The new BUB Enterprises facility in Janesville, Wisconsin opens the door for a close-knit manufacturing-distribution alliance with Drag Specialties, which has a warehouse just a few miles away.

friend of mine said I did everything right except when it came to the name of this company. "It's just wrong," he said, "wrong like salami ice cream. BUB makes you sound like some backyard operation, a guy banging out pipes in his garage."
...Denis Manning

     BUB Enterprises might be the company with the funny name, but now has exhaust pipes coming out of two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, one in Grass Valley, California, and a brand-new one just opened in Janesville, Wisconsin. Right from the beginning 27 years ago, BUB was predicated on the idea that a good product perpetuates a strong business. All along BUB has relied exclusively on word of mouth to carry the day, not fancy advertising campaigns. In fact, BUB has never really advertised, not in the conventional sense with splashy full-color ads in all the consumer magazines. There was no need. BUB, sans advertising, is a name well known to both you and your customers. "The proof," Denis says, "is in how the product performs, not what the ads might claim."
     The new Janesville facility is more evidence that Manning's business plan is working for him, and not only from a manufacturing standpoint. It's no secret that transportation costs are on the rise, and BUB, now centrally located in Wisconsin, is in a much better position - figuratively and literally- to serve the market. Realizing that fully 80-percent of the motorcycle market is east of the Mississippi River. BUB has reacted. With diesel fuel costing upwards of $3 a gallon the cost of bringing in raw pipe from Pennsylvania, where BUB buys all its material, then sending the finished product back to market can be kept more in line. There's a tremendous time savings, as well, and that extends to warranty claims. From Wisconsin any warranty issue can be settled in as little as a day or two. And, of course, being in Janesville, Wisconsin, means that BUB is right next door to Drag Specialties/Parts Unlimited, able to turn on a dime and keep the warehouse full.
     With all that going on in Wisconsin BUB hasn't abandoned its California shops. There are three buildings in Grass Valley, with plans on the table for an additional 60,000 sq. ft. that will be dedicated mostly to research and development. BUB has just acquired a state-of-the-art EPA certified emissions laboratory, and once the new building is ready they'll have a much more complete dyno-testing facility. The new dyno lab, by the way, can duplicate any humidity conditions, any heat conditions and any altitude conditions. Both the Janesville facility and the Grass Valley buildings are filled with the latest in manufacturing robotics and CNC machinery. It's all brand new, all state-of-the-art. BUB duplicated its California operation in Wisconsin, allowing them to develop new parts in Grass Valley, prototype them, extensively test them and then send the tooling to Wisconsin and be assured of getting the same results.
     Manning says the whole setup in Wisconsin is looking forward five years. He operates in a different time zone, he says, an alternate time frame. He's preparing for an aftermarket in a soon-to-be heavily regulated environment. Sound issues, motorcycle pollution and a host of other variables are all on the politician's agendas, and BUB, Manning says, won't be caught short. Rather than complain about it, this is a company doing something right now. The company is disproportionately heavy in its research and development. BUB, as just one example, is currently researching catalytic converters.
     And all of that, those catalytic converters and who knows what else, like it or not might eventually find its way into aftermarket Harley-Davidson exhausts. But you can bet the ones coming from BUB will look, sound and perform better than ever. Manning would never settle for anything less. Twenty-seven years in the business has proven that. Call your Drag Specialties rep today to find out more about what BUB has to offer.