Rocky Road Ahead for Aftermarket P & A?
Down the years, especially in uncertain or troubled times, I have sometimes used a simple checklist of three questions when talking to industry contacts in order to get an entirely unscientific survey and sense of what is happening " out there " in the real world of buying and selling motorcycle parts and accessories. It ' s all done anonymously, of course, and is highly subjective and very general in nature. It isn ' t designed to reveal the answer to the ultimate question of the meaning of life and the universe or anything. Neither is it designed to provide a start-point for a learned economics paper about capitalism ' s present state of tune. In fact, it ' s more a bit of fun than Wall Street Journal grade gravitas and forecasting. However, as a demi-structure to the dialogs it does provide context for any attempt at assessing the V-twin P & A market ' s direction of travel. Those three questions? Try them on for size if you like and feel free to email me your answers and thoughts- everything is entirely confidential; we are all friends here. The first question would simply be whether your sales are up or down so far this year and, in either case, do you have a percentage you ' d care to share with me?
D2C sales continue to grow
At this time of year, the timing of the riding season means that it is more than likely that we are as much as two thirds( if not three quarters) of the way through the 2026 sales cycle in value and volume terms. Second, I like to ask what has been doing well, or doing best for you? This is hugely dependent on the profile of the business and is rather better asked of the broader based vendors and of dealers themselves. Is it service items and work that is paying the electric bill? How are handlebar sales doing? Seats? Bigger ticket items such as exhausts and wheels? Service items, handlebars and grips, seats and pegs are a ' Big Tell ' where V-twin market sentiment and mileage is concerned. This is mostly all to be found filed under ' blindingly obvious ' but none the less, it triggers an exchange of perspectives and, far from being anodyne, questions such as these are a great trigger for leading conversations down unscripted pathways. The third question is a tad more subtle. Having scratched the surface, it is designed to get under the skin of the market a bit more and comes in two related parts. Basically it goes something like this- if you had to use one word to describe what you feel about the V-twin market at this time, what would that be; and if you knew what you know no at the start of the year, what is the one( or more) thing you would do differently for the 2026 season if you could go back to late 2025? In general, the responses to the first two questions( second half of May) were the usual wide array of people saying they are having " a great year " ranging through to( the more realistic and honest people) people who appear ready to turn off the lights and go riding for the rest of the year. One custom parts dealer of many decades standing told me recently that at one stage in late March his shop( a 2 1 / 2 person aftermarket shop) had gone an entire week without anybody coming in, for anything. He reckoned he was down around-20 % for the year-to-date and if this kept up he and his wife would likely sell their property when the Fall comes and retire. This is an exercise that I sometimes do at shows too and the face-to-face outcomes are more detailed and considered. Based on a very random recent telephone sample of 16 people over four weeks( two of them in Europe), of which five were dealers( one authorized- and man does he love Artie Starrs) and 11 of them a mix of vendors, the responses varied just as widely and wildly as ever. Most( but not quite all) are reporting that sales are " soft " at best, and mostly down upper single digits. At times like these it is service work that is keeping the lights on, with front-end work, handlebars and related accessories that are the busiest segments. A lot of fenders and lights are being replaced too. That is the good news- it means people are riding and doing the miles. It is also bad news. It is tough to live by such a narrow business footprint and is one that is vulnerable to online D2C sales( Direct to Consumer). As to the third question? Well, one ' tangential ' to come out of it was a renewed sense of optimism and relief that, at long last, Harley already appears to be responding well to the new CEO and his rapidly conceived and implemented course corrections. What is reassuring is that there is already ' trickle down ' feelgood into the custom market and that says that there is hope that the ' passion hasn ' t died '. The single words selected describe people ' s take on ' where the market is at ' varied wildly- from moribund, hibernating and decline, through to slow, soft and quiet. Only one person said they were optimistic in the short-term. The one thing the Vendors say they would do differently now is how they handled inventory for 2026. Most are now seeing a return of the supply chain issues that plagued the market four years ago. My audience was equally divided between wishing they ' d invested more of their capital into larger and earlier orders or production just to ' tide them over. On the other hand, those who are now eying unsold inventory are expecting to have to move it at blow out prices one way or another. Indeed, some are already doing so. There is a widespread expectation that ' made to order ' will be the shape of the future. Increasing numbers of American and European vendors are looking to build inventory overseas and draw down or sell D2C / drop ship as needed. OEM P & A programs are expected to take an ever-increasing share of sales, and, finally, D2C sales will continue to take an ever-greater share of the market.
Robin Bradley
Co-owner / Editor-in-Chief robin @ dealer-world. com