotel room without having reservations.
He wanted to conclude this interview with this simple piece of advice he wished to share with others in the industry: “Do not take your customer base for granted.” Well said Kelley.