Top Magazine Highlights Kuryakyn Founder Tom Rudd

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 previously thought of as a chrome add-on accessory business, “but now we are able to show that chrome can get you home!”

With Mike Roland, he initiated the Wild Thing Performance program, evolved into exhausts and now the complete, award-winning performance package called the Perfect Storm (an exhaust, air cleaner and EFI tuner collection). In addition to performance products, Kuryakyn is knee-deep in motorcycle racing sponsorship, including an NHRA Pro Stock bike and two sponsored bikes in the AMA Pro Vance and Hines XR 1200 series.

In recent years, our company has been developing and marketing parts for the metric market, something that has long been considered out of bounds for American parts manufacturers. But Tom says it’s a big world out there and we all have to learn to live together. He says he’s not too concerned about supplying parts to both the Harley and metric markets.

As an example of this, Kuryakyn just came out with its new Black by Kuryakyn line — a collection of black parts that are an alternative to our better-known chrome accessories for both Harleys and metric cruisers. And Tom is actively mulling the notion of offering a complete audio system for Harley touring bikes that will be bolt-on, high-quality systems created in a partnership with Kicker.

The idea, Tom tells American Motorcycle Dealer, is to concentrate on being a design company and look for strategic alliances in the industry rather than only having competitors.

To read this excellent article in its entirety, check out Style and performance: Tom Rudd is a man who has made his mark on all our business lives – whether we realize it or not.