It’s that time of year again where we all gather with our family and friends for the holidays. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas or even Festivus (for the rest of us)-it isn’t a matter of being faithful to your beliefs, but rather it’s the time to reflect on what we are thankful for in our lives and these holidays are intended just for that.

I know some of you might bash this, and you have every right to say that, but I feel Christmas has become a commercialized corporate holiday. I personally don’t care about gifts or rushing to a store at 3 a.m. on a Black Friday to … Continue Reading

Editor’s Note: The following is an article written and previously published by Angi Kearney for the Monticello Express, a weekly newspaper, located in Monticello, Iowa, just 12 miles from J&P’s headquarters. In March of 2002, the paper produced a special tabloid section featuring the stories of World War II veterans. In it, she wrote a column about both of her grandfathers’ experiences in the war.

They weren’t national heroes by any means. They were simple, hardworking young men who shared a common goal: to serve their country.

As military men in World War II, their stories start out quite differently. Jim Owen was drafted by the US Army when he … Continue Reading

Earlier this week we told you about our own Patrick Garvin’s involvement in what has become one of the most popular, noisy and smoke-filled events at Sturgis, the Baker Drivetrain Showdown. Patrick, always looking to take things to the extreme, donned a gorilla-suit for the competition.

We intended to give our own write-up of the event, but Bryan Harley, Cruiser Editor for MotorcycleUSA.com summed it up best as he was in the pits at the Easyriders Saloon for the fierce competition Wednesday night.

On Feb. 14, while most of the nation dressed up in red or pink to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the employees here at J&P Cycles were sporting green in honor of National Donor Day. As you might know, J&P founder John Parham was the recipient of a donated lung back in August of 2010, and he’s doing quite well, thank you. In fact, you’ll likely not find more grateful or active supporters of organ donation that John and his family.

National Donor Day is a way to highlight the many ways people can help save lives through organ donations, blood donations, marrow drives and tissue sign-up events across the … 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

Patrick Garvin, one of our more prolific bloggers and motorcycle tech experts grabbed a microphone and wandered around what he calls the “belly of the beast” here at J&P Cycles, asking a sampling of employees for their New Year’s resolutions.

Were this a bank or financial institution, you would expect those resolutions to center around balancing a checkbook or putting more into savings. But J&P Cycles sells motorcycle parts — about 130,000 of them at last count — and our employees seem to have a common theme when it comes to resolutions.

And that theme is this: Fix the bike that’s in the garage. For example, senior technician and J&P Cycles … Continue Reading

Josh Schmit is a problem solver and he’s been resolving customer issues here at J&P Cycles for the past seven years. Heck, he’s got answers for questions posed by other J&P techs. All this equipment knowledge comes from years of working on bikes. And Josh will be the first to tell you that squatting down in front of a bike with a wrench is the best education you can get in this industry.

Meet Josh Schmit:

J&P Cycles: What got you interested in motorcycles?

JS: It started for me the first time I actually tore apart a lawnmower engine at 9 years old and my older brother helped me get … Continue Reading

J&P Cycles team member Brett Koranda is one of our supervisors pulling the strings in our Iowa call center, not only fielding calls himself, but monitoring others and offering on-the-fly advice to his fellow J&P staffers. As a sales and customer service supervisor, it’s Brett’s task to make sure all your questions are answered when you phone in. He’s been doing an excellent job of it these past four years or so. If you call in and you hear, “Good afternoon, this is Brett,” give him a shout out. Tell him you read about him on the J&P blog:

J&P: What got you interested in Motorcycles?

Brett Koranda: My dad … Continue Reading

Most of our Meet the Team introductions have been with J&P staff members who have been with us a long time. Today, we’re changing that up a bit in order to fill you in on two of the newer members of our team. These two gentlemen joined us within the last nine months and both guys are sharp as tacks and equally fun to work with.

Duane (Bud) Probus is a recent graduate of the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute (Phoenix) Harley and Kawasaki program. James Dean — that’s right, James Dean — is a graduate of Wyo Tech’s American Motorcycle Institute (Florida) Harley program.

Meet Bud (left) and James (right):

J&P Cycles: … Continue Reading

A few months back I wrote a blog entry about becoming a new Harley motorcycle rider after the passing of my grandfather. In that post I shared how, quite unexpectedly, I became the owner of a 2001 Heritage Softail Classic.

J&P Cycles Senior Technician Scott Holton, recently blogged about how motorcycling is often a hereditary thing – an obsession that’s often passed on down the family tree. What Scott didn’t explain is what happens if that trait skips a generation in the gene pool. Where’s your mentor? How do you learn? Of course there are huge benefits when you have a close relative or friend take you through the paces. … Continue Reading