Business Slow Down? Not If The Perewitzs Can Help It!

By Jody Perewitz...
Our crew has settled at the shop for the month of December. After many miles of traveling it is nice to have a month off!

With all the talk about the economy and such I thought I would share a couple of Perewitz theories. I am sure that everyone no matter what has been hit by the economy in some way or another. Hopefully it hasn’t been anything major! Maybe with any luck a new president will bring change!

I feel as though the motorcycle industry is one of the last hit. We haven’t been extremely busy but still busy enough that everyone has something to do. So that is the important thing that we can keep working. We are also able to adapt to new things. We have been dipping into the metric market. Fortunately our mechanics can work on a plethora of things, making our business able to change with times. One of our latest projects was a Vespa Scooter!

In the summer time when the gas prices were $4+ a gallon, motorcycle sales skyrocketed! It was much more efficient to ride a motorcycle to work than your gas guzzling car. So as you can imagine we were busy with service work. Now gas is down to under $2 (we never thought that would happen!) it is the perfect time to bring your bike to us and drive your car in the cold winter months! We can winterize it, store it, upgrade it, add chrome, etc.

Another effect of a slower economy is the repairs of older stuff. Many people are fixing their old vehicles, motorcycle or car, rather than buying new ones. Although we would love to work on clean new bikes, we like the old ones too! Our customers seem to be adding chrome, paint, motor work, etc. to their bike. Some minor adjustments can make a bike look like something totally different.

We are hoping, like most Americans, that this draught won’t last much longer. America needs some aid and I really hope that Barack Obama is what we need…

Sturgis 08 Bike Week - Chapter 1

by Craig Glab, Central Region Manager

This chapter begins with my two day road trip (towing my bike) from my home around Cincinnati OH to Sturgis SD. I got there Saturday night just in time to hang with my Hamster friends at a block party..(priorities in order). Sunday, I got up and went for a ride through Spearfish Canyon to Deadwood. Great scenery and strange looking motorcycles too. Check out this one...

During the week I got ready for two Custom bike shows. One, that we sponsored, was the Dave Perewitz custom paint show, held at Thunder Road. The show was in a large tent where I set up a booth to show off our product line. I was placed right by the entrance where people would come in and go out of the tent. What a great spot! I talked to tons of people about our locks and proper lock up. A custom motorcycle was parked in the booth for "show and tell", to show them the best place to attach a lock. I gave away goodies like stickers and lanyards...funny how much these tough riders love the free stuff!

I helped Dave Perewitz hand out the winning trophies for a bunch of really cool custom paint jobs. You'll have to come back to the blog another day for more about that. I also worked out at the Top Fifty Rally Park bike show. We gave locks to the winners of the show. We also mixed things up with the crowd giving them crazy questions to answer for a chance to win a lock from us. This was alot of fun. While the crowd was a bit more thin this year than in the past because of gas price sticker shock, the spirit of the event was as strong as ever!

Celebrity Choppers/Thug and Streets

If you follow along over on the Plog (the Perewitz blog), you have seen the evolution of their customer's Doug and Pete to Thug and Streets.

Doug and Pete are both Perewitz customers who just love, love, love their motorcycles. Somehow, I'm not exactly sure how....they were dubbed with "biker names" at the Boston Motorcycle Show and Thug and Streets were born (all in good fun!) They went to Daytona with their biker names, hung out down there for a week with the gang and are now each contributing to the Plog. They are becoming celebrities in their own right for goodness sake. Move over Dave and Jody - Thug and Streets are comin' through!

Thought you'd want to see their rides since everyone always wants to catch a glimpse of what celebrities ride. I took these when I was down at the shop last weekend.

Here's Streets' ride - might look black, but that is actually a very cool, deep blue. Gorgeous!

Here's Thug's flamed out ride, done by the King of Flames himself!

With all kidding aside, these are great guys and I always enjoy seeing them at Perewitz events. It's come to my attention recently that Doug Robinson (aka Thug) has a son who has recently been deployed to Afghanistan. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Meet Dave and Jody Perewitz

It's that time again - time for trade shows and consumer shows to start in abundance! The first motorcycle one in our area is this weekend. The Northeast Motorcycle Expo comes to Hartford, Connecticut this weekend.

The Perewitz crew will exhibit, which means that Dave will be there signing autographs, posing for photos and chatting with attendees. If you are in the area, go meet him and check out all the cool bikes they'll have with them. Oh, and tell him that you want one of the Kryptonite posters!

