  The Englehart Center’s Suzuki GSX-R600 “Build-Off” project bike.  hen our General Manager, Robert Hintz, came to me and said to go ahead and build these two bikes the way I’d liketo own them and ride them if they were mine I thought I’d gone to heaven.” Jeff Hensen, an assistant parts and accessories manager at the Engelhart Center in Madison, Wisconsin, had just gotten the next best thing, as least for a motorcycle lover. He’d just been given the green light to customize two brand-new motorcycles as if they were his, using all the parts and accessories he’d pick for himself given the time and money. It was all part of a promo at the Engelhart Center and Jeff gleefully did his part, starting right off with the Parts Unlimited catalogs as well as the Suzuki accessory book. He made up his “wish list,” picked up the phone and ordered in all the good stuff. Every bit of it on someone else’s nickel. Talk about having some fun! In the last issue of Parts Magazine we outlined the plan behind all this, how the Engelhart Center had came up with a “Build Off” promo to take place right in their showroom and, loosely patterned after those TV shows, be featured on the Engelhart website, too. “Driving some of that traffic our way,” as Robert Hintz put it. A longtime Suzuki dealer (Engelhart started with Suzuki in ‘72) that company agreed to coop a couple bikes for this promo/charity plan and Jeff got to pick them, too. “I chose an all black GSX-R600 and a black C50 Boulevard,” he says, choosing two totally opposite bikes, a cruiser and a sport machine. “They’re both super popular models,” he explains. “They’re affordable so lots of riders have them and they’re both popular with the accessory manufacturers, too, so there’s a lot you can do with them.” And Jeff did a lot In this “Build Off” there was no major frame surgery or cosmetic fabrication. That was never in the cards. These two would be strictly bolt-on customs, a pair of nice bikes made even nicer using only wrenches, screwdrivers and the aftermarket. Jeff was careful to pick parts and accessories that average riders could handle both mechanically and financially. The hope was to give customers a first-hand look (once removed, maybe, in those website reports as work progressed) showing what was possible when their bikes were combined with some of the stuff behind the counter in the Engelhart Center’s parts department. “And the whole project took off a lot faster than we expected,” Jeff says. Customer feedback and response was phenomenal, everyone getting to vote for the bike they liked best and a chance to win it at the end with the second one donated to a local charity. Meanwhile, “Simple little parts that we’d hardly sell at all,” Jeff says, “went from nothing to selling 10 and 15 of them a month. I bet we’ll do this again next year, judging by the response we got this time. Parts and accessories sales both in the store and on our Internet site were huge.” The bikes were customized as the parts arrived, the whole “Build Off” becoming part of a three-month-long Open House at the dealership. Certain weekends during that time were devoted to specific product highlights so on those weekends work on the bikes was tailored to coincide with what was going on at the dealership. “We had a big dyno shootout in the parking lot one time,” Jeff goes on, “so inside the project bikes got their performance modifications that weekend. They got their exhaust systems, Power Commanders, the new K&N air filters.” And on all the other days the GSX-R got all the ideal sportbike add-ons with Hot Bodies, Excel, Dynojet, Renthal, Vortex, Metzeler, DP Brakes, CRG, Memphis Shades and Pro Tec all adding some gofast and look-cool. And right beside it the C50 Boulevard received a similar treatment along with some DG HardChrome and a full Kuryakyn session. All of this was photographed as the work progressed and the parts were added, updates regularly posted on the website along with complete descriptions of the parts and accessories used including the price and a “Buy It Now” button. In-store customers, of course, could just walk over to the parts counter for instant gratification. “And it all came off without a hitch,” Robert Hintz says. “It was a huge success. We got loads of new business both in the store and on the Internet.” And Jeff Hensen? Well, he did get to put together two of his favorite motorcycles, each customized and accessorized with all the stuff he’d always dreamed of adding to a bike. Too bad he didn’t get to keep one… |
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