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4 years ago

2016 CC-Riders

  • Text
  • Shovelhead
  • Shovel
  • School
  • Jammer
  • Santee
  • Revtech
  • Custombike
  • Customized
  • Cce
  • Cci
  • Touring
  • Tour
  • Harleyteile
  • Chrome
Custom Chrome Staff Members on their private rides.

CUSTOM CHROME EUROPE

CUSTOM CHROME EUROPE PRESS RELEASE - PUBLICATION FREE OF CHARGE It might not be a surprising fact, but working for Europe‘s biggest custom parts distributor has always been a „passionate affair“ for all employees who signed in at either Bad Kreuznach or todays Grolsheim facility. The passion for riding and customizing is shared by a surprising number of CCE‘s staff members throughout all departments, most of which – of course – favour the American made V-Twins, but also ride other brands and a huge variety of styles. And if you think the list is complete, think again – we just didn‘t have the images on all „CC-Riders“ yet! There is no doubt when Carsten Behrens, CCE‘s „Corporate Design Manager“ is arriving for work: The rumble from the open exhaust pipes of his home-built Chopper or his latest addition to his garage, a handcrafted bare-metal style Bobber, can be heard from quite a distance as he approaches the Grolsheim warehouse over the plain where the Nahe river slowly meanders towards the „Father Rhine“. Questions for his run-in‘s with the local forces of the law are brushed off – so far he got away with his „Loud pipes save lives“ attitude – and by the sound of his bikes, he has saved many lives! If there is one thing that makes him „stand out“ from all other CCE employees, it is the fact that he moves every single part of CCE massive catalogue at least once every year! Fortunate for him, he doesn‘t have to drag the parts out of the shelves at the warehouse. The index finger pushes the „mouse“ and moves the image of the part from one position to another. Sounds easy? Multiply that with 30.000 parts, a lot of them pictured in the catalog and five languages – as texts that vary in lenght in the five available languages – and you may see the work. Carsten Behrens is layouting CCE‘s 1.548 pages cataloge, almost new from scratch every year, his time „on the road“ is limited anyway, but he takes great pride in having Jaime Sagrado and his rigid Shovelhead Street Dragster! assembled his bikes himself in his home garage, as the marketing department of CCE dictates – in his free time during summer and autumn, when there is time to take a breath between Summer and Winter-updates and the next 5-language edition of the catalogue waiting. And with a close eye on the almost 5.000 new products he has to integrate into the pages every year, there is little doubt that he is already „breeding“ over ideas for his next garagebuild project. N N N CCE‘s Sales Department literally „breeds“ the riders for the „Bolt On and Ride“ filming and fotoshoots, because most of its members (if not all) ride or build their own bikes. Helmut Sekowski modified his 2000 Dyna Glide Sport with numerous CCE parts. There are probably few German or international dealers that haven‘t talked to Lothar Foerst on the telephone – he is a member of the CCE staff since the year 2000 and fills in every position he was asked to perform: Foto-model, testrider for the „Bolt on and Ride“ shootings and even „the escaped prisoner“ in CCE‘s „The Great Escape“ advertising campaign. With outstanding excellence, to say the least, not to forget his heavy metal guitar skills that came helpful in the 2014 „Sexy Thing“ video music clip! Equally skilled at his „day job“ as Sales Representative, Lothar is still riding his 88 Cubic Inch RevTech powered Chopper he built himself from 2000 to 2004 and rebuilt it again in 2011/12 for a more modern look. This experience always comes handy when talking to the dealers on the phone, because Lothar knows exactly from his own experience where the nuts and bolts go, so to speak! „I have a cool job and a lot of really cool customers“, says Lothar – and working so close to where his interests are is adding to his enthusiasm for the job. N N N He shares the passion and the room with Sigrid Kuhn- Fuchs, who was interested in Custombikes from the age of seven and even had her kids travelling with her in several sidecar-equipped bikes through Holland and Germany. As Sales Rep for Germany and Switzerland, she is serving two of the most important Harley-Davidson and Custombike markets, the 26% market share for Harleys is one of the biggest outside the USA. She worked for a Koblenzbased Customizing shop since 1991 and has experienced to boom-times and changes in the model-lines first hand: „Raven“ has been her idea and project for a long time and was realized in co-operation with „Maniac MeachaniX“ Christian Denstedt. N N N The enthusiasm is shared by their „boss“, Sales Director Marc Strieffler, who customized himself a Shovelhead „Bobber“ in 2009 and is now finishing a Sportster for the 2016 riding season that is very much inspired by the Independent Choppers built „Custom Cross“ from the 2013 „Bolt On and Ride“ bikes line-up. Which Marc rode all through South France and also in the German „Nahetal“ area: He then aquired the neccessary components and assembled the bike in his garage. With a heritage of owning Kawasaki and Honda motorcycles, followed by Harley-Davidson Softails, Dyna, Shovelheads and the new Sportster, Marc is also fully aware of the available CCE parts for these models – and he is usually „on the team“