This time Jody will not only be there, but she'll also be working on her own project. As we mentioned before, she is teaming with Sara Liberte to build a bike for charity right while you watch! She's been talking about the project on the Plog, too. It's been a lot of work for her, but it's all coming together and you'll see the build start tomorrow. Don't forget to buy a raffle ticket, too. You could win the motorcycle at the end of the expo series. All the money goes to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Cars or Bikes

by Jody Perewitz

Winter is upon us here in New England. That means that the motorcycle industry is slowing down, well the service and riding side anyway. The customs are still being built because most of them take several months to build anyway.

Nevertheless on with the story, we have recently acquired a 55 Chevy Wagon that my father has been obsessed with getting. It is a wicked cool car but needs a lot of work. If it was any other time of year the car would be on the back burner and forgotten about but because we are slow the car is going to be full steam ahead!

The car will have big wheels, be low to the ground, and of course have a Perewitz paint job. The guys have made room for the car in the fab shop which is usually filled with bikes. The bikes have been pushed aside and the car is taking center stage.

We are already having fun with this car. There is no motor in it so Jeff, our parts guy, climbs under the hood and Jay gets random people to come over to the car and Jeff pops out! It is too funny and definitely scares a lot of people!

Also there is another car taking up the shop. There is a Chevy SSR Truck in the spray booth! A local guy pestered Dave enough to flame his truck. And as Dave says “I like to do cars once in a while” so the truck is in the spray booth getting painted as I write.

Well I guess when business is slow in one aspect you move on to another. Do whatever it takes to bring in the money!!

Perewitz Movie Night

by Jody Perewitz


We will be having a Ride-In Movie Night tomorrow night! The idea of it is that people ride their bikes here and sit on them or in the parking lot and watch a movie. Well, I am sure that a lot of people will come with kids in cars but that’s ok too!

We have a big screen that is going on the front of the building and surround sound to make sure everyone can hear the movie. We will be playing Wild Hogs staring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy. The movie is a comedy about 4 guys' motorcycle journey 2000 miles across country.

I have seen this idea at some other dealerships and thought it was a great idea. We have 4 bike nights throughout the summer and I like to try a different event in the fall. Previous years we have done a kids day, HOG members day, and now a Ride-In Movie.

Hopefully this event will attract neighbors, motorcyclists, kids, customers and anyone else interested. This should be a fun family event that can tie together motorcycles and families.

The concession stand will be open. We will have fresh popcorn, snacks, candy, and warm hot cocoa in case it gets a little chilly! We are bringing our picnic tables over to the screen so if people come on bikes or anyone that wants to sit at the tables can.

So bring your chairs, blankets, and the kids for Perewitz Movie Night tomorrow October 19th!

Hope to see you there!

A week full of summer wrap-ups

by Jody Perewitz


Here at Perewitz Cycle Fab we had a busy week September 17-23! There were so many events going on in one week no one at the Perewitz shop got a good nights rest.

It started on Tuesday with Kory's, our service manager, birthday! Another birthday gone with the wind! Next on Wednesday we had our last Bike Night and what a night!

Wednesday was a nice day for bike night. As Donna has stated we luck out and always seem to get good weather, although I don’t want to curse us so we’ll say we have always HAD good weather! Well, the bike night was a huge success! We never know how the last one is going to be because kids are back to school and it gets dark so much earlier.

Those things didn’t seem to stop the crowd though! The parking lot was full, the food line was long and there were numerous volunteers, who got a free Kryptonite lock, to do burnouts. The first one was on a complete custom motorcycle which is cool because usually it's stock bikes, not that those are bad! Anyway it was a great night and an even better way to end the season!

Next we had a long weekend full of events. We had our annual, invitation only charity event, the Fall Foliage Run. It started with a ride from our shop to the Cape, then dinner at our house for 200 people!

On Saturday we had a poker run and a lobster dinner with a live auction. Thanks to the high bidders on the auction items - hopefully we will have a good amount of money to donate to the Multiple Sclerosis Society. On Sunday everyone rode to Provincetown and came back to the Perewitz manor for an Italian dinner and some leftovers. What a weekend!

We skipped work Monday to clean up the house, get rid of the trash, put things away, and eat some great leftovers that have lasted all week! Phew, I am glad it is over but sad to see another season go!

Till the next one!

Fall Foliage Run Weekend Raises Money for MS

It was a beautiful fall weekend on Cape Cod. The air was clear, the temperature was warm, most of the tourists were gone so traffic wasn't an issue and there was the sound of motorcycles all around! It was the Perewitz family's annual invitaional Fall Foliage Run Weekend. The FFR is for their motorcycle club, the Hamsters, and a few close friends.

It's a full weekend with a ride from the Perewitz Bridgewater shop to the Cape on Friday afternoon and a huge BBQ and silent auction at the Perewitz cape house. This year they even had a band playing in the back yard. Lots of fun and money was raised during the auction for the National MS Society.

