Passes & Canyons Blog

As usual, Stump, the ABATE of Colorado legislative liaison, keeps us informed of what bills the legislature is considering that would have an impact on motorcyclists. He has been tracking a few this session.

HB26-1079 (Concerning a requirement that a minor have written permission to obtain an instruction permit to drive a motorcycle) passed the House on 3rd reading unanimously with an amendment to change the title to the “Cole Bradley Act.”

HB26-1125 (Concerning the assessment of penalties against a parent when a minor violates laws concerning the usage of certain electric vehicles, and, in connection therewith, authorizing the assessment of penalties against a parent for a minor’s improper usage of an electrical assisted bicycle, electric motorcycle, electric scooter, or electric skateboard) was withdrawn by the sponsor and listed as PI.

HB26-1329 (Concerning criminalizing certain motor vehicle activities, and, in connection therewith, criminalizing and creating penalties for motor vehicle racing, street takeovers, and stunt driving) was introduced on Wednesday, 3/11 and has 2 House sponsors but no Senate sponsors at this time. It is only 15 pages long and is quite interesting to read, especially the definitions.

Then there are a few other bills that do not directly address motorcycling issues but would still affect us.

SB26-003 (Concerning expanding the scope of the “Battery Stewardship Act” to cover the end-of-life management of electric vehicle batteries) passed the S-T&E Committee and is awaiting a hearing in the S-APP Committee. As we get more Electric Vehicles (EV) on the road, we should probably start thinking of how to dispose of the used batteries.

SB26-035 (Concerning an increase of traffic violation penalties) only has one Senate sponsor and no House sponsor but it passed the S-T&E Committee and the S-APP Committee. It’s scheduled for 2nd reading in the Senate on Tuesday.

SB26-072 (Concerning increasing criminal penalties related to assaultive conduct with a motor vehicle, and, in connection therewith, adding the conduct of causing the death of another person with a motor vehicle to the crime of criminally negligent homicide) has 2 Senate sponsors, no House sponsors and is awaiting a hearing in the S-JUD Committee.

SB26-132 (Concerning a requirement that a law enforcement officer offer a voluntary preliminary screening test for alcohol to a driver) has 2 Senate sponsors and 2 House Sponsors and was assigned to the S-JUD Committee. It passed through the Senate and has been assigned to the H-JUD Committee.

So far none of these have seemed to me to call for my presence at any hearings so I haven’t been down to the capitol this session. Keep up the good work Stump.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding a motorcycle demands total presence. Focus isn’t optional. — Judith Roberts

I told Judy on Monday that we will have to move.

It was a warm, sunny day and I was going to go ride but where to? We have lived in this house for 30 years; just had our 30-year anniversary of moving in a few days ago. What road in any direction have I not ridden countless times?

I headed out looping past Cherry Creek State Park and continued south on Peoria, Broncos Parkway to Chambers and then south on Chambers. I was still wondering where to go but I had just read in this morning’s Denver Post about a proposed housing development where Chambers intersects Crowfoot Valley Road. I had just written about this newly opened section of Chambers and I had assumed that with all that area now much more accessible there would inevitably be a lot more development, and soon.

Well, the article in the paper was about a group of neighboring homeowners who oppose this new development. As in “I’m on board, pull up the ladder.” A woman who was the main organizer of this opposition was quoted as saying that she could see no benefit at all to the folks who live around there of having these homes go in. Gosh, do you suppose someone who lived in that area before her development was built might have said the same thing?

So I was curious to take a look at the area the article was talking about and all I had to do was stay on Chambers. And my memory was correct. There is new development everywhere around here. There are so many homes that were not there three years ago. Anyone who thinks this is not going to continue is a bit out of touch with reality.

Anyway, with curiosity satisfied, I decided I would turn onto Crowfoot Valley Road and see just how close this new intersection is to Castle Rock. OK, that question got answered. Now I guess I’ll just keep going across I-25 over to US 85 and up on the west side of town. So basically, I headed southeast quite a ways and then looped around the south end of the metro area and came up on the west side. That’s a loop I’ve considered doing any number of times but never had before. Now I have.