CUSTOM CHROME EUROPE PRESS RELEASE - PUBLICATION FREE OF CHARGE when it comes to riding the „Bolt On and Ride“ motorcycles for photographing and filming. „Being head of the sales department is not just a desk job at Custom Chrome Europe“, Marc states, „you have to be prepared for anything anytime! Currently we are pushing the CCE Dealer Store website with very good results – but it always helps when you also know how to handle wrench and screwdriver to mount the parts yourself...“ N N N Two „motorheads“ that sure know in which direction to turn the screwdriver are sitting in the „Customer Service“ “ and „Product Management“ department, responsible for new parts that will enter future CCE catalogues: Mirco Buschmann-Adam and Christian Denstedt are the men in charge when it comes to evaluate new parts – and both of them have a tough job to check, test and judge hundreds of new items which come from an incredible variety of sources. approved or not? What‘s the manufacturing quali-ty? Will the part sell all over Europe or just in particular markets? Considerations that also bear the responsibility for the production badge size that has to be ordered from the manufacturer, when the initial order has to be made as the part is introduced first into the webshop, followed by catalogue updates and/or the catalogue itself. Without question one of the most sensitive and important jobs any distributor has to fill – and CCE‘s history of success underlines that they always had the right people working in this position. Riding motorcycles since 1994, Mirco has an extensive motorcycle history with a BMW R25-3, HD‘s FXEF (the Fat Bob Super Glide), HD Sportsters, HD Street Bob and his latest ride: a 750 „Street“, already modified with CCE parts. Since Mirco worked with „the factory“, his knowledge is well received by authorised and independent Harley-dealers alike. His only sorrow is that the job leaves so little time to ride! His partner in business has no such qualms: Part-time running his own customizing shop „Maniac Mechanix“, he usually rides winter and summer from Gensingen, less than 4 km from the Grolsheim warehouse. Multitasking workloads at CCE do include the parts assessment and homologating and maintenance of the „Bolt On and Ride“ bikes. He has also created several „BOAR“ bikes and CCE customs himself in the last years, his powerful, 125 RevTech powered „Evel King“ Bagger was able to reach top-speeds byond the 200 km/h mark, but nobody ever had the guts to test how fast it could really go! N N N One of the CCE staffers who was there „at the creation“ of CCE is Guenther Mueller, „Director of Purchasing“ and thus one of the most important staff members, yet one of the least visible. Which comes with the location of his office and the fact hat his spectacular custombike „Sin Vergüenza“ is still used as an eyecatching attraction at „Hell‘s Kitchen Choppers“ when they exhibit. Mueller has close family ties with the Lake Constance (German: Bodensee Region), which results that he is making his kilometers outside the view of CCE‘s colleagues and the ever-present cameras. N N N As to be expected, all CCE international Sales Representatives Andy Tozer (United Kingdom), Marcel Masaryk (Eastern Europe), Jaime Sagrado (Iberia), Geraldine Rietzler, Pascal Barry (France) and Ivano Segato (Italy) own customized Harley-Davidsons and ride them. Most of them in fine and fair weather conditions far superiour to Germany, probably with the exception of Andy Tozer who lives near Dover/England. Sorry Andy, but the 2012 – and never published – „Bolt On and Ride“ tour to Poole and Beaulieau is forever edged in CCE‘s annals. „Waterboarding“ the CCE team through South England did proove that the BOAR bikes, as well as the CC-Riders, can endure rain and beating on a long term base: When we arrived in the UK, „water shortages“ were declared, when we left 6 days later, „catastophic flooding“ was the news all over England! Who want a „BOAR“ tour for his country? Sponsors welcome! All CCE Sales Reps know what they are talking about when selling parts – and the dealers often enjoy to see them arriving on their own two wheels – be it at shows or at their shop. N N N Last, but certainly not least, CCE Managing Director Andreas Scholz is the „Leader of the Pack“ when it comes to private riding. Not that his „day job“ would allow much TOP: Carsten Behrens first private-built „Tobago“ Kitbike. The days before „GoPro“ were quite an adventure when filming with „Studio 1“. of it, but his office is located on the top floor of the new CCE warehouse, direction sunrise – and to the main roads passing Grolsheim. From there, he not just has a view on who is entering the CCE facility but also to the horizon: „It is still a dream come true for me to work in this wonderful team for and in this exciting, international industry. Motorcycles in general and Harley-custom-bikes in particular have always been my passion since I was allowed to ride them“, he states. But there usually is little time to enjoy a good ride, even though the „Bolt On and Ride“

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