Monte

[502wingman]

I am very disappointed but not surprised.

Good luck to you Rick and your future. We all here highly appreciate what you have done for Boss Hoss.

Monte gets back a great product for sale now and he got it cheap ! May be he is smarter than I thought. But I doubt that he is interested to make the best out of it. Still, there is some hope........

So the old Indian finally walked away from the dead horse.

[mmaupin]

Rick,

I like creative people. I also like constructive people. You are the epitome of both.

IMO, it was just bad timing with the economy that slowed new bike sales. Certainly appreciated your ideas, enthusiasm and dedication.

[Orlando606VetteTrike]

Ricky,

I am very sorry to hear of your departure. Most here including myself deeply appreciate the valiant effort you and your team provided in a short time. Boss under your leadership made lots of valuable improvements which were so deperately needed. We can only hope and pray that Monte keeps these improvements and returns to Boss with a more open ear.

Hope to see you in Daytona 2017.
Take care and God Bless.

[GordonBH]

Hell Rick, you had the balls to get up and do it! Well done.

I wanted to get to meet you at the BH rally at Harz this year, ride out together and offer my consultancy firm's time and help free but circumstances didn't allow it (thanks Martin for trying to arrange it).

As others have said, and I paraphrase, sometimes timing buggers you up - it certainly wasn't lack of effort. Good luck in your next life phase, I hope it involves BH and Monte as we saw a great adrenalin shot in BH when you were there.

All the best,
Gordon

[BossHossAZ]

I know Rick gave it his all we have talked about running and how to run this deal from day one. Like he said I jumped in with 2 feet also to get this deal going. We spent a lot of time resources and money on our end to make BH work. I was really bummed but also understand why.

At this point the bikes we helped with are finished and I do not know what direction Monte is going. If I had to bet, it would be back the way it was but who knows. We will be waiting just like you guys.

Until then we will be working on some upgrade kits for the 502 and ZZ4 bikes to efi and will still have the LS conversions available also.

If someone wants upgraded tunes to their BH with LS and is a MAF bike/trike we have the tunes to fix the 445hp, 485hp engine programs. If you have one of the 4.8L engines we will have to tune one here first.

[2crzy]

Grand Canard and Arizona Outlaw,

I read the shit that you two have been sending each other over the last several months, and you both sound like a couple of fucking kids. Your both full of BS...I don't know how you got me involved in your shit on here Rick, BUT LEAVE ME THE FUCK OUT OF YOUR CRAP. I had enough of your dishonesty when I met you guys in Dyersburg putting the BH deal together. You don't stab a friend in the back!!! You weren't even man enough to call me when you screwed us over. You had Travis call me and try to explain. Keep me and my name out of your shit on here or my partners and I will let everyone know what really went down with BH. I am sure you don't want that!!!
Richard Zukierski Aka 2 CRZY

[TXscooterguy]

If you have one of the 4.8L engines we will have to tune one here first.

Brian, if I rode my LS 300 Coupe to your shop, what would it cost me for you to tune it? Thanks, Dennis.

[CanuckHoss]

Have been in Philadelphia for 4 days and just read this. First I heard of it. Maybe there is an email at my office informing me...maybe not.

Surprising turn of events indeed but can't say much as a dealer.

I will say THANK YOU Rick and Partners for what you accomplished in your time with Boss Hoss

[V8 Perv]

I don't know Ricky very well but he was always a straight forward no bullshit type of guy. I was starting to think about another Boss Hoss trike for Deb so we are both very disappointed that things didn't work out for you Ricky.

Best of luck in the future my friend!

[Sonny]

Barry if you are still in Philly PM me if you can shake free for a bit as I'm not far away.

[CanuckHoss]

Barry if you are still in Philly PM me if you can shake free for a bit as I'm not far away.

Shit shit shit Sonny...did not know you were there.

I did not think I would have much time to have a visit with anyone from this Forum so I never posted as I did not want to have to cancel. Got in Friday evening and had no time at all due to the 2 1/2 hour introduction time.

Saturday and Sunday were also really full other than Saturday evening I did have a few hours free but again I did not know before hand.