US 85 eventually turns into Santa Fe and I took that north to Belleview, turned east on Belleview, and home. Nothing exciting but a nice ride on a nice day for riding. And boy did I see a lot of other bikes out, too. I’m not the only one who can’t resist. Who doesn’t want to resist. Why the heck would I resist the urge to ride on a nice day?

Biker Quote for Today

A true biker knows that roads are meant to be explored, not just traveled.

At first it was just figuring it out. Beginning in 2006, Steele’s Cycle embraced the new opportunities presented by the internet, and specifically eBay, and began the transition from junkyard to salvage operation.

“In the beginning, people would put it on the floor, on your desk, just take pictures and list it on eBay. Over time, we, like everybody, were like, we need a listing station,” Rick explained. “We need a place to put somebody to list the stuff. We tried lights. We made PVC white sheets to try to reflect. We tried to have a photo studio next door. But in the end, we just ended up with these listing stations. But that was all just over time and experimentation.”

They also used a tool called MotoLister.

“These two guys showed up in a car out front here. In the back of their car, it was called MotoLister. And they had a staged deal. It was basically, you take a picture, it’s hooked to your computer. It was software, basically. But they were the first ones. And they said, we’re looking for people to try it for free.

“And he showed it to me and I said, yeah. Price is right. I do remember though, telling them okay, I’ll do it. But what’s going to happen in a year or two, you’re going to start charging me. And I said, I’ll do it. But you’ve got to give me free for life. And he agreed to it. I think five years ago or something, he started charging me. But they improved it immensely.”

“We also decided we needed more space, which is when we added on the 5,000 square foot addition in the south end of the building.”
By the time that addition was built the yard was overflowing with bikes. To make space, Matthew said, “I threw away 800 motorcycles. We had to clear the yard and they were just all sitting there.”

Those 800 bikes filled a lot of recycling dumpsters.

“We were filling it up, taking them away, and it was just a round robin for a number of weeks. Probably got a whole $300, $400 for each skip.”

But did they single out at least a few better bikes to salvage?

“For the most part, we didn’t really have a choice. But if there was something there that we thought was a better piece, I’m sure there were some we set aside. There was a lot of burnt bikes. We bought Fay Myers’ burnt stuff, so there was quite a bit of burnt stuff out there.” (Fay Myers Motorcycle World suffered a devastating fire at their old location on West Alameda, which resulted in their moving to their current location on East Arapahoe.)

These days Steele’s Cycle doesn’t go looking for salvage bikes, the bikes come to them.

“I get more coming in than space to put it in,” Rick continued. “It’s a big place here, but space is always an issue. So usually about once or sometimes twice a year we go through the yard and just have to make room. It’s kind of sad because parts have value. But probably the decider is the labor that it takes to take it apart. If it takes the same labor to take apart that bike that you can make $3,000, $4,000 on, or that bike that you might make $500 or $1,000 on, which one are you going to choose?”

Nowadays, Rick’s son Brandon, that new baby who arrived just after the business was purchased, runs the eBay side of the operation. While the guys doing the stripping of the bikes generally decide what purchase price to put on the parts Brandon does double check it from time to time.

Brandon told me that “Some of my favorite part of it is I’ll have a guy buy a motor from, oh man, Australia. Last year was a guy that bought some old BSA parts and he was in Australia and you chat a little and you learn, you know, it’s just fun to meet people from around the world that have, you know, one thing in common, which is motorcycles. Then just also to hear, what’s it like over there? What do you do?

“Chasing the deal is probably what I enjoy the most, buying and then stripping and then seeing what, everything sells for a price but it’s, you really never know what’s going to sell next. That’s the fun part about eBay. I always tell my dad it’s like gambling the opposite way.”
Today Steele’s lists about 24,000 parts on eBay, a more manageable number. Half of their total business is through eBay. On the whole, parts off newer bikes sell fastest but old parts just keep on selling, too. A sizeable portion of new bike parts go quickly and what remains might go for years before they sell.

Does there ever come a point where they throw away parts that have been data-entered and stored? Rick says no.

“No. Not really. I mean, we haven’t reached that point yet. Look at a manufacturer. He has to have every part of the bike. The difference with them is after it’s 10 years old, they just stop. So they’re going to blow everything out, cheap sell it to somebody, which we could do, but I’m not a big sale guy. Because if somebody needs a part that we have, they need a part, right?”

