At first glance you would think that Ty is from
California as he has
that golden locks, surfer look. But no. Good ole
Ty, short for
Titus, is a bonafide Texan having been born in San Angelo,
Texas.
Ty is also the owner of Titus Electrical Contracting and has built
that company into a multi-million operation. Ty prides himself that
his
100 plus employees come from diverse backgrounds, which
probably comes from
the fact that Ty himself is half-Mexican
(Ty's mother is of Mexican decent)
and believes strongly in helping
the less fortunate whenever he can. In
fact, when one enters Ty's
business establishment the first thing you see
are the many accolades
that have been bestowed on Ty from such notables as
President
Bush, Governor Bush, Governor Perry, well, you get the picture.
So how does a successful businessman end up with a
motorcycle
dealership and not just any dealership the number 1 Victory
Motorcycle dealership in the U. S. located at 12112 N. 620, here
in
Austin! By bringing his solid business practices into the world of
motorcycles like having a great staff with a great attitude, great customer
service, and the kind of appreciation not only for his employees but for the
customer. For example, where else do you see the owner of the establishment not
only cooking but serving the public some great tasting hamburgers and hot dogs
as Ty does every Saturday afternoon. With a great new deck up front just ride on
up and get your free hot dog or hamburger with all the fixings. Since Ty is also
an accomplished Chef you can bet that either entry will taste pretty good and
this here editor can attest to that.
I f you can ride it we can
service it. Your one-stop motorcycle shop for every brand
Ty does not just sell the American made
Victory Motorcycle, under the company name Napalm Motorsports. Ty also sells
high performance street bikes like the Hyosung (is a top 5 dealer in the U. S.),
dirt bikes like the Husqvarna, the highly respected Royal Enfield (is the number
1 Enfield dealer in the U. S.), and not to mention ATV's, UTV's and as Ty calls
them, gas sipping scooters that
get 120 miles to a gallon. No wonder we are starting to see these mopeds all
over the city now-a-days. If you ever get a chance, drop in on Napalm Motorsports
and see the incredible job Ty and his people have done in just 8 months
of ownership. And get this, Napalm Motorsports is a full service motorcycle
shop that will work on anything that a rider will bring in. The shop's motto
goes like this, If you can ride it we can service it. Now how many shops can say
that. Napalm Motorsports also has a good selection of used bikes as well. We'll
the story goes like this as TIMM took the time to interview Ty and here is what
he had to
say:
TIMM: Ty, how did you get into the world of motorcycles?
Ty: I've been in Austin close to 30 years and have been riding in some form or fashion since I was 6 years old. I pretty much had to work on everything myself if I wanted to keep it running. My wife gave me an 883 for my birthday around 1990 that was bought from Buds Motorcycle Shop over on 1st street here in Austin. In 1997, I wanted to purchase a Dyna Wide Glide from the local Harley dealership, but the bike got sold from under me. I wound up buying a XLC 1200 Sportster. After fully customizing the bike over 10 years I drove up to the shop one day and my construction manager, Scott said that he would love to have one like it. So I tossed him the keys and said here its yours. I had another XLS Sportster and I gave that one to the manager of my services division, Jerry, who has been with me for over 17 years. Now I was without any American cruiser. I did have a BMW, a couple of Enduros, and a few dirt bikes, but no American iron. I had looked at the Victory motorcycle back in 1999, when they originally came out. I was looking to buy another bike and wanted to go with American iron. I looked on the World Wide Internet for Victory Motorcycles and Victory was the number one bike in the U. S. four out of the last five years, according to JD Powers and Associates ahead of all the bikes. Victory was number 1 in three out of five categories four out of the last five years and number 2 in the other two categories. So I looked around for a Victory Corey Ness Jackpot and found one at a nearby Victory dealership. Come to find out Victory dealership in Austin was up for sale, so I bought it as well.
TIMM: So that's how you wound up with a Victory dealership and the rest is history.
TY: Yes, 30 days later I bought the dealership and have been remodeling the shop every since. What sold me on the dealership was riding a bike that was so unbelievable that if it had good representation in Austin, it would take off like a rocket. Its American made and has all the modern equipment and its a gorgeous bike. Nick Nickles, my fleet manager at Titus Electrical, helps run the shop.
TIMM: Any heroes or mentors?
TY: Vince Lombardi clearly understood his objectives and what it took to achieve those objectives and he paid that price.
TIMM: As a rider what was your best ride ever?
TY: Walking away my best ride is Copper Canyon, Mexico, which I have done a couple of times. The only way to make the ride is on a big water cooled Enduro like the Husky 610. The Husky is light enough so that you can handle it down in the canyon and its powerful enough to handle the extreme weather conditions that you experience. The trip takes 4 to 5 days of steady riding. Some other good rides that I've made include Big Bend, Fort Davis, Terlingua, and the East Texas area. My most aggressive ride was to Dana Point, California, then to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl, then back to Dana Point, then back to Austin, Texas covering 3600 miles of riding in four days.
TIMM: You have a radio show, the Central Texas Motorcycle Show on KJCE, 1370 AM, that is on every Saturday from 3 to 4PM. How did that come about?
TY: I just wanted to talk motorcycles. I wanted to talk with whomever, whatever, however. Its the only motorcycle talk show in Central Texas. We have a good time. If someone calls up asking about a serious technical question we'll get into it. For example, we spent 3 shows in a row just talking about tires, tread patterns, various air pressures, different manufactures and what they are known for, and profiles on tires.