Saturday dawned a little overcast, but still great weather for the annual Poker Run. Everyone had a great time riding with each other and enjoying the company at the different stops. The winner rec'd this sweeeeet, custom painted 'trash can'.

Saturday night was the big lobster & BBQ dinner and live auction where thousands of dollars were raised for the MS Society, which is a charity near and dear to their hearts and mine as well.

Below are a few pics from Saturday night. Enjoy.

Susan and Jesse work out some last minute details.


The raw bar is prepared....

The tables were ready to go.....

Doors Open!


Susan, Dave and Jody were at the door greeting guests.

Chef Kory & Company were in the kitchen making a great fish dish and keeping the lobsters coming!

Full house! Everyone seemed to have a great time....

....including Joe Pro in his funky hat.

We even caught a glimpse of Beach from The Beachcruiser! Train was with him. It was great to meet them in person finally!

Soon it was time for the charity auction.

There were some very cool items to bid on. Check out the custom made Converse sneakers.

I kind of liked this fun mail box on wheels.

Local artist, Greg Vaughan donated a one-of-a-kind Fall Foliage Run painted horseshoe crab for the auction and presented the Perewitz family with this one for their trophy case at the shop. Talk about unique!

No event can be done without the hard work of many. Here is just part of the crew that spent their time making this event a success. Bravo gang!

And...of course.....there was cake....yummy cake....

Thanks to the Perewitz family for being so generous, putting on a fantastic weekend and supporting this great charity.

Perewitz Bike Night Tonight

It's the last Bike Night at Perewitz Cycle Fab tonight. Looks like it is going to be a gorgeous Fall evening here in Massachusetts. If you are in the area, c'mon by. Roby and I will both be there.

End of Summer? Already?!

Do you ever find yourself saying at say 7pm on a Sunday night, "Where did the weekend go?" I do it constantly. I'm never sure how I got from 6pm on Friday night to...woosh...Sunday night. How did it happen? I don't ever get enough done or relax enough or hang out enough. Two days is just too short.

But, summer here in the US is really, in my mind, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That's 3 months. Not two days...three months. And, I still find myself saying today on the eve of Labor Day Weekend, "Where did the summer go?" Really. The days are already getting much shorter - like an hour more of darkness than in the middle of summer. Nights are a little cool sometimes now.

Where did it go? Does anyone have an answer for that?

Fall holds great things, too. My Facebook Countdown Calendar tells me that Interbike (the bicycle trade show in the US) is in 26 days (yikes!!) so we'll be off to Vegas soon. But, before that I'm up at the NASCAR track in NH for the race September 16 (woo-hoo!). And, the Fall Foliage Run Weekend with the Perewitz Family soon after. So, there are many things to look forward to in the fall, but I'd still like to stretch out summer a little longer, just like I would every weekend of the year.

For those of you in the US - have a great long weekend. Ride safe.

Sturgis Trip

by Craig Glab, Central Regional Manager



My little rascals on the motorcycle as I was getting ready to leave for Sturgis.



Here's the hotel - Holiday Inn Spearfish. It's the official Hamster hotel for the week.



Main Street in Sturgis.



This is only one block and there's got to be at least 10 blocks. They all look alike, with hundreds, no thousands, of motorcycles on each block.



The Stugis bike was designed and built by Sabers Specialties to be the official Sturgis motorcycle. It was raffled off in Sturgis.

The Sturgis bike was just off Main Street. Check out the lock hanging from the tent.

Thursday the Hamsters USA hold their annual ride for Hamsters and invited friends. We road from Spearfish into Sturgis which is 17 miles out.

I think there were about 350 motorcycles in the ride. The mayor of Sturgis came out to talk to us all before we left and he was asked to pick his favorite motorcycle of the bunch. Keith Terry, owner of Terry Components, has the nicest bike, according to the mayor.

Thursday was a busy day. After the Hamster ride, I rode out to Jesse Jurens' Top 50 Rally Park to see what was going on.

Dave Perewitz and Jody and Susan were there. Dave was signing autographs.



The Annual Bike Show was Thursday. They also had a motocross exhibition that could be seen from the freeway, too.

Giving away Kryptonite locks to people at the Top 50 Park with my friend Rob Buydos who announced at the Top 50 Park all week.

Congratulations Perewitz Family!

While at Sturgis the Perewitz family was presented with the 2nd Annual Chrome Heart Award from the Children's Care Hospital & School. The award is given each year to someone "in the motorcycle world whose philanthropic support and civic duty represents everything positive in the motorcycle industry". This year they chose Dave & his family. Very cool!

