It's trying really hard to winter-up, here in Wisconsin. Green Bay had a storm last night, and the Packers still won, but it's still pretty dry here in Burlington. We're not hibernating at the factory though. Yes, the design team has exciting ideas for new products. And some of them are Spyder...

If you didn't know, along with accessories for Harley, Honda, Victory and metric motorcycles, we also design and manufacture products for the Can-Am Spyder RS. Currently RIVCO is looking for a Spyder RT model to borrow through the winter for design, fitment, and photography of several new RT concepts. On the list of scheduled products for design are driver and passenger floorboards, passenger arm rests, a cup holder, hand brake (cable operated and under $400), articulating (sprung) trailer hitch, and a front bumper.

If you are in our area (Milwaukee, WI), are interested or know someone who would be interested in allowing us to use their Spyder, please contact rcolano@rivcoproducts.com. We will provide full insurance while the Spyder is in our care.

In exchange for the use of  the Spyder RT, the owner will receive their choice of RIVCO accessories for their Spyder. Thank you!

The First Snowflakes Last Night...

... were pretty much the clear reminder that the motorcycling season is about up, at least in Wisconsin. Last weekend was sunny and in the 50's, so there were a quite a few bundled up riders hitting the highways between here and Illinois. Harleys, Hondas, Spyders, BMWs and Yamahas were evident, but it would be interesting to see some of the new Victories out on the road. If just as a more complete snapshot of the local riding population before the white stuff hits and sticks. Things are quieter around the area, taking a breather now that Wisconsin's endless cycle of elections has come to a stop, at least for a awhile

In the shop, Peter is working on a limited run of the legendary Rune spinners, Teri and her crew are packaging the latest bunch of LED turn signal mirrors, and our new catalog is nearing completion. Lastly, the road gang reluctantly returned from the High Seas Rally, nicely tanned and semi-relaxed. If you have to go to a event at the end of the riding season, well... a week long tour of the Caribbean might be the right call. The Grimmes brought 4 or 5 cameras and came back with some terrific photos. Here are just a few.

The road crew is literally at sea, visiting the 10th Annual High Seas Rally. We got some photos back from their travels to the Blues, Bikes and Barbeque Rally and Thunder Beach. Here are some shots of the RIVCO booth at those rallies, and sights seen. Also included is a pic of the 1 1/2 lb. sandwich Jordan ate at one of our local restaurants.Thanks to John for providing all the photos. (1 is BBB, 2 & 3 are Thunder Beach, and 4 is clearly the sandwich, but missing the 1 1/2 lb. pile of french fries!)

It's pretty hectic at the RIVCO factory. Bodies are flying around the shop floor, assembling products and packing things up for customers, and machining aluminum like crazy. And a big dose of the High Seas Cruise Rally just adds to the excitement.

The High Seas rally is an annual event (this is the 10th) and comes together for a great cause, kidney dialysis research. The rally takes place on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, with up to 3000 bikers, and is truly a great way to socialize, party and meet the biker community at the end of the rally and riding season. A few select vendors get to make the trip too, and RIVCO has been making the trip for several years now. New products are shown, there are lots of free prizes and events, and some amazing parties, not to mention traveling in complete luxury to western Caribbean destinations like Grand Cayman and Cozumel. It's casual dress, so no pressure and the bikers can ride directly to Port Canaveral, Florida where the ship is docked. This year the rally takes place from October 28 to November 4.

Locally, since the weather has been warmer during the days, we are still getting riders at the factory, checking out the latest products. It's very gratifying that we get so many people from Wisconsin, Illinois and even Michigan taking the time to enjoy the ride to Burlington. If we could entice some of the hardy souls from Indiana and Iowa, that would be great too. The factory and outlet is open from 7:00am to 4:00.

Last week, our traveling outlet store/semi made the trip to the Thunder Beach Rally in Panama Beach, Florida. There are quite a few Florida rallies during the course of the hard core riding season here in the States, and one of the interesting things about them is how many people attend who aren't Florida residents. Bikers come from the surrounding states, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas but many come down from the east coast, and a surprising number of Canadian riders make the journey. Thunder Beach, which is a spring and fall event, has always been good to us, but the comment that came back about last week from John, our purchasing manager who attended the rally was "Maybe a bigger crowd than the spring show." Late season rallies just seem to be getting more and more popular, which makes a lot of sense. If you've got ten or twenty thousand or more invested in your bike and you love riding, then stretching the season and the roads just is too good to pass up.

So this week, starting today, the RIVCO semi-trailer is parked at the amazing Biketoberfest in sunny Daytona, Florida. The Fest goes from 10/18-10/21, and our people and accessories have a nice spot at Riverfront Park on Beach Street. If you want to see some innovative billet products, hang out with our road crew and visit the hot spots in Daytona with a bunch of free-spirited fellow bikers, well come on down.

This week the big blue semi is at the Thunder Beach Rally in Panama City Florida. This has always been a great time and show for RIVCO, and so even though the biking season may be winding down a bit here in Wisconsin (though today a well-bundled guy on a Honda Valkyrie passed me like I was glued in place) it is still really going at this time of year in our southern and southwestern states. Our owner decided to bring a big crew if you visit the Rally, you'll see the truck parked in front of the Shoppes at Edgewater, and be able to visit with Rich, John, Justin and Chick. There will be some new products for hard baggers and Harley baggers specifically, and everyone at the booth is friendly, so check them out!

In the shop, the assembly group is preparing additional displays for the Biker Budz, and the smell and heat of welded steel is warming the back end of the building. A potential additional stove wood source has been located courtesy of Alice and new signs for the front of building are ready at Signs & Lines in Waukesha. It's a fine tuned machine here, and we have more rallies coming up quickly.