TIMM: You could have bought just about any motorcycle dealership, yet you bought a Victory dealership. Why?
TY: That first ride on the Victory Vegas Cory Ness Jackpot Special Edition was mind boggling and that is what did it. I named the bike Mariah and is just so good that it deserves to have somebody honor it. It deserves a dealership to honor that bike.
TIMM: For the record, Mariah is the name that you gave the bike right?
TY: Yes, all my bikes have names. I have Mariah and Brutus a Husky 610.
TIMM: I saw the ads that Victory has on television and came away impressed. For example, Every so often, something comes along that breaks all the rules, defies convention, and challenges the status quo. Or my favorite, What we imagined inspires us. It challenges our thinking. Introducing the award winning Victory Vision. Winner of the Motorcycle of the Year Award by Motorcycle Cruiser Magazine. Impressive.
TY: That kind of sums it up. Victory did not go the route Indian did using the S&S engine, or like the other after-market bike manufactures that continue to use the push rod engine. Victory is the fastest growing market on the planet. They are growing at an expansion rate of over one third increase in sales every year since they kicked off. Victory took a big American thundering V Twin and put a four-valve head with an overhead cam shaft with a six speed constant mesh overdrive transmission.
Within the next two years all carburetor bikes will be gone by the wayside.
TIMM: You have seen the world of motorcycles change, you have seen where we came from. Do you have any idea where we are going to go?
Ty: You see a lot of stuff out there. Ridley is a bike made in Dallas. It has a v-twin engine with an automatic transmission. For somebody who wants a motorcycle that isn't a scooter but looks like a motorcycle and doesn't have to shift. One of the things that is being mandated is that within the next two years all carburetor bikes will be gone by the wayside. Everything coming in to the U. S. will have to be fuel injected. So thats a big change. Other than that there is a lot of technology coming out on bikes. Take our Victory Vision that we have. It has integrated braking, HIV headlights, heated grips, fuel zone heated seats, electrical adjustable front wind screen, and the list goes on and on. And you're seeing a great deal of comfort being built into the touring bikes. Something else that I think is going to be a big, big, big market is scooters. A year ago you didn't see them now you see them all over the place. We got more scooters than anyone in the city. In Europe there are over 30 million scooters running around and so there is a lot of expansion room here in the U. S. We put a heater box on a scooter and are marketing them to pizza places and home delivery restaurants. The scooters comes with remote start and alarm, MP3's, and AM/AM radio with remote control on the dash. The number one market is going to be scooters followed by scooter variances, which are going to be the three-wheelers.
Something else that I think is going to be big, big, big, is scooters.
TIMM: Any community involvement?
TY: I am the chairman of the Austin Police Benevolence Society. We put on the Police Officers Ball. We are also involved with various other charities on an ad hoc basis, but our big commitment is to the police officers.
TIMM: I read an article by FORTUNE Small Business about a program that you help start for the less fortunate: specifically a training program in East Austin. Is the program still going on?
TY: We are still heavily involved with education, training and apprenticeship, any type of professional opportunity development in East Austin because those kids come from the same background as I did. I never got a high school diploma. Yes, we are still involved. We also do a lot of work with TWC and with Operation RIO, which is a program for ex-offenders. We try to offer them an opportunity to go back to work. There are too many people who turn their backs on these individuals.
TIMM: Any last comments?
TY: I've been very
blessed to have had the success that I have and have been surrounded by a lot of
really great people. If you had told me a year and a half ago that I would own a
motorcycle shop I would have laughed. While I am a man of Faith, you only
control so much of your destiny. Prepare to be surprised all the time. You can
swim hard against the current and you can have some influence on where you are
going to go to this bank or that bank but the river is going to carry you down
stream. The majority of the movement that you are going to make is going to be
where life carries you. Yes, a year and a half ago I never thought that I would
own a motorcycle shop. Ten months ago I bought one and today it's the number one
Victory dealership in the U. S. and Victory uses us as an example of how you can
take a dealership that was ready to go under and turn it into a successful
enterprise. We are the number one Royal Enfield motorcycle dealership, which is
like being a big fish in a small pond
of water, but the bike is still very popular. It appeals to a certain group
and for what it is its a cool motorcycle. And the Hyosung is a Korean
motorcycle that is going to come into its own. We're in the top five in sales in the U.
S. It's a great bike and at 78 hp out of a 650cc engine is better than
most Japanese similar bikes. It's a V Twin with incredible torque and power
and can do wheelies forever. The Hyosung is also an inexpensive bike. We
are positioned with a lot of brands, the Victory brand growing expansively, the
Hyosung as well, and the two scooter lines also exploding as well. So we
are positioned very well with a lot of different lines. Then you take the guys that we
put in sales, and in management, and Nick Nickels as our service manager
the shop is doing well and is going to do
better.
Ty's Party
Every year Ty throws a party at his Titus Electrical
Contracting site and it is A PARTY! From Judges, business owners, mechanics,
really people from all walks of life come to hang out, eat some great food, and
listen to some good music. This year was no different as can be attested to by
the following pictures:
TIMM: So
there you have it folks. Ty Runyan, high school dropout, giver of motorcycles,
multi-million dollar businessman including owning the number one Victory
Motorcycle dealership in the U. S. , and activist. The American Dream. We thank
you for your time and for sharing your wisdom. And a BIG THANK YOU for the PARTY
INVITE!