Dwight & his GSXR1000 & the Shop

Dwight & bike close up

Back in 2000 I became a member of Ebay & have been hooked ever since.  I was 27 years old & I started out buying items for my 1995 Honda CBR900RR.  Just like everyone else I had more parts for that bike than I would ever need & it made my wife so mad she banned me from Ebay.  But of course I couldn't stay away.  Which is why I started searching for a way to make money on Ebay so I could be on there all the time.

Then came the Spring of 2004, when I met a guy that had a bike that was wrecked & he wanted to get rid of it.  So I made a deal with him to part it out on Ebay & I would take a percentage of the profits & do all the work.  That deal led to the formation of Rocket Powered MotorSports Inc.  My wife & I formed the business in the fall of 2004 & we have been growing ever since.  Since I am a sport bike enthusiast we mainly deal with sport bikes.  I've done a few cruiser bikes, but I really enjoy sport bikes.  I buy all of my bikes at different places & bring them back to the shop & tear them down & part them out.  From the frames to the smallest brackets we tear them down & sell every part we can get our hands on.

What started out as a part time deal to make some extra money soon became something that was taking up every waking minute of my life.  I was trying to work a full time job, raise my son & spend time with my wife, but things with the business were growing so fast I couldn't keep up.

It began in my single car garage & now I rent a 30x48 building out in the middle of a corn field.  It began with me working 15-20 hours a week & a full time job.  To me quiting my full time job & working 70-80 hours a week.  It's way more work than I ever thought it would be, but I can tell you that it's a lot better than working for anyone else.

I like my small shop & the laid back environment because I can keep my prices low on my parts.  I know you've heard that before, but in this case it's the truth.  The building I rent didn't have a bathroom, running water or heat or A/C when I first got it.  It stayed that way for pretty much the first year & it SUCKED.  Now it has a tear down room & office that is air conditioned  & heated & running water.  The land lord wanted an arm & a leg for a bathroom so we suffer with a Porta Potty outside.  All of this so we can keep the parts cheap & build the customer base.  I know it sounds cheesy but feel free to stop by sometime & I'll let you use the porta potty to prove it.

The bike in the pictures is the reason why my Ebay ID is "GIXXERMAN-1000".  It is a 2001 Suzuki GSXR1000 that I bought brand new in Feb. 2001.  It's got almost 25,000 miles on it & every single one of them are from me.  Half of them are probably with the front wheel in the air.  The bike has been several different colors, but for 2007 I went back to stock with the fluorescent wheels & stickers.  The wheels were powdercoated & I got the stickers from Tape Works.  I love this bike & it will probably be the last bike I ever buy for myself.  If you can tell by the wheels, orange is my favorite color.  The brighter the better.  Last year I had the whole bike fluorescent orange but it faded so bad I had to change it this year.

That's kind of the whole story.  My goals are to stay where I'm at for now & grow the business on Ebay & locally as well.  I think there is a huge market for used Sport Bike parts & so far the world of Ebay has proved that.  I can't thank all my previous customers enough & I would like to welcome all of my new customers.  Hopefully we can do business for many years.