Biker Quote for Today

There’s only one color for a motorcycle, that’s black. Unless you want to sell it, then paint it red. – Melvin “Swede” Dunlap

After about 10 years, Rick Steele owned and was making a success of his business, Steele’s Cycle, but what he wanted most was to own the property, rather than continuing to pay rent. He started trying to buy the whole property, but his landlord, Fred Neuschwanger, would not sell, saying he didn’t want to pay the taxes he would incur from capital gains. Rick kept asking to buy and was told that if the time to sell ever came he would be given first shot at buying.

The thing about capital gains is that if you die holding an asset, and that asset goes to an heir, the heir’s cost basis is reset at the value at the time of death. So when Fred Neuschwanger died, and the heirs agreed they did not wish to continue dealing with the property, they could now sell without incurring a huge tax bill.

The property was finally offered to Rick.

The deal was pulled together in late 2007 and early 2008, and by that time Rick had a partner and the two of them were able to come up with the money. At the closing Fred Neuschwanger’s daughter showed up with a picture of her dad, saying she just wanted to bring her dad along because he had always promised to give Rick the chance to buy the property.

The deal was made and a new era began at Steele’s Cycle. Rick’s first partnership did not work out, and meanwhile, in 2011, Matthew Morrison had joined the crew and he and Rick worked well together. In 2014 the deal was finalized where Matthew bought out the old partner and Rick and Matthew were in business together.

Now the clean-up/fix-up of the property got into full swing. The main building got a new roof, walls were built inside and everything got a lot cleaner and more organized. Distinctive older bikes were mounted on the walls or from the ceiling and a proper showroom was set up for used bikes. Racks were put on the walls and a wide variety of motorcycle gear was put up for sale.

“In the early days, yeah, we sold tons of parts through here,” Rick explained. “But brick and mortar’s dying a slow death. You know, where we sell stuff is, ‘I need a set of brake shoes but I need it today.’ That’s the only brick and mortar advantage anymore. Before the internet, the yard was a good thing. The yard anymore is not what it used to be. The internet’s changed all that. But like Matthew says, there is a draw to it. We have people all the time, oh, can I walk in the yard? It’s just interesting.

“The salvage yard has always been what I describe as an attractor for people to come here. But we weren’t generating much money out of the salvage yard. It was all online. So we really focused on growing that side of the business. I mean, we went bananas. We grew it to 50,000 parts listed on eBay, but it became unmanageable and we ended up cutting back.”

eBay. That’s the key word. Right around the time Rick was able to buy the property, changes in the world around them altered the entire landscape. In July of 2006, this new marketing concept called eBay had emerged and Rick had immediately seen the possibilities it presented. They could list parts on eBay and suddenly the entire world became their market rather than just the Denver area.

Next: Motorcycle Salvage

Biker Quote for Today

Getting to be an old Geezer is not for the TIMID!! Also its not grey its CHROME!!

On July 20, 1986, Rick Steele was 26, about to have a second child, and was now the owner of a business on which he owed $90,000. What business? He now owned a junkyard. A motorcycle junkyard.

Almost 40 years later this former junkyard is a multi-million dollar business servicing bikes, selling used motorcycles, and breaking bikes down to sell for parts. The internet has helped transform this local business into a global operation, and customers needing that one hard-to-get part for their 40-, 50-, 60-year-old bikes are thrilled to find it at Steele’s Cycle. As are the owners of much newer bikes.

Today the main showroom is packed with a large variety of bikes for sale and the walls are covered with gear and memorabilia. The place is clean, well-lighted, well-heated, and a staff of 10, including Rick and his partner Matthew Morrison, keep the place humming. According to Matthew, storage rooms hold more than 100,000 parts from every model bike imaginable, all neatly stocked and quickly accessible, based around computerized inventory.

The conditions on that July day in 1986 could hardly have been more different. Bikes for parts were lined up outside for customers to find and remove their own parts and then bring them in to make payment. Grime coated everything. Lighting was poor. There was no running water. And Rick was scared to death.

