Motorsports sales up this spring

AREA — Local motorsport dealers say that the unseasonably warm weather this spring gave them an early boost in overall sales.

"We had a nice start to the season, when we had that nice warm streak. After that, they kind of just resided back to normal sales," says Michael Colley, owner of JEM Motorsports in Paris.

His wife and co-owner Carrie reported that sales increased by 25 percent.

About a week's worth of 80-degree weather in March definitely had an effect on people's buying moods, says Colley.  He believes that if the warm weather keeps up, sales this spring will be up overall.

Carrie believes that the increase in sales are also partially due to more exposure. She also pointed out that it's the couple's first spring in their new location. Last August, the couple moved their store from 191 Park Street along Route 26 to 166 Main Street across from Yianni's House of Pizza in Paris.

Within the first couple of weeks on Main Street, Mike reported that he had already seen a boost in sales. "It's definitely been a good move," agrees Carrie.

"ATV, motorcycle, and side-by-sides [sales] were very brisk this spring, starting in March," agrees James Bowden, Sr., owner of Maine-ly Action Sports in Oxford.

He says that April sales were "excellent," and while May has been a little rainy, "every time the sun comes out, business gets better."

For March and April, Bowden reported that sales of brand new Polaris off-road vehicles, side-by-sides and Victory motorcycles, were 150-percent higher than last year at the same time.

He said that he sold 45 off-road units so far this spring, at about $11,000 per unit.

"That's half-a-million bucks probably, just in March and April," he said. Last spring, he said, he sold about 30 units.

Ken Gammon, owner of Ken's Yamaha in Norway, says that overall sales this April were 10-percent higher than last April. He, like the other two dealers, speculates that it's because of the warmer-than-usual spring.

In April alone, his store did $144,000 in sales, says Gammon.

"We had a very good month of April," he said. "But as it turned into May, we have had a lot of rain, and colder weather. Our business is very sensitive to the weather. So, when it does that, it really slows it down."

Like Colley, he says the weather definitely has an effect on people's buying moods. "Overall, this spring is better than last year," says Gammon.

Gammon reported that dirtbikes built by KTM, an Austrian company, are selling well this spring. Aside from the weather he suspects that a lot of people buy KTM because of their performance.

According to Gammon KTM motorcycles mostly have two-stroke engines that combine both oil and gas. He said the real advantage is that they are much lighter in weight than most cars, trucks and motorcycles that have four-stroke engines.

He said that many people who ride in the woods, and "in the dirt" prefer the light weight of the two-strokes. KTM is also a company that produces a wide variety of sizes, he said.

And while they are mainly made for the woods, "there are still customers out there who like that," he said.

Ever since the economy tanked three years ago, overall sales have not been that good, says Gammon. With the lack of snow this winter, he said his snowmobile sales actually decreased by 25 percent.

But now, he says, especially as the weather warms, "it [the economy] is starting to show some signs ... of recovery. Once we got into the motorcycle and ATV season, things started increasing and getting better."