Lifestyle Cycles Meet the Team: Kevin Martin

Welcome back, guys! Today, I'm here to interview our audio specialist, Kevin. But before we hop right into it, can someone from the audience please give me a cigar so he's not in a bad mood? [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Thank you. It was in my contract. Now that everyone's happy, let's jump right into it. Kevin, I am dying to know, dude, what do you do with your hair and how do you do it before you put it in a helmet?

So, my hair... I got rid of it. Um, just hop in the shower, put soap all over my head, and have the razor stop when I hit the fuzzy spots.

I see. So, let's move a little bit more south. What's going on here? Are you compensating for the bald head?

Not at all. I've had a goatee since I was about 25, so over 30 years, and just never got rid of it.

Is there a reason behind it or is it just a fashion statement?

I think you know me well enough to know I don't do much around fashion. Clearly. Um, you're always picking on me about my socks and everything anyways. Uh, no, I just like the look of having a goatee. I actually knew a guy that had one, and I just thought it looked cool on him. Because, you know, I had a beard in high school. I've done all that. But, uh, I just think the goatee fit me.

So, let's move on up to your ears. I know you have selective hearing, and you choose to ignore us sometimes, but how are you not deaf after 25-plus years of working on insane Harley audio and doing some phenomenal builds?

Well, there is the selective hearing... that's not the deafness, I promise.

So, now that we've accomplished your details, tell us a little bit about your life in the Harley audio world. Where do you come from, and what brought you into this?

Oh, well, I started in the car world. Uh, God, I had a Volkswagen shop when I was 19 years old, and realized that, uh, those people had no money and those cars were oily messes. So, I got out of that and got into customizing Hondas with ground effects. And, uh, we'd take them out to the racetrack and stuff like that back in the 80s. Uh, got into the high-end car customizing business for quite a while up in Washington, doing ballplayer cars, stuff like that for Ken Griffey Jr., other big ballplayers like Sam Pton. Uh, when I got out of that, uh, you know, the business sold, and, uh, I wasn't really digging the new owner. So, you know, in Seattle, everybody's got coffee stands. So, I built a bunch of coffee stands—Dragonfly Coffee House—did that for a while, and then Starbucks came in, and they were pretty much buying everybody out, and, uh, I lost the lease where I was at in my number one spot. Uh, had to move it and ended up selling that. Uh, at that point, you know, I was already riding Harleys. I wanted a fairing for my bike, so I built one and went to Sturgis with it. I had money in the bank, nothing to do for a job, so I went there and everybody wanted to know where I bought it. So, I was handing out my old coffee stand business cards to people. Uh, came home, made a few parts, went to Reno Street Vibrations with them and sold them, and it kind of started from there, back in, uh, 2002.

Uh, so, you know, the audio systems that we were doing on my fairings, uh, with Dragonfly Cycle Concepts... our audio was better than what was in any of the stock bikes out there, especially back in '04. So, we started doing audio kits and making our own hand control modules and everything to make all the thumb controls work. And we started getting really popular with the factory touring guys—, you know, the Road Glides, the Bat Wings, Ultras, stuff like that. Um, and I always wanted to make my stuff cool, so we, you know, we had people question the quality of our products. So, we made a wheelie video back in 2004 of me wheelie-ing a Road King with one of my fairings on it. You know, that video went viral and crazy, you know, 20 years ago. Uh, fast forward to, uh, a few years ago, I, uh, you know, closed that down around 'Co and a couple of other personal situations, and, uh, just worked from home, just living the good life, giving people affordable prices, giving them quality stuff. And up until I got a call from Junior, uh, wanting to put something together here.

That's pretty awesome. I actually didn't know that backstory.

Now, because you never listen... selective hearing, man.

I learned it from you.

Right, right. Now you are my young Padawan learner, after all.

I know you mentioned Sturgis. I've seen some of your pictures and videos. They're pretty insane. What kind of rides do you do now on your Harley?

God, I work too much. You know, I'm actually, uh, made a point to this year to get back out and ride some more. Went up to the Baggers Races earlier this year. We've actually got a cool, uh, trip out to Laughlin starting tomorrow, out to the Obi Casino. Uh, it's the annual Lifestyle Cycles riding group deal, so I figured I'd go out and try my hand at actually riding around a bunch of people and see if I don't piss them off or get in their way.

You do typically piss people off a lot.

Well, I'm good at it.

Yeah, we know.

Tell me, as our audio specialist, why do you... what’s your belief on Harley audio?

Well, I believe it doesn't have to be overly expensive. I believe you can get people into quality stuff and not break their bank. Uh, I also believe that there are people out there that do want the high-end stuff, and I want to be able to cater to them. I'm not into sticking stuff in saddle bags, I'm not into sticking car stereo stuff in there. You know, I've always had the philosophy of, if I got a warranty, it'll cost me money. So, just because I can sell it to you and make a couple of bucks, I'm going to end up swapping it out later on, or I'm going to have to ship it back and forth with you. You're not going to be happy because you spent money with me. So, I'm only going to bring on quality parts into my company, Junior's company here at Lifestyle Cycles. Um, something I can stand behind and believe in, and know that the only time that guy’s going to call me back is when he’s wanting to buy more stuff, not wanting to return something else.

What's your dream build? If money wasn't an obstacle, what would you build right now?

Uh, right now... you know, I've done the big wheel stuff. I've done the aired out. I've done the filling all the saddle bags with speakers and the tour packs. I've built a trike with 23 speakers on it 10-15 years ago. Um, really liking the performance bagger stuff now. You know, I grew up on dirt bikes. I mean, I've been wheelie-ing baggers for over 20 years. You know, I like where the performance line’s going—that you can do high-end suspension, swing arms, and go chain drive. Um, I've got one that’s all hot-rodded out at home—a Road King that I turned into an FXR. We call it the Dino King. Um, that thing’s a monster with a 124 SNS in it. Uh, crazy panel paint job on it. I just need to find some more time to not work here to be able to put that thing back together.

Oh, we’ll happily give you the time off. It's wonderful here when you're not here.

Oh, I bet you guys are able to sleep all day when I’m gone.

Yeah, but you know what? I do miss this... moving when you talk.

What is your initial role here? What’s most important to you right now at Lifestyle Cycles?

Well, right now, with getting the e-commerce up and rolling and developing programs and procedures around it, it’s the customer service for me. Um, customer service was always super important in my business—make sure the customer’s happy. Um, you know, a happy customer will tell one friend, or an unhappy customer will tell ten. You know, and when you’re a small business, that’s really important. So, one of the roles I took on when we launched the e-com team was to head the customer service experience. So, I’m the guy that’s handling the chats, the phone calls. Um, I start at two hours before I come in in the morning. I'm here during the day. I run it until about 9-10 o’clock at night most nights. I’m pretty much married to the computer at my house, all through the weekend. You know, somebody comes in with an online chat, I want to make sure it looks like there's actually somebody there on the other end. Um, you know, I’m able to take care of phone calls with them. Uh, I take care of all the emails that come in, all the social media. And I’ll be honest with you, even with all my experience in building custom bikes that have been on the