Motorcycle Parts and Accessories Blog

Behind The Scenes of the J&P Rebuild for Extreme Makeover

Patrick Garvin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:37:32 +0000

A few months back, Tim Barcz, who is my boss here at J&P Cycles, called me into his office, which in and by itself isn’t out of the ordinary. But what he said after I closed the door was something you don’t hear every day.

Seems he’d just received a phone call from producer of the top-rated TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and those folks were looking for a little help. They were filming a segment of the show in Iowa and they had called Tim to ask if we’d be at all interested in rebuilding two motorcycles for the family highlighted in the show. My response was brief:… Continue Reading

Good Samaritan Motorcyclist Mark Adams Dies

Lowell Anderson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:23:52 +0000

The motorcycle community lost a great mechanic, friend and enthusiast last week in Florida.

Mark “Tex” Adams was doing what came natural to him last week — helping out somebody in need. Mark stopped to help a woman who had run out of gas on Interstate 4 in Florida when another motorist veered onto the shoulder and struck him.

I had the opportunity to get to know Mark when we worked together at KTM. He was an excellent mechanic who loved to tinker on anything with a motor in an effort to get it to run perfectly. On more than one occasion, Mark helped me develop new products for the… Continue Reading

Join Our Feb. 4 Winter Workshop at J&P Cycles

J&P Cycles — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:28:46 +0000

Here in the frozen north — and we are officially frozen now — it’s time for our annual Winter Workshop, where we here at J&P Cycles help you decide what projects you want to take on for your motorcycle and then show you how to accomplish your goals. Whether you’re a certified technician or just like to putter around in your garage, we’ve got the know-how and information you need.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4, (with an hour break for lunch) we will be offering an absolutely free workshop at our Iowa location only. We’ll be on hand with fistfuls of tips and… Continue Reading

Our 2012 Catalog’s Here — It’s Just Like Christmas All Over Again

Scott Holton — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:36:14 +0000

We say this every year, but it’s true: Our 2012 J&P Cycles catalog — refurbished, renovated, refined and featuring 1,064 pages — is our best ever! And we mean it this time. It’s chock-full of the latest brand name items from S&S, Custom Chrome, Vance and Hines, Drag Specialties, Bikers Choice, V-Twin Manufacturing and others. This catalog is your one-stop place to shop.

The 2012 catalog offers a whopping 40,000 individual unique numbers, ensuring you that we’ll probably be able to handle all your Harley parts needs. Over the last couple years, we’ve been using product specialists to bring new and exciting products to each chapter of our… Continue Reading

It’s Time to Pack it in for the Winter

Scott Holton — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:28:23 +0000

If you’re still in denial that riding season is indeed over for the year, and you’re a little hesitant about putting your bike in winter storage, just stick your head out the front door and take a look. Winter has arrived, baby, and there’s no two ways about it. Heck, it’s even been raining in Southern California and they never have weather!

And unless you’re a motorcycle newbie, you know that putting your ride in hibernation doesn’t mean rolling it into the garage and putting the kickstand down. If that was your best thinking, we’ve got some more bad news for you. Winter storage requires some action on your part.… Continue Reading

A Primer on Motorcycle Oil — Without the Controversy

Scott Holton — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:15:52 +0000

There’s always been confusion and conflict when it comes to any discussion about oil, which is of course, the lifeblood of our beloved motorcycles. And I’m probably not going to bring world peace to this topic with anything I’ll say in today’s blog post. Truth be told, this topic has created more debate on our Riders Forum on the J&P Cycles website than any other subject.

In fact, I’m mostly going to stick to the facts in this post, steering away from the controversies for the most part. First off, let’s explore the function of oil in an internal combustion engine — the educational portion of this segment.… Continue Reading

J&P’s Ready for Its Close-up on ‘Extreme Makeover’

J&P Cycles — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:14:30 +0000

When producers from the long-running ABC television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” called us in early October and asked us to work some mechanical magic into a pair of three-decades-old derelict bikes, our crew jumped at the opportunity.

A couple of our top techs rounded up a van and trailer and drove the 90-minutes from J&P Cycles’ headquarters in Anamosa to West Union, Iowa, to meet up with the ABC crew and surprise Audrey Gibbs and her six children.

The back story is this: Seven months after her husband died, Audrey Gibbs suffered a brain aneurism that left her legally blind and raising six children on a… Continue Reading

J&P Employees Share Resolutions for 2012

J&P Cycles — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:00:29 +0000

Patrick Garvin, one of our more prolific bloggers and motorcycle tech experts grabbed a microphone and wandered around what he calls the “belly of the beast” here at J&P Cycles, asking a sampling of employees for their New Year’s resolutions.

Were this a bank or financial institution, you would expect those resolutions to center around balancing a checkbook or putting more into savings. But J&P Cycles sells motorcycle parts — about 130,000 of them at last count — and our employees seem to have a common theme when it comes to resolutions.

And that theme is this: Fix the bike that’s in the garage. For example, senior technician and… Continue Reading

Remembering Indian Larry

James Simonelli — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:00:59 +0000

Editor’s Note: Indian Larry was the legendary machinist, metal-sculptor and motorcycle mechanical genius out of New York who built a style of bike that was a cross between a classic chopper and a hot-rod racebike. He won dozens of custom bike show competitions, and raced and performed in movies and television productions. This guest blog post is written for J&P Cycles by James Simonelli of BAKER Drivetrain, who is a frequent contributor to IronWorks Magazine. Here’s his take on Indian Larry.

I took this picture of Indian Larry back in June of 2003 at the Laconia Rally in Laconia, NH. Larry was a pretty cool guy, and he was really… Continue Reading

Happy Holidays

Zach Parham — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:37:31 +0000

So far this winter, we’ve still got tree leaves covering the Iowa highways instead of snow. Nevertheless, the opportunity to spend time on two wheels is rapidly drawing to a close and our thoughts turn instead to winter projects and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Here at J&P Cycles, we’re constantly inundated with hot deals and promotions, all centered around the after-holiday sales. So what I wanted to do was just take a deep breath and pause to reflect for a moment on what this season is really all about.

And of course, it’s about being thankful — just like we were taught way back in elementary… Continue Reading