Big Bear Choppers is expanding operations
02:03 PM PST on Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Big Bear Choppers is expanding operations down the mountain with a Perris facility that will double as a service and repair shop and Big Bear Choppers dealership.
The Big Bear Lake business got its start as a repair shop in 1998 and quickly morphed into a motorcycle manufacturing operation. Today, the company produces motorcycles that are sold around the world through a network of about 45 active dealers that stretches as far as Japan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
Mona and Kevin Alsop, the company's founders, said Big Bear Choppers grew to 100 employees at its peak and sold about 800 motorcycles a year, but the recession has brought that down to about 25 employees and 200 motorcycles a year. At the same time, the company's Southern California dealer network has shrunk from six to two.
The Perris shop is a way to maintain a dealership presence in the Inland Empire market, and offset the downturn in motorcycle sales with service and repairs. It opened quietly a couple of weeks ago along a strip of Highway 74 between interstates 215 and 15. The boxy gray building is nondescript, but the huge Big Bear Chopper banners that hang from it are hard to miss.
Mona Alsop said they chose the site, in part, because the highway is a popular route for bikers and down the road from Hell's Kitchen, a Lake Elsinore restaurant, that is a popular biker hangout. It's also central to key area markets such as Riverside, Temecula and Lake Elsinore, Kevin Alsop said.
Mickey Morisoli, shop manager for the Perris facility, said many of the smaller repair shops have shut down, and the ones that are left are tied exclusively to a manufacturer. He said the Perris shop will fill the gap by handling all makes and models, from dirt bikes and four-wheelers to Harley-Davidsons and Kawasakis.
"In this economy, you can't specialize in one area," he said.
Morisoli is the owner of Chopper Doctors, a shop in Corcoran that is an authorized Big Bear Choppers dealer. He said he'll run the two shops in tandem through at least the end of the year.
The last few years have been a rough ride for the motorcycle industry nationally.
Motorcycle sales were down nearly 16 percent in 2010 from the year before, according to preliminary data from the Motorcycle Industry Council. That follows a 41 percent drop in 2009.
Cam Arnold, vice president of communications for the Irvine-based group, said current data on dealerships isn't available, but there has "definitely been some shrinkage" across the country.
Big Bear Choppers' broad reach has helped keep the company afloat during the recession. In 2009, the company continued taking orders from Europe as the U.S. market tanked, Kevin Alsop said. And last year, European sales dropped, but sales to Australia picked up. Now, they are seeing orders beginning to pick up in the U.S.
"We're cautiously optimistic," he said.
Morisoli said he plans to market the shop through word of mouth at biker bars and gatherings. Plans for a grand opening are in the works.
Already, visitors have begun wandering in who heard about the shop or saw it along the highway. Morisoli said the company's name will help bring in customers.
"You have to have a good reputation to keep people coming back," he said.
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