On the Road with Brands That Shine

Where have the last 365 days gone? We just celebrated one entire year (8,760 hours) on the road on Feb. 10. in our 38th state — Louisiana (during Mardi Gras)!

We rounded out 2021 by spending Thanksgiving in Milan, Italy, for the EICMA show, but not before I tripped over my crazy hound and broke my foot just 24 hours before flying. So with wheelchair assist through many airports and hobbling around the convention center, I enjoyed a great visit with the exhibitors who did set up and also meeting with so many of my distributors whom I have not been able to connect with the last couple of years, like CCE and Motorcycle Storehouse. I’ll try to make time to get my foot looked at soon.

We took a quick personal side trip to France before next heading over to Motorcycle Live in Birmingham, U.K. to support my team at Lextek exhaust and INNOVV Moto Cams. Returning safely back to the U.S., we made our way down to the Florida Keys for Christmas. I know…. It was rough. It was only for a quick break though, as we were already gearing up for the first AIMExpo in two years — back in Las Vegas!

It was so great to see all who attended for a trade-only event back on our own soil. I feel like the consensus this year was: It was a lighter attendance, but the quality of attendees was higher. Based on that, I’d say that because we didn’t have the distributor shows this year, the dealers who really want to get out and see the new products attended and were very engaged in the show.

On my return to Florida, I had a day and a half of “Rona Round Two: the AIM Edition.” As I’m never one to stay down for very long, we headed on over to Mississippi to visit the fine folks at DK Custom Products. We toured the new facility and got a peek at some of the new products they are going to let me offer to distributors. I even did a fun interview with Kevin for their YouTube channel.

We are now making our way through the Louisiana dealers and making our way back to Texas before heading into Daytona Bike Week. In Houston, we will have come full circle, and this spring will be our last portion of the full-time tour. In May, we head back to the great state of Washington via Utah and Nevada to finish building the house, shop and offices where the Brands will continue to expand and shine.

Look out next quarter for our final update of “On the Road with Brands That Shine.” Perhaps an IMS tour edition will follow? Stay tuned….

Oh! And … how big is your driveway?