American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 170 September 2013 | Page 22

<<< at businesses like Baker Drivetrain and S&S Cycle, and Fred’s approach to developing the shop’s output from just frames meant the team has been able to work more closely with those supplier, which in turn has allowed them to provide more products for their customers. This has the knock on effect for Rolling Thunder’s customers of allowing them to deal with fewer suppliers making the build process simpler too. “I want to be sure the end user is happy with his purchase from us. We work very closely with our customers, and with Fred’s involvement I can work even more closely with them and sell them the forks they want, the wheels they want, the motor…” says Sam on how he has been able to develop the roller program with Fred’s input. While Rolling Thunder is able to supply off-theshelf parts packages these days, it is also happy to undertake bespoke work on other parts of builds on the frames it supplies, such as custom gas and oil tanks. The execution of this work is to the same exacting standards as the frame builds as Sam explains: “When we build a gas tank, we don’t have a standard off-the-shelf piece. We take our raw stampings and then build the tank up on the frame that it is being supplied with. We want the look to be perfect, the gap between the seat and tank to be just right, the flow just right. We can make the bike work as a whole in a way that simple bolt-on parts would never do. We encourage customers to send us pictures of what they want and then we’ll build the tank to match.” Rolling Thunder aims to turn orders around as quickly as possible, with Baggers being the company’s best sellers at the moment the fixtures for those are always ready to go, meaning delivery W Rolling Thunder aims to turn orders around as quickly as possible but more complex designs such as this one-off swingarm can take longer to complete of one of those could be as little as two to four weeks. Whereas something like the prototype VRod frame displayed at Big Bike Europe would take a lot longer, the single-sided swingarm alone taking a lot of work. hen asked why potential customers should spend the extra on a bespoke frame from Rolling Thunder, rather than buy a cheaper off-theshelf option with commensurate quicker delivery Sam points out: “We ask customers to tell us what they want. I say to them I’m not going to sell you what I have laying around the shop. I want to sell you what you want because you’re going to be riding the bike, and it’s your bike so why would you buy something you don’t like? Why would you accept the look of a frame just because it is a certain price? No, spend more and get what you want. Take a little more time over the build and get what you want and be happy with your build. After all it is the frame that holds your ass up off the pavement when you're going 80mph on the highway, so don’t just settle for any frame - do your homework and get something that you can trust and be proud of.” It is this attitude that has served Rolling Thunder well for so long and allowed it to continue in business for nearly 20 years, and given the frames on display at Big Bike Europe it looks like the company will go from strength to strength as it pushes new design ideas and powertrain options for custom builds. Still in the prototype stage Rolling Thunder are working on a frame to carry a V-Rod powertrain combined with the running gear from a Kawasaki sportsbike All sorts of styles and frame configurations are undertaken by Rolling Thunder incorporating years of experience to ensure that the finished bike will ride as good as it looks All the tubing used in Rolling Thunder’s frames is bent by hand to ensure precise fit ROLLING THUNDER INTERNATIONAL FRAME COMPANY Saint-Come, Quebec, CANADA Tel: [phone] [email protected] www.rollingthunderframes.com With Rolling Thunder being combined with the Rat Shop complete builds are becoming more common www.AMDchampionship.com 22 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - SEPTEMBER 2013