University Honda/Yamaha
It's a Wicken Family Affair
 In
the days of corporate takeovers, corporate run franchises
and corporate ups and downs, one thing has remained constant around the
Northwest's motorcycle industry - family run stores.
1959 saw the first United States Honda motorcycle
dealership open in Seattle, Washington Honda. Documentation shows the
original dealer number was 01. Originally located on Capitol Hill the
location moved up to Roosevelt in 1965 when the dealer changed its name
to University Honda. Soon, they added Kawasaki and Bultaco to their lines
and in 1967 they added Pete Wicken to their sales staff. In 1981 Wicken,
along with his wife Karen purchased the dealership from its previous owner and
together with their kids, Tom and Sarah, and a loyal staff built University into
the dealership it is today.
 The location at Ravenna and Roosevelt was hardly suitable
for carrying lines of motorcycles. It was two stories and the Wickens
were having trouble managing where to put all the inventory. "We used
to have to use a crane to get bikes into the upstairs," remembers Pete's son
Tom who now handles the sales floor for the dealership. By 1995 the
Wickens had a chance to carry the Yamaha line and began a search for more floor
space, eventually returning the dealership to Capitol Hill one block west of its old location.
 Selling bikes Tuesday through Saturday, Tom Wicken also
officially started racing the WMRRA circuit this year and has been successful at
holding high marks in the lightweight classic super bike class. Service
tech Jack also races the circuit and specializes in race setups and preps, a
specialty that University offers its customers.
 Daughter Sarah, along with her husband Mike who works in
the parts department have an exceptional collection of older bikes, many of
which are Hondas. A visit to the store will often yield a chance to see a
few of the gems. "We're out of room to store them all," notes
Mike who often has to deliberate with keeping a bike or keeping house
furnishings. Somehow the bikes usually prevail.
In the 80s University was the #1 dealer of scooters in
the US. Although that market has waned, they are still one of the stronger
dealers of Helix's, Elite's and Riva's in the northwest. This year their
strongest sales were on sport bikes, particularly Honda F4's, CBX 1100s, Yamaha
R1's and R6's.
"University Honda is the only place I've worked in my
entire history of being in this business," says Pete who started selling
bikes shortly after his exit from the armed forces. While many businesses
use computers today for accounting, Wicken likes to stick with a large tablet
style paper general ledger. "This is how people get paid," he
points out holding up the tablet. But don't think they're in the dark
ages. This year they remodeled their parts counter and they do use the
Light Speed computerized system for many of their inventory and tracking needs.
 If you need a break from corporate America, take an
afternoon or Saturday morning to stop into University Honda/Yamaha and
experience what a family run business is all about!
TM/Sep99
University
Honda/Yamaha
420 E Pike
Seattle, WA 98122
Editors note: UHM closed it's doors January 15th 2009. We're
keeping the story here as a historical document. We'll miss you
guys! |
