11/19/2014
Thank you for the great write up Michael! We appreciate your business and hope you can make it to our neck of the woods again.
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?142390
A visit to Motorcycle Larry's office...
Earlier today, I visited Motorcycle Larry's office in person. I was interested in buying a set of highway blades, but wanted to see the blade in person before making the purchase. I had a delightful visit, and wound up buying a whole basketful of stuff.
Although Motorcycle Larry doesn't encourage visits in person (their website states that they are primarily an internet retailer), they do treat walk-in customers very nicely. Dianne is the company manager, and David is the wizard of fabrication who looks after manufacturing and order fulfillment. Both Dianne and David are very nice people. They don't have a showroom of any kind, but if you know what you want, just ask and they will fetch the part from the warehouse for you to look at and purchase.
I discovered some interesting things during my visit:
1) The majority of the items that MCL sells are manufactured right on the premises. The back of the premises is filled with very large CNC (computer numeric controlled) milling machines, powder coating equipment, surface finishing equipment, and so forth. The company started out making parts for the aerospace industry, and then later switched to making sport fishing equipment and motorcycle equipment. I asked Dianne if they offered a bait well or tuna tube for the ST 1300, but she told me there had been no demand for that kind of product just yet.
2) Just about everything they sell is "in stock". I had a list of half a dozen items I was interested in, and every one of them was in stock.
3) There is a ST 1300 motorcycle in the back (the original ride of the deceased company founder) that is used for prototyping and test-fitting new products. I was curious about what effect on my posture the lowering brackets for the rider pegs would have, and David said "well, just come sit on a ST 1300 that has them fitted, and make up your own mind". So, I did - and I wound up buying the rider footrest lowering brackets.
4) Diane told me that the quantity of products that they ship for the FJR 1300 keeps increasing every year, and has now exceeded the annual quantity of products that they ship for the ST 1300. I guess Yamaha is selling a lot of FJR 1300s.
5) David told me that they are considering restarting production of the original (first generation) highway blades. The second generation blades (what they currently sell) put the rider's feet about 2 inches further forward than the first generation blades. This is great for folks with long legs, but not so good for those of us with a shorter inseam, or with a custom seat that puts us further back than the OEM seat. So, if you are in favour of this idea, please let David and Dianne know about your interest, this will help move the process along.
All in all, it was a very pleasant visit, well worth the ride to visit their location in Simi Valley, CA (a bit north of Los Angeles).
Michael
In the parking lot, with all my purchased goodies
