John Parham, founder and former president of J&P Cycles, picks up the Don J. Brown Lifetime Achievement Award today during ceremonies at the 2012 Dealer Expo and American V-Twin Dealer Show in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Doubtless you know that J&P Cycles is the world’s largest aftermarket motorcycle parts and accessories retailer online, and John will be recognized at a luncheon today for his lifetime of dedication to the motorcycle industry — most recently for his efforts in creating the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, which is also home to J&P’s headquarters. That main location, as well as our satellite location in Ormond… Continue Reading

Recently I received my copy of American Motorcyclist magazine in the mail, and it had a cover that really caught my eye. It had a picture of an older guy with a long gray beard wearing motocross gear. My initial thought was, “What’s that Harley dude doing wearing MSR gear?”

This is exactly the bias that I’d like to avoid! The theme of this particular issue of the magazine is to unite all motorcyclists in an effort to protect our right to ride and this cover hit the nail on the head!

This subject is something that I really hold close to my heart because when I first started… Continue Reading

J&P Cycles flew a crew out to the V-Twin Expo in Cincinnati this past weekend so everybody could get a first-hand and up-close look at what our vendors have in store for all of us this season. A good part of the reason we all even work here is so we can attend exclusive motorcycle industry shows where our vendors debut all the products they have been developing over the winter.

What that means is, everybody who’s lucky enough get inside the doors of this exclusive exposition are laying their eyes on literally thousands of new motorcycle products and accessories for the first time.

And because J&P… Continue Reading

A few months back, Tim Barcz, who is my boss here at J&P Cycles, called me into his office, which in and by itself isn’t out of the ordinary. But what he said after I closed the door was something you don’t hear every day.

Seems he’d just received a phone call from producer of the top-rated TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and those folks were looking for a little help. They were filming a segment of the show in Iowa and they had called Tim to ask if we’d be at all interested in rebuilding two motorcycles for the family highlighted in the show. My response was brief:… Continue Reading

The motorcycle community lost a great mechanic, friend and enthusiast last week in Florida.

Mark “Tex” Adams was doing what came natural to him last week — helping out somebody in need. Mark stopped to help a woman who had run out of gas on Interstate 4 in Florida when another motorist veered onto the shoulder and struck him.

I had the opportunity to get to know Mark when we worked together at KTM. He was an excellent mechanic who loved to tinker on anything with a motor in an effort to get it to run perfectly. On more than one occasion, Mark helped me develop new products for the… Continue Reading

Here in the frozen north — and we are officially frozen now —  it’s time for our annual Winter Workshop, where we here at J&P Cycles help you decide what projects you want to take on for your motorcycle and then show you how to accomplish your goals. Whether you’re a certified technician or just like to putter around in your garage, we’ve got the know-how and information you need.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4, (with an hour break for lunch) we will be offering an absolutely free workshop at our Iowa location only. We’ll be on hand with fistfuls of tips… Continue Reading

We say this every year, but it’s true: Our 2012 J&P Cycles catalog — refurbished, renovated, refined and featuring 1,064 pages — is our best ever! And we mean it this time. It’s chock-full of the latest brand name items from S&S, Custom Chrome, Vance and Hines, Drag Specialties, Bikers Choice, V-Twin Manufacturing and others. This catalog is your one-stop place to shop.

The 2012 catalog offers a whopping 40,000 individual unique numbers, ensuring you that we’ll probably be able to handle all your Harley parts needs. Over the last couple years, we’ve been using product specialists to bring new and exciting products to each chapter… Continue Reading

If you’re still in denial that riding season is indeed over for the year, and you’re a little hesitant about putting your bike in winter storage, just stick your head out the front door and take a look. Winter has arrived, baby, and there’s no two ways about it. Heck, it’s even been raining in Southern California and they never have weather!

And unless you’re a motorcycle newbie, you know that putting your ride in hibernation doesn’t mean rolling it into the garage and putting the kickstand down. If that was your best thinking, we’ve got some more bad news for you. Winter storage requires some action on your part.… Continue Reading

There’s always been confusion and conflict when it comes to any discussion about oil, which is of course, the lifeblood of our beloved motorcycles. And I’m probably not going to bring world peace to this topic with anything I’ll say in today’s blog post. Truth be told, this topic has created more debate on our Riders Forum on the J&P Cycles website than any other subject.

In fact, I’m mostly going to stick to the facts in this post, steering away from the controversies for the most part. First off, let’s explore the function of oil in an internal combustion engine — the educational portion of this… Continue Reading

When producers from the long-running ABC television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” called us in early October and asked us to work some mechanical magic into a pair of three-decades-old derelict bikes, our crew jumped at the opportunity.

A couple of our top techs rounded up a van and trailer and drove the 90-minutes from J&P Cycles’ headquarters in Anamosa to West Union, Iowa, to meet up with the ABC crew and surprise Audrey Gibbs and her six children.

The back story is this: Seven months after her husband died, Audrey Gibbs suffered a brain aneurism that left her legally blind and raising six children… Continue Reading