Samson motorcycle exhaust.- from one man band to worldwide brand....
Ten years ago, a biker/machinist began the Samson motorcycle exhaust company; a company that is now one of
the largest in the industry.
Samson motorcycle exhaust is one of the great success stories
of the motorcycle parts industry in recent times. From a one year lease on a
2,000 square foot building to a fully owned 80,000 square foot production
facility plus a 40,000 square foot chrome plating site; that spell success
in anybody’s language. Of course it would be just as easy to measure the
Samson motorcycle exhaust success in revenue – with well over $6 million dollars
worth of annual sales, they are a major player in the motorcycle exhaust
business.
...passionate about exhausts...
But their success owes much more to the passion of the owner and
employees for what they do and the fanatical following they have built up in the
bike community, than it does to any fancy business model.
...in the beginning...
It was back in the early 1990’s that Samson motorcycle exhaust began, with some
second hand equipment including a bending machine, a roll-out machine, a
swedging unit, a finger swedging machine and a welder. In seven months they had
outgrown their first premises. So they moved into a 5,000-square-foot
building. They were out of space again in less than a year. They leased
another 2,000 square feet, then another 2,000, then moved into a
15,000-square-foot building with a five-year lease. Again, the owner thought he'd
never use all the space. He put an additional 600-amp electrical service in and
built walls, but quickly outgrew the building. He leased buildings on either
side of him until he had 23,000 square feet. That lasted until 1999 when Samson motorcycle
exhaust moved into their current facility in Anaheim, California.
Samson exhaust and Dynaglide...
The first motorcycle model the Samson exhaust range targeted was the
Dynaglide. They built staggered duals and drag pipes, which were turned out,
tapered and slash cut.
Samson motorcycle exhaust “put the word around”
by doing some mailshots to dealers, which eventually paid off.In September 1991,
he started bending tubing and in March he made his first sale to Freedom H-D in
Denver.
...standing out from the crowd...
Samson was still buying small production runs of steel and looking for
suppliers who would work with them. At that time, they were buying in
baffles and muffler donuts. But it soon became clear that they needed to
do something different, to stand out from the crowd. One of the ways they
achieved this was by manufacturing thicker sturdier clamps to make fitting the
exhausts easier.
...knocking on doors...
Samson’s initial approach to marketing their exhausts was simple: go to
the dealer shows each year with new products and sell them at the right price.
In this way Samson have built a strong, loyal customer base.
In '92, the
Sturgis Community Center opened its doors to vendors for the first time. Samson
struck a deal with drag specialities as a distributor which allowed them to make
some real volume sales. The distributor approach has paid off for Samson, with
over 88% of their sales going through distributors.
...building the brand...
Samson’s game plan was always to establish a brand name, and the name was
reinforced with constant mailings and advertising. Another major part of the
plan was always having something new and fresh; he achieved this in the early to
middle ‘90’s by launching a signature series of fishtail pipes for Softails.
...bring on the Big Guns...
Big Guns launched Samson exhausts into a new era of pipe building.They built
pipes that would fit any Softail model with floorboards. Exhausts were produced
for FXRs, Softails, Dynas and Sportsters.
...stickin' to the basics...
From a business standpoint Samson motorcycle exhaust have a few basic
philosophies.
• They don’t hire upper-management, they groom them
from within.
• Each pipe has a warranty. If there ever is a problem,
they take care of it. Since the brackets were thicker from the beginning,
they have very few problems with any exhaust.
...keepin' the blues away...
You may wonder what's coming. Samson motorcycle exhaust are constantly
on the lookout for new innovations in the muffler and exhaust world. They make a
point to listen to the customer and responds with new parts. A recent innovation
is wider tabs on heat shields -- some 50 percent thicker than stock. 220-degree
wrap-around heat shields for 2 1/4 inch pipes. Because of pipe bluing, heat
shields are being designed for better coverage. Samson have also been working on
sleeved or double-walled mufflers to prevent bluing.
...bafflin' innovation...
High-velocity baffles to suck the exhaust out of the pipes, donut
replacement with a cone configuration to enhance the size of the expansion
chamber in a muffler and to improve exhaust flow. The faster the exhaust moves
through a muffler, the less heat there is to blue the pipes and performance is
enhanced. Samson have acquired their own Dyno testing machine and Dyno tune
their own exhaust systems.
With a customer first attitude like that its hardly surprising that Samson
motorcycle exhausts go from strength to strength.
return from
Samson motorcycle exhaust to
exhaust pipes
return to motorcycle parts accessories and more
Copyright Motorcycle parts accessories and
more, Michael Holmes 2004