Rick's Motorcycles, 25 Years of Rock 'n' Roll
What do Harley-Davidson, Amazon, Apple and Rick's Motorcycles together?
OK, the purchase of Rick's The most famous American motorcycle manufacturer is probably obvious at a Harley-Davidson dealership.
First company address: A small garage
All of them were actually once in some more or less chic garage founded. Almost exactly 25 years Rick also turned his passion for modifying motorcycles into a profession.
Custom parts and complete custom bikes were created in his parents' garage, back then still in Rastatt, starting in 1994.
What initially started out as a side business with a trade license to give it an official veneer was, from today's perspective, the starting point for a success story that was not even remotely foreseeable in the mid-1990s.
Official Harley-Davidson dealer since 2010
From the former garage has long since become a stately company whose Custom parts are now in demand worldwide. In addition, since 2010 official Harley-Davidson dealer.
Rick in an interview with Harleysite
We met Patrick (Rick for short), the company founder, for an interview to find out the secret of his success.
Harleysite (HS): Rick, thank you for taking the time to talk to us...
Rick (PK): Thank you for coming by.
HS: Your company will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in the coming weeks. This makes Rick's Motorcycles one of the old hands in the European custom scene...
PK: Yes, that's true. I have many so-called Customizer have come and gone. Unfortunately, more have left in the last ten years than have joined.
HS: When others complain that things are going so badly at the moment and you keep hearing about businesses closing down, why is Rick's Motorcycles' success story only going in one direction?
PK: That's not quite true, there have been more than just successes in the last 25 years. I could give you a two-hour lecture on the failures.
HS: What is the secret of your success?
PK: You see, that's exactly the point... first of all, there is no single formula for success. Perhaps part of the answer lies in the previous question about how to deal with failure. I can only say how I deal with it.
I don't dwell on failures for long, and I certainly don't let them get me down. I look at what I can learn from them and move on. I have to deal with failures almost regularly when working with our development team.
I employ product designers and engineers with whom I work very closely. But by no means every new part that we come up with will be a success. On the contrary, many of them will never be produced.
And yet you take something away from everything. The realization that something cannot be produced in small batches ultimately helps you move forward. This knowledge is consciously or unconsciously incorporated into the development of the next parts. It's not bad to make mistakes, but repeating them and not learning from them is criminal...
HS: If you know a little bit about the custom scene and the submarket, you can very quickly and accurately identify your products among all the others... Why do you think that is?
PK: You're a real truffle pig... no, seriously. I place a lot of importance on maximum perfection and, of course, on each piece having its own signature style. Many of Rick's designs have been around almost since the beginning.
We have continuously refined them, but the design concept has always remained the same. If you take one of our custom bikes, for example, you will notice that their age is irrelevant. Even with a 15-year-old Rick's Bike, you still don't need to hide it today.
HS: Why is that?
PK: Because in addition to perfection, I place particular value on timeless design.
HS: And you're not subject to fashion trends?
PK: Only to a limited extent... for example, when it comes to colors or model selection. These are specifications that our customers give us. Not so long ago, the color of a bike didn't matter as long as it was black.
At the moment, everyone wants gray in a wide variety of shades. But when it comes to the shape and lines of our parts, even those that will be painted later, I don't make any concessions to fashion. I'm happy to leave those frills to our competitors.
HS: You don't think much of your competitors?
PK: Yes, depending on the case, there are some very capable entrepreneurs. But with some bikes, I do wonder whether they have been matched to the design of the Christmas tree.
HS: Do you actually have any role models?
PK: No, not in the traditional sense. I constantly observe what my colleagues around the world are doing, and naturally, what I see there influences me.
Take Hazan Motorworks, for example. What that guy does is real art, and I take my hat off to him. None of that could be transferred 1:1 to Rick's. But I can still learn a lot from the way he implements shapes and lines.
Thank you very much for taking the time. I think we can look forward to seeing what you achieve over the next 25 years!
Further information about Rick's Motorcycles can be found at www.ricks-motorcycles.com
