Sept. 1, 2008 – A look at new Tucker suppliers

FRISCO, Texas — National distributor Tucker Rocky showcased a number of new vendors at its recent National Sales Meeting. Here’s a look at some of those new suppliers.

FROGG TOGGS
An apparel company known prominently in the outdoor recreation industry has joined a national powersports distributor for the first time.
Frogg toggs, a developer of lightweight outerwear, recently signed an agreement to be distributed by Tucker Rocky, says Drake Maples, frogg toggs’ CEO.
The Alabama-based apparel company has appeared at Dealer Expo the past couple of years but has done little in the way of marketing its products in the powersports industry.
“It’s been an evolution that we didn’t plan for. It just kind of happened,” Maples said of the company’s progression from the outdoor recreation market into the motorcycle segment.
“Frogg toggs, we found, has got kind of a cult following among motorcycle riders,” he said, noting the marketing up to now has been solely word of mouth. “There wasn’t a single dollar spent in advertising within the industry. It just kind of happened.”
That doesn’t mean the company hasn’t made some changes to its product — advertised as both waterproof and breathable — to better fit the needs of motorcycle riders.
“We’ve modified a lot of our products that we have here at Tucker Rocky just this year because we’ve seen the motorcycle customer has different needs than a guy on the bow of a bass boat,” Maples said.
The changes, including designing waterproof leggings that could be of interest to on- and off-road riders, obviously have paid of. Maples said the company has already sent roughly $250,000 in inventory to Tucker Rocky in the first 90 days of the distribution agreement.
“The good thing for us has been that Tucker Rocky has done a great job,” Maples said. “If we can keep everybody educated on what the product is and they can keep telling us what the product needs for the rider, I think it’s going to be a good fit.”

FLASH2PASS
A manufacturer that recently had its licensing agreement with Harley-Davidson end is now providing its patented product to the aftermarket.
The company, F2P Technologies, has for the past seven years sold its innovative garage door opener, called Flash2Pass, with Harley. The product, which is also sold in the auto industry, works when a rider clicks twice on their high beams, which then opens the garage door.
Chris de Janasz, CEO and founder of the Waynesboro, Va.-based company, said he recently signed with Tucker Rocky and will be looking at working with other distributors as well as with OEMs to bring his product to the marketplace.
de Janasz says the company has worked to ensure its auto and motorcycle products have separate packaging even though the product is the same. The auto industry product is sold mainly through e-tailers and catalog companies.

SHAD
SHAD, a prominent seat maker for European motorcycle brands, is making a bigger effort to reach the U.S. market with its recent signing with Tucker Rocky.
The national distributor will add SHAD’s top cases, which includes models for motorcycles as well as scooters.
SHAD, which has its headquarters in Spain, is best known for providing seats for a number of high-profile motorcycle brands, including BMW, Ducati and Piaggio. About 15 years ago, the company added top cases to its product portfolio, says Bernat Gali, sales director for SHAD.
The company previously tried distributing those top cases, which feature interchangeable color covers, through a smaller distributor in the United States. Because that arrangement did not work as well as company officials had hoped, the manufacturer recently added Tucker Rocky.
The top cases are sold worldwide in 35 countries, Gali says.
The cases come with universal fitting base plates and the necessary equipment to attach it onto a luggage rack.
Fitting kits for bikes without racks also are available.

RANCHO
A division of Tenneco, a large automobile aftermarket manufacturer, has entered the UTV market.
The division, called Rancho, has been in the light truck performance market for 50-plus years, says Jason Denard of Rancho. Denard says Rancho started as a supply company for Jeep and then expanded into lift kits for full-sized trucks.
“Which is kind of why we’re concentrating on the UTV side of the (powersports) market, because it’s the closest thing we know in the market,” Denard said.
Rancho is offering shock and suspension kit packages for the Yamaha Rhino and the Polaris RZR.
“You can control damping, compression and rebound with one single turn of the dial on the shock,” Denard said, “which is a little different than some of the other shocks here. Their adjustable technology can control rebound and compression separately, so you get a lot of tune-ability but a lot of complexity.”
Rancho, which unveiled its products at the last Dealer Expo, will be distributed through Tucker Rocky. Whether the company expands its distribution through other companies is still being looked at, said Jason Denard of Rancho.
Manufacturing and engineering of the suspension kits are done in Long Beach, Calif., while Rancho’s sales and marketing are based out of Tenneco’s national headquarters
in Detroit.
Denard said Rancho is planning on advertising its powersports products and will have several online tools specifically for dealers, including point-of-sale products and product education videos.