We will meet somewhere...pop on down to Daytona in March??

I would like to go back to Philly to tour around and check it out. I stayed right beside the City Hall and it was beautiful there with the Christmas Market going on.

Thanks for letting me know. Another member also lives about 90 minutes away.

[Sonny]

No worries Barry. Enjoy your stay in Philly and have a safe trip back home. We'll catch up sometime.

[CanuckHoss]

No worries Barry. Enjoy your stay in Philly and have a safe trip back home. We'll catch up sometime.

I left early Monday morning and got home last night...should have booked one more day and then we could have had a coffee...next time..thanks

[Sonny]

No coffee. My treat for dinner when you are in my neighborhood.

[CanuckHoss]

No coffee. My treat for dinner when you are in my neighborhood.

That would be AWESOME..hopefully we can..THANK YOU!!

[Carl La Fong]

Well Well Well, looks like the swamp geniuses threw the towel in and walked away. I thought they were going to set the BH world on fire with all their half baked ideas. LMFAO. I am surprized they lasted that long. Hey Boys, Sales is the answer to run a business and also build something the public will purchase instead of what Ricky wanted the public to purchase. I guess they pissed off enough dealers and the public with their charming personalities that the sales never got off the ground. I was sitting back over the last several months and wondering what everyone was so intrigued about when they took it over. They never brought anything to the table of any value, lots of BS trying to get people excited. BS doesn't pay bills or run businesses.

On a happier note if Monte took it over again I hope he didn't get hurt to bad taking this over again. I hope he finds someone that knows what their doing next time if he plans on selling it again. All the best to Monte and I hope this product recovers with improvements. Good Luck!!

Arizona Outlaw = Richard Zukierski = Dick:
I promised "The Dick" certain things on this forum back in March; I'm a man of my word, I will not show "The Dick" even the slightest mercy should we ever meet again.
Rick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QGQtJL7hSk

[CanuckHoss]

Nobody learnt from John and me except John and me I guess Carl...

[SQ4MN]

I feel bad for RICK mainly because he lost his dream and his money. My opinion is Boss Hoss will never recover. It was in the shitter when Rick got it and if it didn't pull out of it with Ricks help it never will. It comes down to a simple scenario. V8 bikes and even trikes are a niche market and an expensive one. There will never be any high volume sales. Boss Hoss has to compete with V8 Chopper for the few customers that are out there. Boss Hoss has a large overhead and it goes on even if sales are slow. Its just a slow death. The bikes and trikes while better than they ever were are not better than V8 Chopper and it could easily be argued that they are worse. In the end V8 Chopper has slowly chipped away at Boss Hoss and has taken enough of the sales away that Boss Hoss can't keep itself afloat. There would be no problem if there were a bigger market for V8 Bikes but there isn't. Stan only sells at the shows and has a great looking product that almost sells itself, he worked as hard as Rick for many years to get them that way. He has low overhead and relies on repeat buyers, word of mouth and an impressive but small factory where he builds the bikes to help him sell the bikes. Boss Hoss relied on dealers and made it tough for dealers to make enough to survive and rules that soon became apparent were not good for the dealers. In reality Boss Hoss bikes if not crashed are easy to keep running even if sometimes a part has to be custom fabricated, most can be sourced from automotive parts houses. Those that own them now should just maintain them and enjoy them. Those that want new V8 bikes will probably go to V8 Chopper and will not be unhappy. Rick will recover and he will always be respected and liked by me and many others and I'm sure we all wish the best for him, he is a legend in the v8 bike world.

[502wingman]

Quote "There would be no problem if there were a bigger market for V8 Bikes but there isn't. Stan only sells at the shows and has a great looking product that almost sells itself,"

You boil it down to the major point. I have seen it a zillion times in my business life that technicians create a great product and think it will sell by itself. But it doesn't work that way. You need the guys from the marketing department.

