Kuryakyn Blog

Here at Kuryakyn, the powers that be have put their collective heads together and come up with a game plan for 2012 that includes 14 rallies and motorcycle events spread all across the country.

That’s right, more than a dozen events — each one of them giving us yet another opportunity to strut our stuff before the motorcycle-riding public. And the irony here is that our bosses at Kuryakyn actually pay us to attend these rallies. Now that’s just a little slice of employment heaven is what that is. Paying us to do something we’d probably do for free.

Four-fifths of the fun in manning our various booths and displays is getting the chance to chat up our customers and fans. In fact, the new products we come up with each year are derived from conversations with our customers and we place a high value on customer feedback at the rallies. And of course it helps a lot that our parts practically sell themselves, and that we offer installations on most of our products when you buy them at one of the following events.

So check out this year’s calendar of events below and pick out the happenings you plan to attend this year. Make sure to drop by our display booths and pay us a visit. We’ll be the ones with big smiles on our faces. Read more…

One of the most frequent questions I field as a tech here at Kuryakyn is, “How do I care for the K&N air filter in my Kuryakyn air cleaner?” It’s no secret that K&N manufactures some of the best-flowing air filters on the market, and if you maintain them properly, they can outlast the bike on which they’re mounted. 

So it only makes sense that the best way to properly clean and oil your K&N filter is by using a K&N filter care kit.  This little package comes with everything you need to maintain your filter. The spray cleaner helps remove the dirt trapped in the cotton of the filter. And the kit contains oil so you can re-oil the filter after it’s been cleaned. Below is the step-by-step process — and pictures to boot! on how to properly clean and oil your K&N filter, using the process outlined on K&N’s own website.

Step 1. Apply Cleaner: Liberally spray the cleaner on the inside and outside of the filter.  Allow the oil to Read more…

The thing about Kuryakyn is we like to hire folks who know what they’re talking about. Take Mike Roland, for example. Mike’s our performance division manager and he’s been a Kuryakyn employee since the beginning of 2003.

Among the many things Mike brings to the plate is a racing career that’s pretty difficult to rival. He started out racing top gas with a street bike back in 1981 — a shovelhead that ran 7.32 at 184 mph! He became an American Motorcycle Racing Association (AMRA) national champion in the B Fuel division in 1989, and was the first man to ever run 190 mph in the quarter-mile. To be specific, Mike ran 199.68 mph in 7.04 seconds.

He says a lot of his racing success was due to his association with people who owned motorcycle shops and gave him parts, as well as friends who would kick in on gas and contribute racing fuel.

“I was working on less than a shoestring budget,” he recalls. “I made everything myself.”

He designed parts, and built, tuned and rode his own bikes. “It kept me broke,” Mike admits. He said that, “If you want to make a small fortune at racing, you start out with a large one.”

Today, Mike’s contributions to Kuryakyn’s performance parts are legendary. He lent his racing expertise to the development of our Read more…

Editor’s Note: As title sponsor, we’re pretty proud to have been associated with Gerry “Sigs” Signorelli and the Kuryakyn Racing for a Wish Team this past year. We asked this top-notch rider to put down on paper some of his post-season thoughts and remembrances. These include some heartbreaking — and bike breaking — false starts, as well as some nice victories. Our team supports the Make-A-Wish Foundation while marketing the sponsors that support the team and charity’s cause. This year, we’re providing a $5,000 commitment to the foundation. With our help, Racing for a Wish runs a pair of bikes in the AMA Pro XR1200 class.

Here’s what our own “Sigs” Signorelli had to say about the 2011 season:

Gerry “Sigs” Signorelli

This was my first pro year, and it played out way differently that I imagined it would. I started the year optimistic about the chance to race in a national pro spec series, but the learning experiences that followed blew my mind.

I guess I should have been more prepared to deal with growing pains, especially considering it was my first year in the series. I had to learn new tracks, tame a new bike, and on top of that, the AMA Vance & Hines XR1200 Spec class asked that we race a very stock street bike not originally created for hardcore racetrack action.

Problems began when we picked up my race bike dangerously close to the AMA season opener at Daytona, leaving us little time to get the setup figured out with our new suspension sponsor, Racetech. I arrived at Daytona having never even climbed on the bike with the race kit and suspension installed. And, of course, we had no idea the bike’s geometric settings were all wrong and the bike would prove to be incredibly unstable.

