PRICE POINT So into the bolt-on world they jumped, armed with an inspired aesthetic and an eye toward fair pricing. In fact, price point
is one of their main focuses when designing and manufacturing a new part. When Collins started looking at the differences in prices between handlebars made for the bicycle industry and those made
for the motorcycle market, he couldn't see why the costs for the latter were so much higher. Knowing this, they started building
parts in production runs of handlebars large enough to keep the price low and margins high. "We don't want to make anything that we wouldn't. If I wouldn't pay that much for the part than we're not gonna put it out
there just because we think we can make it," Collins says. "We want to put stuff out there that's a good value, that makes
sense, that people can afford, especially nowadays. You know guys are paying [big bucks] to put a set of apes on their motorcycles;
our handlebars cost $77." Collins says they designed parts, had samples made and tested them, but ultimately decided not to bring them to market because
they couldn't meet margins that were good for everyone in the supply chain. "We say it's got to meet these margins and say the dealer can make this much money, the distributor can make this much money
and we can make this much, and if we can't do that, and it doesn't come out at an MSRP that's good for the buyer then we don't
do it," he says. Biltwell does this by having parts manufactured in Taiwan at the same factories where they've had bicycle parts built. Collins
says the company gets some backlash about this, but knows he's not going to change anybody's mind about it so he lets it be
known up front that they build there. So far, Biltwell is known for its line of handlebars and exhaust kits, but it's working on a set of struts for Sporsters and
a throttle. Collins says they're always designing because they're always changing their own bikes — just like their customers.
They also get out and talk to distributors to see what parts are big sellers. "We build parts that we would put on our own stuff," Collins says. For more info go to http://www.biltwellinc.com/
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