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May 25, 2009 – Aftermarket Digest

S&S Cycle acquires Crane Cams assets

S&S Cycle has acquired a variety of assets from Florida-based Crane Cams Inc., S&S Cycle reported in a statement.
Crane Cams closed its doors in February and held a liquidation sale.
The assets include inventory, intellectual property and trademarks for all Crane automotive and motorcycle electronic products as well as Crane motorcycle valve train products. The intellectual property purchased includes designs, drawings and cam profiles. Crane automotive valve train products were not part of the acquisition.
S&S Cycle says it will continue to sell Crane products through the same distributors and dealers who have sold them in the past, and it will establish a new facility in Daytona Beach to manage the business and provide customer service and technical support.
Since the acquisition does not include the Crane facility or equipment, manufacturing of valve train products will be moved to the S&S Cycle manufacturing facility in Viola, Wis. “The addition of this product line is a natural fit for our current in-house cam manufacturing capabilities as our equipment and processes are state of the art,” S&S CEO George Smith said in the statement. “We’re also excited that the highly successful Crane motorcycle and automotive electronics line is included with this acquisition.”
In other S&S?news, the California Air Resources Board approved S&S Cycle to sell engines for new build custom bikes in California, reported S&S Cycle.
The engines covered by the executive orders are the S V100C, V113C, V124C and X117C. All of these engines are intended for “new build” custom motorcycles.
The engines are similar to the existing S&S Cycle 49-state Environmental Protection Agency engines, but were made compliant with California evaporative emissions requirements with the addition of a carbon canister, a vapor valve, an evaporative hose routing label and a sealed air cleaner assembly on the carbureted models. Additional restrictions also have been applied to the maximum capacity of the fuel tank and the distance between the fuel tank and engine.

Manufacturer Star brite adds distributors

Star brite, a manufacturer of maintenance and care items for the marine industry, has expanded into the powersports market.
The company’s Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment is now being distributed by Parts Unlimited and Lynn Vick Products, according to a Star brite press release. The fuel treatment counter the negative effects Ethanol-blended gasoline (E10) can have on ATVs, snowmobiles, motorcycles, PWC and other gas-powered equipment.
Star brite, which also operates in the automotive, home care and industrial markets, has its executive offices in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing and distributing facility in Montgomery, Ala. The company is publicly owned, trading under the OBCI symbol on the NASDAQ exchange.

FMF adds distributor for its APEX exhaust line

Aftermarket manufacturer FMF is adding to its distributors that will carry its relatively new APEX line.
The high-performing road racing exhaust line, released last year, will now be distributed through Motonation as well as through FMF’s other distributors, which include Parts Unlimited, Tucker Rocky and Western Power Sports.
“FMF’s distribution policy is to always have all of the countries’ top distributors representing our brands,” FMF founder Don Emler said in a press release. “Over the last few years Motonation has joined this echelon, certainly in the market segment of high-end street products, and thus they are a great addition to the APEX distribution mix.”
Motonation President Bill Berroth said, “We are very proud that FMF recognizes what Motonation can bring to the brand and we are looking forward to showing the APEX products to the finest motorcycle shops in the U.S., Motonation’s partner retailers.”

Cobra introduces accessories for V-Star 950

Cobra Engineering introduced its line of exhaust systems and more than 25 accessories for the 2009 V-Star 950, according to a company press release.
Leading the way on the exhaust category is a new slip-on muffler that mounts to the stock bike’s head pipes. “We think this slip-on muffler will be popular with V-Star 950 riders,” Tim McCool, president of Cobra Engineering, said in the release. “It sounds great, gives a performance boost and looks better than stock.”
Cobra also offers the Speedster lineup as well as the Power Pro and Power Pro HP 2-into-1 systems and the Dragster line.

ADP Lightspeed announces dealer inventory update

ADP Lightspeed finalized an integration agreement with Helmet House warehouse this week. The agreement allows dealers on the LightspeedNXT dealership management system (DMS) to search Helmet House warehouse data within the Parts and Major Unit Locator modules of the DMS, according to a press release from ADP Lightspeed.
In June 2008, ADP Lightspeed released Parts and Major Unit Locator within the LightspeedNXT program, which allows dealers to post their inventory and search other dealers’ inventory within the LightspeedNXT network instantly. The locator had more than 6,500 individual part searches in April alone. With this integration, Helmet House warehouse data will now be automatically added to relevant searches.
“We view this alliance as a major benefit for our dealers,” Laurn Rice, general manager of ADP Lightspeed, said in the release. “During these challenging times dealers don’t have the luxury of stocking everything or letting customers walk out the door just because they don’t have what the customer wants on the shelf. It is even more important now to deliver unsurpassed customer service at the time of sale and the Helmet House integration will be a key tool in finding what the customer wants, when they want it.”
By adding Helmet House data to the locator’s database, dealers will now have the ability to view availability of Helmet House products in regional warehouses without having to leave the invoicing screen in LightspeedNXT. Stocking data is loaded into LightspeedNXT’s locator database daily, keeping the information updated.

SuperTrapp sponsors Pro Flat Track Team

SuperTrapp Industries, a manufacturer of comprehensive performance exhaust systems for a variety of motor vehicle applications, announced it is the sponsor of the 2009 SuperTrapp Pro Flat Track Team featuring Mike Hacker as team manager and “Jersey” Jake Johnson as rider.
SuperTrapp has created sites on Facebook and Twitter for fans to stay up to speed on racing events and results.

Martin Racing Performance purchases LS Motorsports parts

Martin Racing Performance (MRP) purchased parts from LS Motorsports, which distributed the Diamo brand in the United States, recently at auction. MRP said in a release that it wants to work with dealers in need of Diamo parts and has lowered its dealer minimums to aid smaller Diamo dealers.
“We are slowly adding Diamo parts to our Web site on a daily basis,” MRP President Joel Martin said in the release. “Having purchased the QJ distributor in Florida and the LS Motorsports-Diamo parts inventory, we are in a unique position to help the industry in a time of need.”
To cater to smaller dealers that were previously working with QJ or LS Motorsports, MRP has lowered its minimum yearly requirements to be an active dealer to $200.
The company said the purchase of the distribution warehouses is leading to a change in MRP’s business model.
“In the past we have been known as mainly a performance parts source,” Martin said in the release, “but now our expansion has allowed us to claim a greater share of the OEM business.”
MRP also announced it has signed MOTOVAN Corp. as its Canadian distributor.
Motovan has received its first shipment of MRP parts, making them available to all its scooter dealers in Canada. psb

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