Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/303681
FOCUS PSB FOCUS PSB ATV www.PowersportsBusiness.com Powersports Business • May 5, 2014 • 19 18 • May 5, 2014 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com "I let the other guys go out and do that crazy stuff," he told Powersports Business. "I just like watching all the folks there and visit- ing with them, taking care of their machines for them. It's a great thing. I'm from California, so I understand what's happening out there. They don't have any place to ride, they don't have this, they don't have that. Our sport's going to hell. You turn around and here's a great venue for what these people like to do. If they'd just sell the desert off to someone who would care, other than our wonderful govern- Vendors get down and dirty with sales ment… But down at Mud Nationals, it's just nice people there. You get to ride and nobody drives you crazy." STI makes life easy for its nine dealers who set up shop as vendors at Mud Nats. Rather than sell to customers, STI staffers provide product knowledge to the customers, who then go purchase the tires and wheels from any of the STI dealers on site. "Then they go buy what they want, and come back to us 10 seconds later and we mount them for free," Popp said. STI does a brisk sales business to its dealers prior to the event, and brings additional prod- uct in the event dealer inventory is running low. "It worked out that the dealers needed about half of what we brought as extras, so that was good," Popp said. Popp estimates that his crew fixed 40 flats on one single day of the event. Another day saw Popp mount tires on six 800 RZRs in a row that all still had the pricetag on them. It's all part of life as a vendor at Mud Nats. "You hear the stories of how thankful people are that we were doing that. For some of them it's their first day there, and they're pretty much dead for the rest of the six days or however long they're staying if it doesn't get fixed. One guy from Iowa brought his wife's bike over with two flats, and said if she doesn't ride, he doesn't ride. They would have been going home. It's nice to visit with those kind of people." STI unveiled its new Outback Max mud tires at Mud Nats. It's an expansion of the Out- back tire lineup, with the tires available in three sizes: 30/10-14; 31/10-15; and 32/10-17. "We've engineered a better mud tire for today's large-bore UTVs," said STI brand man- ager Jamie Chisholm. "The market needed a tire that could handle the weight and horse- power of today's high-performance UTVs. The Outback Max is designed to deliver superior traction in the sloppiest conditions, pulling hard through the mud and still offering a smooth ride on hard-packed terrain." The Outback Max tires complement STI's line of Outback AT and XT tires, a multi-size See Mud Nats, Page 20 EPI president Jeff Supinski calls Mud Nationals the company's favorite event of the year. STI Tire and Wheel found plenty of interested customers among its nine dealers who set up shop at Mud Nationals. EPI's clutching services at Mud Nationals were met with a smile. P16x29-PSB6-Focus.indd 19 4/23/14 10:16 AM