The RIVCO semi-trailer is at the Blues, Bikes and Barbeque Rally in Fayetteville, and many of our Arkansas customers are attending the event. The road crew brought a couple of new products, including Biker Budz, and are watching what the customer reactions are like to making sure Harley hard bags are well protected. We get updates from the rally on our friend Facebook site, and there have been some great photos of bikers and music from down South.

Currently, Stephanie, Debbie and Chick are contacting folks about our Safety Special, and the assembly team is scrambling to get a large number of the Highway Mounts and Pegs packaged up and out the door. The manufacturing group is pounding out a record number of our famous Hitch Tongues, and generally updating all of our machining programs.

We haven't started carting in wood for the trusty cast iron stove, but there's a nip in the air every morning now, and the Wisconsin bikers that drop in are beginning to bundle up.

The Fall Scramble

September is just flying by and the shop is noisy. Finishing up a new product, designed to help protect the hard-working and beautiful hard bags so many of our customers and friends have on their motorcycles. Assembly is also packaging up some new electrical components for trailering. Also, a new video is being shot for the High Seas Cruise Rally in November - more about that later.

The semi-trailer showroom is getting inventoried and spruced up for the Blues, Bikes and Barbeque Rally in Fayetteville, Arkansas, September 26 through 29. Only ten years old, this rally is said to be the largest that benefits local charities. Along with great food, music and events for ever larger biker crowds, this rally is family friendly and welcomes children.

Also, here are some photos of fellow Wisconsinite Gary, who won a set of our Harley air horns from the local Love Run raffle, Matti from Finland who installed our risers on his Rocket III, and a recent shot of the shop's mascot, a vintage Ural. Enjoy!

Production started just the other day on a new series of videos for the website. Specifically, installation videos and product description videos, to answer rider questions about our many accessories. Especially at at rallies, many times bike owners want detailed information, and right away, because they care passionately about their bikes, so Rich is taking time right now to make videos about commonly asked about products.

The first two worked on this week were the installation process of the Chrome Handlebar Clamp Mount and Cup Holder, and the dynamic features of our new Cowl Driving Light Set for 2012 and newer Honda GL1800 models.These videos should be appearing on our website and on YouTube in the very near future. Have a safe Labor day weekend, and don't forget  to check out the Blue Moon!

A dedicated group of roadies left early this morning to attend the Parts Unlimited & Drag Specialties National Vendor Presentations, which is happening this weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. Just a couple of hours away from RIVCO's home town of Burlington, Madison is a beautiful place and central home to the University of Wisconsin, though there are quite a few regional campuses. The Vendor Presentations weekend is a great opportunity to show new and unique products, and to see what is out there from friends and competitors.

The Midwest and all around the Great Lakes is filled with rustic roads and bikers, and right now is prime riding time. There's no fall colors out yet, but the weather has cooled down some from the 100s we had over the last month, and motorcycles and scooters are everywhere. Winters around here make for tricky to zero riding, so when it's nice for seven or eight months of the year, people are eager to hit the highways. The roads are also pretty thick with cars and trucks too, making it a terrific time to test out a new air horn. It's always good to move that mini-van full of tourists over, just for a bit of breathing room. Around here, you can't really see through the corn fields, but you can always hear a good horn.

Well, sorry to say, but at this point, it looks like we won't be attending the Delmarva rally or the Roar to the Shore rally. Rich's shoulder needs to heal, and he's a crucial cog for our rally team. So he's going to stay here and focus on our upcoming catalog and some additional product videos. Then we're aiming to be at full strength for the Bikes, Blues, Bikes and Barbeque Rally in Fayetteville, AR September 26-29. We've been attending the BBB for the past couple of years and it's a fun time. Friendly people, great food, and the largest rally in the United States that benefits local charities.

Meanwhile, we're getting additional outdoor signs for our entrance, and finalizing a revised product kiosk in the front of the sales department. Some of the new products that will be displayed include the Highway Pegs and Clamps set, our latest rack mounting Fold Down Flag Pole, and the Cowl Driving Lights for GL1800s.

This Friday we're going to have a goodbye party for Rich Shouse, our lead foreman in the machine shop and a great guy. After 15 years he's moving on to a new position at a Harley facility here in Wisconsin and we wish him well.

Here's the first picture of the semi-trailer booth at Sturgis, from our buddy Gayle.

Back From Sturgis

Could there be a better time to start off this blog than after Sturgis? Doubtful. The big blue semi pulled back into Burlington late Sunday night, after a successful rally and the long drive back to Wisconsin. It always seems like the trip home is quicker than the trip out to South Dakota, but this time faster back was better. Rich Colano, the owner and president, had acquired a couple of pretty good scrapes from a bike accident, and getting home sooner was the best idea.

The whole crew (Rich, Chick, J.P., Justin J., Justin M. and Vito) was pumped after seeing the enthusiastic crowds at Sturgis, and talking about the products that the bikers liked. One that really stood out was our Adjustable Passenger Mounts with Floorboards for Harley FLT and FLH models, among others. We could barely keep up with orders and installations, especially with Tri Glides. The relocation arms and boards help keep the passenger's legs from going to sleep, and aid getting in, out, and off the Tri Glide passenger seat. The ladies just had to try them and they were immediately sold on the additional comfort.

Another success at at the rally (our semi was parked at the busy Sturgis liquor store, owned by the town and the only one in town,) was the Flatfoot Wide Pegs. Billet aluminum with plenty of room for your boot, and very popular with riders with the need for more space.

The sights and sounds of this year's Sturgis are memories, and photos are coming soon. The Road Crew is already getting ready for the upcoming rallies. More about those later.