Cycle Barn Motorsports Group
Where diversification and expansion is king
 The
poster behind Jim Boltz’ desk is a classic one. It’s from the
mid-seventies and shows a half dozen motorcyclists in an alley.
"Join the Gang at Cycle Barn, Lynnwood" reads the text. A closer
look and you’ll notice the diversity of riders from the leather clad
outlaw to the ‘you meet the nicest people on a Honda’ type. And
standing in the middle is Boltz himself looking like a well- clad
street fighter in a leather jacket aside his Triumph Bonneville.
Boltz got the motorcycle bug while stationed in Northern Japan in
the mid 60s. He returned home in 1967 and went to work at
University Honda as the parts manager, working alongside Pete Wicken,
who was University's sales manager at the time.
After two years he went back to school and got his Business
Degree in Accounting from the University of Washington. "Those were
tough years since there was little time to ride with school being a
priority," he says. So it makes sense that when he graduated in 1971
he re-entered the world of motorcycling, only this time he struck a
deal with Kawasaki for his own dealership and opened Cycle Barn in
February of 1972 in a small barn-like building on Highway 99 in
Lynnwood. On Any Sunday had just been released and the motorcycle
world was thrown into a upward swing it has rarely ever flattened
out from.
Photo: Jim Boltz looks to the future with various
reminders of the past on the wall behind him
Where there once was one, there now are six. Cycle Barn has added
a number of lines over the years as well as diversified into other
motorsports endeavors. Thus the creation of the Cycle Barn
Motorsports Group brings all the current businesses together under
one moniker.
In the 70s and 80s Cycle Barn added the Honda and
Harley-Davidson lines and eventually added the Triumph and Kawasaki
brands in the 90s. Things were on a roll by the new millennium and
a second motorsports store was added in Smokey Point which now
stocks all four major Japanese brands as well as popular watercraft
and snowmobile lines.
In the late 90s Boltz also diversified his business ventures by
creating The Motorsports Restoration Center for custom and insurance
work, The Outlet Center to capitalize on manufacturer overstocks
and the Karting Center to pick up on the growing interest in the
go-kart market.
By the end of 2000 things were busy – very busy, and Boltz took
on a former employee and customer, Dave Preston, to help him with the
marketing and public relations side of the company. Preston is the
hub for all customer activity related things involving the many
clubs Cycle Barn has initiated in-house, dealing with outside
requests for dealer event participation and managing the many events
held by each of the six entities within the Cycle Barn Motorsports
Group. Preston has become the known ambassador and routinely
hosts various events including the Saturday night festivities during Sportbike Northwest each year.
In 2005 changes continued. When Cycle Barn took on Harley-Davidson more than two decades ago, the manufacturer was
struggling. Not so today and over the years H-D has commanded new
dealers to be single line. Pressure from Milwaukee mounted on Cycle
Barn over recent years and the store was broken in half, with Harley-Davidson staying in its previous location, while the other
three brands took a trip up 99 to new digs a mile north.
In retrospect it was one of the best things that could have
happened. Previously, metric customers would complain that H-D
customers got better treatment and vice versa. But with the split,
customer satisfaction is on the rise at both locations. In early
2006 Harley-Davidson of Seattle scored six Sound RIDER! Dealer
Survey awards and sales at Lynnwood and Smokey Point have been
record breaking.
For Jim Boltz and his staff within the Cycle Barn Motorsports
Group it's been a long road filled with changes. What began in
a barn, literally, on Highway 99 has blossomed into a full service
organization that encompasses nearly every type of motorsports
enthusiast today.
Cycle Barn Overview
 Lynnwood
Cycle Barn – The first of six businesses to be launched back in
1972. Today they sell Honda, Kawasaki and the Triumph lines. Has a
half dozen active clubs varying from sportbike and women’s groups to
cruiser and Triumph- specific clubs. This store also features an
on-site dyno which becomes the critical benchmark for customers
doing aftermarket add- ons.
Photo: An inside look at the new Lynnwood
location
Smokey Point Cycle Barn – Started in late 2000 to carry
Honda and Yamaha. Today they carry Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and
Suzuki as well as various watercraft and snowmobile lines.
Harley-Davidson of Seattle – Although it’s actually in
Lynnwood, you can’t knock the bold move of trademarking the Seattle
tag at a time when H-D didn’t even have a dealer in Seattle. The
store occupies the entire space it once shared with three metric
names. As with all Harley dealers, this one has its
own HOG chapter, but as a caveat it also sports a Ladies of Harley
group. Several ladies nights are hosted each year.
The Motorsports Restoration Center – Custom paint and
restoration work for any make or model of powersports equipment. The
concept was simple from the beginning - rather than toss old
repairable parts and replace them with new ones, take the
salvageable parts and bring them back to as good as new for half the
cost of buying new. Today they’re the darling of the insurance
industry and have been the template for a wave of change in the
powersports insurance industry.
The Outlet Center – Who doesn’t like a great deal on last
year's model? With outlet stores being all the rage, the Outlet
Center concept allows Cycle Barn to purchase overstocks at low
prices and pass the savings on to customers. They’ve now taken it
one step further by assisting custom bike builders with acquiring
needed parts at significant savings.
The Karting Center – While it might not be your cup of
tea, there have been significant changes in technologies over the
years in the karting industry and the Karting Center addresses those
changes with the latest and greatest karts, add-ons and skilled
mechanics.
To learn more about each one, begin your journey at
www.cyclebarn.com
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