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