By Glenn Roberts
http://www.motorcyclemojo.com
Man, what a guy won't do for his job.

It was three weeks to press time when I received a call from the Titan Motorcycle Company inviting me to Phoenix, Arizona, for their 2006 new bike launch. I ponder my options. I question how much time I have available as I look out the office window and see the thermometer reading 3 degrees C. Do I disregard such trivial notions as time and work and agree to ride bikes in Arizona for a few days in 80oF temperatures. Oh, did I mention, we would also be riding 300 miles northwest to Las Vegas for the Big Twin West show. It took me about, oh, 2 seconds to agree to the offer, thinking I can just put in a few, (translate that into lots of) extra hours when I get back to the office to get caught up on my workload.

P.S...after all, it is about the ride!

The trip didn't start out as perfect as it sounded. On my way to the airport I heard weather reports of an approaching storm. I wouldn't call myself an authority on geography but because of my love of looking at maps, and knowing our weather comes from the southwest, I soon realized I might run into problems. Sure enough, my plane was three hours late leaving Toronto because Chicago, my only stop for a connector flight, was not accepting any air traffic due to tornados in the area. It was shortly after 10:00pm when I got to O'Hare International and my connecting flight to Phoenix had already left without me. Two hours later, after waiting in line with 400-500 other stranded passengers, and with only two United Airlines staff rebooking flights, I had another flight booked for 6:45am. After a few inquiries about hotel rooms, I came to the conclusion that the nearest bench was to be my bed for the next few hours. Apparently, conventions in the Windy City had caused every hotel room to be booked. Other than being woken up at 4:00am by someone wielding a vacuum around my makeshift bed, the rest of the trip was a breeze. After hearing some news the next day it was a good thing we hadn't left Toronto earlier as CNN news reported that out of 200 twister warnings, 35 twisters touched down in 5 States.

As soon as I landed in Phoenix, AZ, I picked up my luggage, went straight to the hotel, grabbed a quick shower and headed over the Titan plant for the days festivities.

Titan is a custom designed, volume bike manufacturer of performance motorcycles with various styles to choose from. Their range consists of three main lines, The Bobber, The Gecko and The Sidewinder. From these three main lines are various frame styles that include dual shock with swingarm, soft tail style models and rigid choppers. All models use an S&S V-Twin engine but differ in displacement depending on the model or customers request.


In the Beginning
Let me back up a bit here for those of you who are not familiar with Titan, or their rich and varied history.

Titan began production in 1995 and were the first custom motorcycle manufacturer to produce in volume. The original owners of Titan realized two very important things in the early 90's. There was a serious shortage of brand new Harley-Davidsons, and those who were lucky enough to get a new Harley would quite often dismantle them, add lots of custom parts and chrome trinkets and they quite often began the rebuild with no game plan in mind. Donn Proudfoot, who at that time owned a Titan dealership in Florida states, "Some guys would be building a bike with an idea in mind but no real plan. They would start with flames on the front and end up with stars on the back. The Titan owners immediately recognized an opportunity here to supply a starving market with American V-Twin motorcycles that were customized with style and continuity throughout. Bikes that would stand out in a crowd."

With these motorcycles being professionally built, following rigid manufacturing standards and valid VIN's, Titan motorcycles were soon being recognized by the necessary governmental agencies, making them easy to finance and insure. They also maintained an excellent resale value.

Not all parts were made in the Titan plant but were outsourced to specialist manufacturers and the components, in some cases, built to Titan's designs and specs. This success also meant the success of their outsourcing partners. Daytec built the frames for Titan and still do. The same can be said for the S&S engines. Titan grew so quick that S&S couldn't keep up with demand and simply shipped the engine components to Titan for them to build their own engines. "Titan was building 40-50 engines per month and since S&S couldn't keep up with our production levels, we'd build our own engines. We would say those engines were 'Titanized'. To this day we still build all our engines except the 96ci. We would also disassemble the JIMS transmissions to 'tighten them up a little'." Proudfoot states. "Years ago Titan was famous for producing a low soft tail style bike with a 180 tire and a 96ci S&S engine. Then we would add mag wheels, custom paint, PM brakes, stretched tanks and custom seats."

