ALL BIKE GAMES ONLINE

This image of Julie ran in one of our newspaper ads in the sports section. As a former newspaper advertising department artist, I believed firmly in the power of advertising. From January 1, 1970 until mid 1975 we ran an ad in the "motorcycles for sale" classified ads every single day. Changed weekly, we always advertised a specific part and price, never just a name and address. In 1974 when we began running display ads in the sports section Julie became something of a local celebrity. She appeared at our store opening in Fresno the following year as well as handed out catalogs in our booth at the Long Beach,CA Powersports Dealer Show in 1974 wearing this same outfit.. In the mid seventies the promoters of the Cincinnati Dealer Show put on a second show on the West Coast in the late spring. Having traveled to Cincinnati in 1972 and 1973, in 1974 we had a booth at both shows.

Looking back, I think one of the reasons for our early success was Chris' s wheel building skills. In 1970 there were no alternatives to Harley-Davidson 16 inch rims. We purchased used rims from customers as well as new ones from the local dealership and had them re-chromed. The Kelsey-Hayes rims the factory used were of very poor quality chrome. We also bought Triumph rear hubs from the local dealer and had them plated. As far as I know at that time we were the only shop in Northern California selling complete rear 16 inch wheel conversions for Triumph motorcycles on an exchange bases. Bring us your unplated stock hub as a core and walk out the same day with a complete wheel, mounted 500x16 tire and all. In time we also built an inventory of Sportster hubs and offered the same program. In our very earliest conversations with Derek Whitehead of Santee Industries we discussed the need for a 16 inch rim in both 40 hole and 36 hole pattern ( for Japanese bikes). He went to work with Southern California import buyers looking for a source. A Japanese company produced a sample that same summer and with input from Gary Bang, Derek had the specs widened by one half inch. The resulting rim was of the highest quality in every aspect, especially the chrome plating. So much so that Harley dealers in each city we operated our retail stores in would send a parts guy over with cash in hand anytime they needed a replacement rim. Since we were distributors for Santee, they even got dealer pricing as a courtesy. Over the next five years we sold thousands of these rims and Santee designed and began importing complete 21,19 and 18 inch diameter small, half brake wheels which became the industry standard.

Derek's business grew rapidly with his aggressive merchandising as did his biggest customer, Custom Chrome Inc. In the late eighties Ty and Nace purchased Santee from Derek, making him a stakeholder in the corporation and employing him at their Northern California headquarters on a non-compete contract. When Custom Chrome Inc. went public with a stock offering on Wall Street all three men became millionaires.

Photograph of Julie by John Reddick. Scanned from a 35 year old 35mm negative.

A poor Christmas for sales of children's bicycles saw Halfords forecast disappointing profits. The group said cycle sales slumped 16 per cent on a like-for-like basis as fewer bikes were given as presents and premium products were affected by a slowdown in Cycle-to-Work sales. The weakness in bicycles offset strong car maintenance sales, up 12 per cent, as the chain helped customers cope with the difficult winter conditions.Read more on Daily Mail.