On my first lap out at Daytona International Speedway, the bike repeatedly got itself into some very violent speed wobbles. I tried every trick in the book to settle it down. I was on the gas, on the gas harder, off the gas — all to no avail. I lost control of the beast my first time through the tri-oval and was high-sided across the start/finish line. The bike and I took a painful tumble, but I got up — pissed off — but OK. The bike, on the other hand, was less than OK. We scrambled to get it fixed in time to make the grid by race time, but we failed and headed home to prepare for the next round.

Even with the crash, Daytona was actually a successful trip. It gave me the chance to sit and chat with industry leader and Kuryakyn CEO Tom Rudd about his company coming on board as title sponsor. Tom is no stranger to success and has a passion for motorcycles, so I was elated with having such an impressive company join our efforts. In addition to making truly incredible accessories for street bikes, Kuryakyn is fully behind our road race team and the Make-A-Wish Foundation charity, which Racing for a Wish benefits. They also have a killer pro drag racing team.

After the dumping in Daytona, I continued to crash the bike — more so in the following two months than I had in the previous two years. Turns out the bike’s frame, swingarm and forks were Read more…

What we continually try to do here at Kuryakyn is keep in mind that we produce the best motorcycle parts in the industry, and when we come up with a new way to create a unique product, it’s really got to add to the visual appeal of your motorcycle.

So it was when we began producing a line of new parts carrying a rustic and antique pewter finish. This unique pewter finish is a great compliment to the satin engine cases found on the Fatboy Lo and the polished engine cases on the crossbones model, as well any bike with a blacked out theme.

At this point in the process, the new finish is only available on a select number of items, including kickstand covers, and a shift linkage with interchangeable medallions.

Creating a pewter piece like our Serpent shift linkage begins with one of our designers drawing specs of what the final piece is going to look like.

The drawing is then transformed into a clay model, and the clay model is then used to create a urethane model.  Throughout this process, the designer continues to Read more…

Tanya Droher, Kuryakyn Graphic Designer

When Tanya Droher joined Kuryakyn’s art department, she had no idea how popular the company was in the motorcycle parts industry. She was also surprised to discover how much fun it is to work here!

Meet our very own “designing woman:”

Kuryakyn: What do you do here at Kuryakyn?

Tanya Droher: I’m a graphic designer. What that entails is designing the catalog, brochures, signs, stickers, eflyers, packaging, posters and anything else used for marketing here at Kuryakyn.

Kuryakyn: What did you do prior to coming to work for Kuryakyn?

TD: Before coming to work at Kuryakyn I worked for the Boat Doctor in Bayport Marina for nine years. I washed yachts on the river, out in the sun all summer.

Kuryakyn: What attracted you to Kuryakyn?

TD: A job listing brought me here in the beginning, but I quickly realized that the people here are the best in the business and so much fun to work with. I love working for a company that is so well known in the motorcycle industry. It’s a boost when someone’s face lights up when I mention Kuryakyn. Usually it’s because they realize I have Read more…

We’re organizing the first-ever Bagger Sound Off and Bike Competition at one of our favorite annual events, Reno Street Vibrations in Nevada. Along with Kicker Audio and Ground Pounder Magazine, Kuryakyn will be hosting a decibel-busting contest that will pit motorcycle sound systems against each other in a cacophony of cool sounds.

The Sound Off will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Victorian Square in adjacent Sparks, Nev. It’s free to enter and open to anybody’s who thinks their tricked out custom bagger or trike is better than anybody else’s. And if they can prove it, they’ll walk away with more than $1,000 in prizes in any of the three main categories, and prizes worth more than $250 in any of the four subcategories.

And you don’t have to limit yourself to one category. If you can stand the pressure of having our panel of judges from Kuryakyn, Kicker and Ground Pounder carefully critique your ride at close quarters, then go ahead and enter a bunch of categories.

What are we looking for?

• Loudest Sound System: This category will be judged solely on the decibel level of the sound system.
• Best Quality Sound: Contestants will be asked to play music of their choice to determine the best overall quality of sound.
• Best Overall Bagger: This category will be judged by our panel of three judges, and will take into account the overall look of the bike. Judged on custom paint, wheels, chopped, dropped or as far away as possible from stock.