So just a hint for the new owner that now already has a great product (I am shure that we will meet somebody new at bike week):

- put a fucking pricelist on your website and let people know what is the price for a regular LS3.
- put on a pricelist for options like a Brian Macey mapping, transmissions etc...
- do not only show 70K+ bikes that impress people but at the same time scare them away.
- put all your money into going to every bike show in the country. People must know you are there.
- put all your money into advertising in every MC magazine in the country. People must know you are there.
- create youtube videos with people (even women) who enjoy riding a BH and show how easy and comfortable it is. Not guys like us that do burnouts and play stupid. People must know you are there, it is affordable and it is not scary. Just plain fun. Create a market to make it bigger.

[Ron Radulski]

I believe Boss Hoss can still survive after all of this. It boils down to one very simple issue IMHO. Produce an ENTRY LEVEL bike and trike. Keep the costs down to a minimum. Produce them with the LS 300 (4.8 liter) as a standard engine, then keep the LS3 as an optional engine. We all know how to make horsepower if we want to, with what we have now. It all depends how much MONEY we want to put into them. Ricky tried his very best. I respect him for what he has done for the product in such a short time. Let's all stay POSITIVE and hope Monte the very best in his rebound.

[mmaupin]

I agree.... Let's all stay positive. Thinking the US economy will pick up after 16 years of decline. Good economy = new bike sales.

Why not build a police interceptor model? I get sick at my stomach every time I see a cop on a Harley.

[SQ4MN]

There is no way the bikes or trikes can get to a low enough selling price to sell many of them. If they were 45000 dollars how many more do you think they would sell than if they were 55000? If they were 45000 dollars the factory would still go broke. I sold V8 Choppers at Daytona and Sturgis with the same story at each show. I not only sold out all the bikes we had but took deposits for new ones. All were sold at the high end of the price bracket. I learned that if V8 Bike customers wanted the bikes they would buy them, price was not the issue and they usually just wrote a check. I sold 28 bikes and only ever financed one. We always had many models of trikes and bikes, some were hot rods, some were cruisers, all were quality built and had paint jobs that were outstanding, the bikes all but sold themselves, all I did was close the deal. One fact remains is that even though we would sell out our approximately eight or ten bikes there were many hundreds of bikers that we would talk with over the week that wanted them but that just couldn't afford them. They wouldn't have bought one if they were 40000 dollars and at the time ours were one and a half that amount. The fact is its a limited market and it always will be. The trikes have a much bigger market than the bikes but still it is limited, also trikes are available from many manufacturers and after market conversion companies so even though the market is bigger there are many suppliers. Boss Hoss was the original V8 bike manufacturer but the factory built a mediocre product and did not listen to or value their customers. A few other V8 manufacturers came and went so Boss Hoss pretty much had the market to themselves. They went over big in Europe for a while but emission rules etc made it harder and more expensive for them. California made it to expensive to even pass their emission tests for the amount of bikes they could sell. The Nesco transmissions were always an issue that got better but never got great. Meanwhile V8 Chopper just kept slowly getting better and more well known and when the trike market opened up they started with a fresh sheet of paper and designed one as a trike, not a motorcycle with a trike rear frame bolted to it. With a limited market you need all the sales possible and Boss Hoss began its slow decline, dealers quit and were not replaced. Monte lost interest and let others run it. He finally sold it but it was to late. Rick gave it hell because he loved the bikes but it was to late and just not a good business venture. I don't think the company will survive. Maybe I am wrong, lets hope so.

[Ron Radulski]

I agree.... Let's all stay positive. Thinking the US economy will pick up after 16 years of decline. Good economy = new bike sales.

Why not build a police interceptor model? I get sick at my stomach every time I see a cop on a Harley.

I get even sicker when I see our State Police on Beemers(BMW's). It would be cool to see our Police on a Boss Hoss!

[Jack]

Would love to see the cost of an entry level bike... and then the MSRP. The pieces are already in place at the factory to produce a bare bones solution for bare bones guys... at hopefully a bare bones cost.

I can buy a GEN3 LS motor from a junkyard for $500, so you put that sweet new tranny in your frame, with your front end, controls, and all of the fixins (raw tins, harness, wheels/tires, etc...) and put it in a box... let me supply the motor... what does that look like from a cost perspective? Is it government regulation preventing that from happening or internal regulations? They don't want to? Maybe there is good reason, I don't know.

