The battle within the motorcycle industry between “Brick and Mortar” and E-Commerce stores continues to rage on. I have worked for several different motorcycle industry manufacturers over the years and there has always been a fine line to walk between both styles of dealers. The last thing anyone wants to do is upset the dealer of your products, but what happens when your end consumer changes? It was a constant struggle that we had to balance, which is “the way we’ve always done things” vs. “the way our consumers want to do things”.

Obviously if you are reading this now, you’re a pretty big fan of being able to buy what you need whenever you need it from the comfort of your own, well, wherever you want. As far as “e-coms” or “e-tailers” go we like to think that we are different than most. For one, we have a show room. Yes, you can come visit us 9am-5pm Monday-Friday just like your other favorite Brick and Mortar stores. What sets us apart though is that we warehouse a lot of parts, accessories and apparel right on site. Not only can you get what you need, but you can touch it, feel it, try it on, and even place an order for more things. So many local shops now seem to only carry the bare minimum to keep their shop moving along. Modern logistics have created a monster that allows them to have everything in 1-2 days that they need, but it cripples the consumer who may need something “right then”. I’m suspecting at this point you have all gotten familiar with the term “backorder”, right? That’s why we have inventory on site! To be a better store for both our local riders and those of you who order from us, we decided that we want to offer the best of both worlds. If we don’t have it, in most cases, we sure can get it!

For a little “behind the scenes” tour, once you get past the show room there a few simple offices and storage. Ok, we have a nice kitchen too, but what’s the fun in that? What I’m saying is, when you buy from Direct Cycle Parts, you aren’t dealing with a board of directors, a CEO, a CFO, lawyers, accountants, and an HR staff that sucks the fun out of everything. You’re talking to Frank, Rich, Marcus or Brice most likely and that literally makes up most of our team. We are enthusiasts just like you. We tackle our own custom builds and repair work so if you have a question about something, we can more than likely help you out. We have traveled to work with some of our vendor partners at events like Daytona Bike Week and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (we have our own set up now…come see us at the Beaver Bar!) so when you call or come visit us, you know you’re getting advice on some products that we were literally trained by the factory on.

I guess at the end of the day, we are the Green Acres of motorcycle shops. Out front we are big city, high functioning, fully flexible e-commerce that you have gotten used to with the other big guys in that space. However, out back, we are down home, proudly Texan motorcycle enthusiasts that want to help keep you and your projects on two wheels. Scratch that, nope, we can even keep your 4 wheeled vehicles going too! There’s no doubt that we want to grow to better serve even more motorcyclists in our future, but right now we truly enjoy being part of your motorcycling family. We invite you to come see us in person just as much as we welcome you online.

We appreciate the growth that you’ve already been apart of. Thanks to you we have now moved through 3 different locations across two states, getting better at serving you each step of the way. We have tripled our workforce as well, but we have done it in such a manner, and largely by word of mouth, that we have more than a team here, we are a family as well. We want to see your bikes, talk about your projects, and get you the right parts as fast as possible. Keep staying in touch, keep us growing, and let’s continue to do great things together.