He knew motorcycles. He had worked at several shops around town: BK Motorsports, Western Honda, Senti Yamaha. But he had never owned a business. He had seen the possibilities. No stranger to Denver Used Motorcycle Parts (the D.U.M.P.) just east of downtown Denver along Park Avenue, Rick had seen the profit to be had from used parts. Pick up a crashed bike for pennies and sell the undamaged parts for dollars. There was money to be made here. But first he had to survive as a business. The $10,000 he had put down, half loaned to him by his then-mother-in-law, was, to him, all the money in the world. What had he gotten himself into?

“The scary part was just starting that late in the season because I opened July 20th. Back then, winters were, you know, it snowed on Halloween and it stayed. You didn’t get any customers. So, I was here all by myself, just a new dad. It was what I think anybody starting a business goes through. It was like, why did I do this kind of thing? And then it was challenging. It’s always challenging in the beginning. But, there was a demand, it’s supply and demand. And there was a demand for the stuff. And people kind of knew about stuff that was here. So that first fall, I think there were a few bikes in here that I sold right away. And that kind of carried me through. But, it was touch and go that first one, for sure.”

A Utility Heart Attack
Occupying at that time only a small portion of the space that now comprises Steele’s Cycle, the space had only one electric heater. Rick ran that until he got the first electric bill. For $1,500.

“I about had a heart attack. I didn’t know. So I quit heating this. Right inside the door, there was an office. Where that window is, that was a closed-off office. And I had a space heater outside of that office. I was working in that little room in there. And then I had a kerosene heater. And that was my heat.”

The building itself was sheet metal and cinder block. And the lot was rocks. There was no pavement. It was rocks everywhere with tree shoots growing through the rocks.

While initially the site was in pretty poor physical condition, because he was only renting the space Rick did not do a lot of clean-up and fix-up.

“When I rented it, I never really asked to fix things because I didn’t want to get my rent raised. So, I would just fix them. I fixed all the plumbing. The winter before I bought it, all pipes froze. They shut the water off. So, when I came, there was no water or anything. I didn’t fix it the first winter. I think I ended up fixing it the next summer.”

In addition to being cold, that first winter was lonely. “It was me for about the first, I think, eight months to a year. And then, my first employee was a guy named Bobby Berkler. And he worked for me for probably 20 years. It was just him and me for the first four or five years.”

Then, four or five years in, Rick got his dealer’s license so he could sell motorcycles. They had already been doing service on bikes and this opened up additional opportunities. In this manner the company existed for about two decades.

Next: From Renting To Owning

Biker Quote for Today

I may be lost, but on my bike, I’m always found.

The weather on Tuesday was fabulous and I would have ridden but Roy called to say there would be an RMMRC ride out to Kiowa, to Patty Ann’s, on Wednesday, so I changed my plans.

On Wednesday, along with three other guys from the RMMRC, we met up at Performance Cycle and headed south. Dave was leading and he took a common route, heading south on Clinton, then Inverness Drive West, to where we got on Liberty Boulevard, which loops around the south end of Centennial Airport. Then south on Peoria to Ridgegate Parkway where we headed east to Chambers, and then south.

It was then that the surprise came. We came up to Hess Road and the extension past Hess, which they had been working on for some time, was now open and we went straight. I had assumed this was going to be just an entrance into the new housing development that was going up there but boy was I wrong!

A full-blown four-lane semi-expressway now continues south from Hess, and then Chambers bends around to the southeast, crosses Crowfoot Valley Road (which runs diagonally between Parker and Castle Rock), and becomes Bayou Gulch Road, which I knew connected with Parker Road (CO 83) south of the Pinery.

Holy smokes! This newly opened stretch is in fact kind of a beltway through the southeastern part of the metro area that now allows you to get out town without going anywhere near Parker Road except where you cross it on Bayou Gulch Road. This is fabulous!

As I said, Dave was leading and he lives out there just off of Bayou Gulch Road on the east side of Parker Road, and he knew all about this for some time, I guess. He said they had been eagerly awaiting its opening and they are so glad it finally is. Wow, so am I.

So the rest of the ride was good. As we often do, we took Bayou Gulch on to where it hits Flintwood Road and then took that south to CO 86, then east to Kiowa. Had a good breakfast at Patty Ann’s–as always–and then headed back via the same route so I got to see it again and get a better idea of this new road.

I like this. I can tell I’m going to be riding this road a lot in the future.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding a motorcycle is like living life in high definition.