Sub-categories: Read more…

Performance is such an important component at GMR Performance that it takes up half the company’s name. In fact, GMR’s new 6,000-square-foot facility in Prescott, Ariz., proudly displays the word in bright red letters, taking up a good amount of acreage on the front of the building.

GMR owners Steve and Michelle Gougeon said they’d heard an awful lot about Kuryakyn’s brand of performance, especially our ability to build power into a V-twin bike in a cost-effective manner. But, truth be told, they’ve heard lots of folks in this industry talk about performance over the years, and few of them had a clue as to the true meaning of the word. They’ve tested countless bolt-on kits that claimed to be high performance, but ended up failing miserably.

So their purpose in installing our The Perfect Storm Kit on a customer’s bike was to see if Kuryakyn could measure up to the hype. They knew we could talk the talk, but could we walk the walk? And believe us when we say these folks at GMR know how performance compares to stock. Between them, they’ve powered up their own personal rides, including a ’78 Shovel, an ’09 Street Glide, and a Buell XB.

Needless for us to say, they were incredibly pleased with The Perfect Storm kit. In fact, they called the kit a Read more…

What would happen if we combine the innovation and style of Kuryakyn with the audio expertise and sound quality of Kicker? We thought it’d be good to explore the notion, so we recently joined camps and came up with some of the best-looking and best-sounding motorcycle audio systems on the market today.

Best of all, you don’t have to be an electrical engineer to install a complete audio system upgrade on your late model Harley-Davidson Touring bike.

With such a great selection of Kicker Audio products from which to choose, we have some exciting opportunities to upgrade your current Harley-Davidson audio system. We’re also proud to include the Kicker Amp (Kuryakyn Part No. 871) as the heart of our audio upgrade. This kicker amp enables you to continue to possess the functions of your current audio controls, only with increased clarity and volume. And even more important, this amp is optimized for use in late-model Harley-Davidsons, which means you know everything’s going to fit and work just right.

As with any new product, there are questions and concerns, which prompted us to create the following Q&A to address some common concerns and shed some light on some of the possible applications of the Kicker products.

What is the power output of the Kicker Amp (Kuryakyn Part No.  871)?

The Kicker Amp (Kuryakyn Part No. 871) has a maximum output of 46 watts per channel RMS at 2 ohms resistance and a total of four channels; Right Front, Left Front, Right Rear and Left Rear.

What is the advantage of using the Kicker Amp (Kuryakyn Part No.  871)?

The Kicker Amp allows for use of all stock controls and audio functions. It also includes a wiring harness for plug and play installation for up to four pairs of Kicker KPS5250 Speakers (Kuryakyn Part Nos. 874 & 875).

What is the resistance of the stock speakers?

Stock speakers on the 2006 and later models are 2 ohms.

What are ohms?

Ohms are a measurement of resistance to current flow. The lower the ohms or resistance per channel, the more power required to drive or power the channel.

Why is speaker selection and installation so critical?

When choosing speakers for use with the Kicker Amp (Kuryakyn Part No. 871), the maximum current flow output should be matched to Read more…

The September 2011 issue of American Motorcycle Dealer magazine features a well-written spread about our own Tom Rudd, Kuryakyn’s founder and president. We’re always happy when an article appears about our outfit in a reputable magazine like AMD, and this three-page spread pretty much outlines the background of the man behind Kuryakyn.

Rudd was a drag racer and motorcycle mechanic back in the 1960s when he decided to open up a small parts and accessories store in Minneapolis, naming it Drag Specialties — a name that remains more than four decades later and is recognized as the largest parts and accessories companies in the world.

Tom sold Drag Specialties in the mid-80s. But he soon grew restless and, two years later, joined forces with Pat Furlong to establish Kuryakyn, which was a dream he had of designing and marketing detailed and delectable chrome motorcycle accessories. Once again, Tom had created a successful company and — like Drag Specialties — he sold the business, this time to Motorsports Aftermarket Group (MAG).

But this time, Tom stayed on board, which allowed him to expand the design aspects of our product line. As he tells AMD, Kuryakyn was Read more…