And I have to second the sentiments of a prior caller... lol
Whether I like it or not - social media is here for the long run... get used to it. I haven't seen a new video from the BH factory on YouTube. I don't think I've ever seen a video from the factory, or a dealer, pushing the product. I've probably watched every V8 motorcycle video that is on the internet at least 5 times... I am not alone!

For those of you that don't know, YouTube has over 1 BILLION users... it is free to join and free to share, and you can make money by just having a successful channel. Did you know that my shitty Boss Hoss video that was taken 9 years ago has almost 200k hits? Imagine if there was a Boss Hoss channel that people like me, and from around the world, could subscribe to... I'd get frequent updates about the bikes you're making, the designs that are in the works, customer feedback, dealer updates, etc... It is all about getting your product in front of as large of an audience as possible... Know how many guys are sitting behind their computers watching the bike shows from their couches? Not everyone can get to the bike shows... not everyone wants to... I have to say, I'm a little let down every time I pick up a Harley mag and there isn't any coverage on anything that interests me, because I like raw HP... I don't really care about cafe bikes in the least... and baggers aren't my thing.

This link may show you what you're leaving on the table -
https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/96-amaz ... -for-2016/

Entering the social media realm is free... creating your content is free... not doing anything is costly...

We live in a time of instant gratification and impulse buying... and there are guys on here, in the "know", that can't even find the prices for what they're interested in.



And just my $0.02 for SQ4MN -
I'm not arguing with your experience, I believe every word you said... but I disagree with your opinion on who would want to buy vs who you sold to.

I only know a handful of people who can write a check for more than $20k at a time... without writing a much larger one to cover the divorce. You do understand that you have to be fairly well off to pay over $50k for a bike - right? I agree with your sentiments that the V8 Chopper is a beautifully engineered, hand built piece of perfection, I'd love to have one... but I cannot afford one. I'm a working man, I work for the man - not my own gig, I have kids and a wife, and bills to pay, truck payments, school loans... etc...

I know a bunch of guys that would rather drive a $20k truck instead of a $50k truck if it meant they had a $30k bike to ride all summer... Sure, they would finance it (have you seen interest rates lately? You'd be silly not to) ... But they can't even afford a used V8C...
Nothing like painting yourselves into a corner by identifying 1% of the population with enough money to buy one, and then 1% of those guys who actually want one... V8 Chopper sales are what they are, I'm not aware of 1 in Western NY, but I know where a handful of Boss Hoss bikes are. As I type this, it is about 16*F out... so we only have a limited riding season, but our Buffalo guys love their bikes.

I bet I know a few Buffalo Bills that would love to ride a nasty V8 bike at our rallys... but I bet they don't know that they even exist.

I don't know anyone's situation on this forum, but it seems like some have so much money, and hang out with money, that you don't realize that even having a 6 figure job doesn't mean you can spend half of it on a toy. More power to you, but don't let it jade you to the point that makes you think the bikes are priced right - the market is telling you otherwise.

[Grand Canard]

Grand Canard and Arizona Outlaw,

I read the shit that you two have been sending each other over the last several months, and you both sound like a couple of fucking kids. Your both full of BS...I don't know how you got me involved in your shit on here Rick, BUT LEAVE ME THE FUCK OUT OF YOUR CRAP. I had enough of your dishonesty when I met you guys in Dyersburg putting the BH deal together. You don't stab a friend in the back!!! You weren't even man enough to call me when you screwed us over. You had Travis call me and try to explain. Keep me and my name out of your shit on here or my partners and I will let everyone know what really went down with BH. I am sure you don't want that!!!
Richard Zukierski Aka 2 CRZY

I had one of my IT friends investigate 2czy and Arizona Outlaw, he very quickly confirmed that they share the same IP address. Hahaha

Richard "THE DICK" Zukierski is without doubt Arizona Outlaw AND 2czy; they are both the same piece of shit, lying coward, no-good rotten fuck Richard Zukierski out of Alberta.

Richard, "you're gonna get it", until then eat shit and die you fucking DICK!