John Parham, founder of J&P Cycles and president of the National Motorcycle Museum Board of Directors, received the Don J. Brown Lifetime Achievement Award at the recently concluded Dealer Expo and American V-Twin Dealer Show.
Parham, a life-long motorcycle enthusiast, founded J&P Cycles with his wife Jill in 1979. What started as a small Harley-Davidson motorcycle repair shop in a dirt-floor garage on the outskirts of Anamosa, Iowa, has grown into the world’s largest catalog retailer of aftermarket motorcycle parts and accessories. The company produces one of the largest mail-order catalogs in the industry, with this year’s print edition featuring 1,064 pages that list more than 40,000 motorcycle parts and accessories.
Parham was chosen for the award not just for his business achievements; however, but for his lifetime dedication to the motorcycle industry. A restorer of vintage motorcycles since his youth, Parham in 2001 relocated the National Motorcycle Museum from Sturgis, S.D., to Anamosa. Today, the museum displays more than 320 motorcycles from around the world and countless pieces of artwork and memorabilia in a 36,000-square-foot facility.
"Just like our J&P customers, I love every aspect of motorcycles, and I’m a firm believer in the J&P motto: ‘Keeping the world on two wheels,’" Parham said in accepting the award. "Vintage motorcycles have always been a tremendous passion of mine, which led to the labor of love that is the National Motorcycle Museum. Since Jill and I retired from running the company last fall, the museum has become my true day-to-day passion."
Parham’s son Zach assumed leadership of J & P Cycles in 2011.
For more information about J&P Cycles, visit www.jpcycles.com.