As successful as Titan was, their real glory came in 1997 when a Titan motorcycle graced the cover of Playboy Magazine. "It's the only time a motorcycle has ever been on the cover of Playboy. Titan then produced 75 Limited Edition 'Playboy' bikes. Titan quickly saw the value of collector, or specialty, bikes and began building them way before anyone else or before TV made the theme bike famous. Titan built a number of limited edition bikes for the Indy 500 and the logo that was painted on the bike is the same logo that the Indy 500 uses today. We also built a Rolling Stones bike, a KISS Rock'N'Roll bike and a Fender guitar bike," says Proudfoot.

Titan was a certified motorcycle company all over the world except for Canada. It made sense, because of the international acclaim, that Titan owners went public on the NASDAQ in 1997 and some would say that was the beginning of the end of Titan in those years. The Titan Manufacturing Company, at one time had two 66,000 sq. ft. buildings, 300 employees with 50 of those employees building 50 bikes per week. Proudfoot, who was Titan's largest dealer at the time, says "Titan motorcycles were in high demand, but the management failed and then dealer and customer support failed."

The company filed for bankruptcy in 2001 leaving Proudfoot as a dealer, with 2 million dollars worth of inventory on the floor of his Florida dealership. Proudfoot however, persevered and took his inventory to events to sell and he realized a very important fact. "People knew of the troubles at Titan but bought the bikes anyway because they knew the quality of the product. The product didn't fail, the management failed the product," Proudfoot said. "I then went to Phoenix to see what was left of the plant. There was inventory and bikes in various states of build but the important thing was that the plant could be up and running in no time. I bought the company in July 2001 on a Friday 13th. I don't know if that was a good omen or not", he said smiling. "I hired some of the old staff back and we were producing bikes within a week. The staff then, just as the staff is now, is a very dedicated group of people."


Present Day
Today, Titan is now a stronger, leaner profitable company with 18 employees building close to 500 bikes per year. Fred Proctor, operations manager at Titan, is one of the staff members from the 'old days'. Fred started working at Titan in 1999 and stayed with the company as operations manager until the Sheriff bolted the doors under the previous ownership. Fred went to work for an Italian motorcycle manufacturer but came back to Titan when Proudfoot purchased the company and offered him his job back. The lessons learned from the early years of too much inventory prompted Titan to work on the premise of 'just-in-time' production. "We can build bikes much more efficiently and economically without the overhead of all that inventory", Proctor says. "We have built-in quality check points at every station of production where the technician checks the previous technicians work before doing his own job. All the employees have a lot of pride in their jobs and that makes a better product in the end."

Dedication is readily apparent as all the staff is friendly, happy and willing to talk about the company and their jobs. "When we hire a new employee, all the staff is involved in the hiring process of the potential candidates. They make sure the new person is going to fit in and that they can do the job they claim they can do. That makes for very tight bunch of employees", Proudfoot states. Proctor pipes up "The builders in the back are very proud of the product they produce. In fact, when at the local watering hole, if someone has a complaint, these guys come to work the next day and investigate. If there's a problem, it's rectified immediately".

Titan received DOT certification in Canada in July of 2005, that was a huge step for Titan who are now the only foreign custom motorcycle manufacturer holding a Canadian DOT Certification for their complete lineup of motorcycles. Along with some dealers from the States, the Canadian dealers who attended the festivities in Phoenix and Las Vegas were Dan MacIver and Gerald Girard from Ivers Custom Cycles in Coquitlam, BC, Greg Germain from Okanagan Custom Cycles in Kelowna, BC, J.R. Lessard from Eagles Nest Motorcycles Co. in Spruce Grove, AB, Murray Chorney and Randy Kalinsky from North Winds Cycle in MB and Al Elmer from Thunder City Power and Liesure in Regina, SK.

The DOT certification is a big boost to the Canadian dealerships and consumers because it means the bikes now have a registered book value for financing, insuring and resale value. This is big news for consumers looking for a chopper in the Canadian market, as it will ease any insurance woes that can go along with custom-built bikes.

The Bikes...and the ride.