Since we've known them, we have seen first hand just how much this family gives of themselves to support different charities and funds. I don't know how they do it! I'm glad that the whole family was recognized because Dave is truly the front person but Susan, Jody, Jesse and Jaren help to make it all happen, too. They work the logistics and back end details of all their charity work. It's not easy, but they work together to give back and it's truly special to see. I can't think of a better family that deserved the award this year. Great photo of Dave & Susan with the award from Iron Works Magazine!

Not to mention....while they were in Sturgis, Dave played auctioneer for the annual Hamster USA auction and dinner where they raised over $200,000 for the Children's Care Center. The funds will help with physical, occupational and speech therapies to children with special needs in Western South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska.

The press release about this says..."Children’s Care of Rapid City served over 1200 children in the region last year through outpatient and outreach programs. It is affiliated with Children’s Care Hospital & School, based in Sioux Falls. Children’s Care is a private, independent, non-profit organization with a mission to help children with special needs reach their full potential. The organization as a whole served over 2500 children last year."

Pretty cool that the Perewitz family and the Hamsters help out this cause each year. Oh, what are the Hamsters? It's an international motorcycle group founded by Dave and some of his friends years ago. From what I can tell, they are a great group of guys who all give of their time, talent and monetary donations to many, many charities across the country. Clearly, they were all more than generous out in Sturgis at their annual banquet!

While we are talking Perewitz....here are some photos from this month's Bike Night.

All set up and ready....a big kudos to Tim Clifford who

was on vacation but came to work the event anyway!

All kinds of motorcycles filled the parking lot.

Our New Employee

by Jody Perewitz

Unfortunately for us, my brother Jesse decided to follow his dream rather than my father's. Jesse ran our parts department until about a month ago. We had to find a replacement, well not a replacement because some people can never be replaced, but a new parts person. This is where Jeff comes in!

Jeff has become our new parts man. He honestly didn’t have a ton of knowledge about motorcycles when he first started but he is an extremely fast learner. Answering calls, looking through catalogs and magazines, talking with customers, and helping the guys is the best schooling Jeff could get.

The New Guy

It couldn’t have been a better time to start learning fast. Sturgis, the biggest bike rally in the country, was just around the corner. This means that everyone including the new guy would be working around the clock to get things finished.

Kory and Jeff Out West

Working out back with Kory or Jay after hours, Jeff quickly caught on to concepts, components, and designs of motorcycles. Before we knew it is was time to load the trailers for the 34 hour journey to South Dakota. Jeff has been able to make the journey out to Sturgis with us and learned first hand about the custom motorcycle world. He even got to ride a few customs!

Stop by the shop and challenge our new parts guy Jeff! He will impress you with his personality and knowledge.

Locked Up Our Trip with Kryptonite

by Dave Perewitz

This past weekend my wife Susan and I went on the road to a show in Pittsburgh, PA. We left early Friday morning making a stop in New Jersey to drop off a freshly built bobber for a customer and then headed to Pittsburgh. We got there late Friday night.

Saturday the show was early morning ‘til early evening. That day was also my wife and mine anniversary. The show was busy throughout the day and the weather was great. We did the same thing on Sunday and packed up around 5 and were on the road home at about 6.

Here is where it gets interesting….the drive from Pittsburgh to Bridgewater, MA is about 11 hours. We get on the road and drive through most of the night till we get to Rhode Island. We were making good time - Susan and I were excited that we might get home before 4 am! We no sooner get into Rhode Island and we get a blow out. No big deal. We pull over, I change the tire and get back on the road. I didn’t even get a chance to turn the radio back up and we heard a loud pop noise! The spare tire blew out! Now we are in trouble!

I pull over and examine the trailer and tire. We are on the rim. What can we do? After making some phone calls, waking a few people up at 4 am, I realized there was nothing I could do till a tire place opened.

We didn’t want to sit on the side of the highway with $140,000 worth of bikes in the trailer so we decided to pretty much drag the trailer on the grass to the next exit. Thankfully there was a 24 hour gas station right off the exit. We decided to leave the trailer there locked up and come back for it later.

Well, I was a little nervous leaving it there because this is something we never do but I was a little more confident knowing that Kryptonite was protecting it. I backed it up to a light pole so no one could open the door, put 2 locks on the back door, one on the front door, one on the tongue, a rotor lock on each bike, chained the bikes together with a Fahgettaboudit, and put a chain around the one good wheel and tire. I would have to say someone would have a hard time stealing it if they tried. So all together I had almost 10 locks on everything. We told the clerk we were leaving it there and they said they would keep their eye on it.

At about 9 am Jody and Jeff headed down to pick it up with a new tire. The trailer must have looked terrible, sitting on the rim, fender ripped off, dirt and grass hanging out the back, ay what a site! But we got it home safe and sound! What a way to end a trip.