Hey Bear of www.oldbikebarn.com here,
I have been mentioning for some time that we would be updating our about-us section on the web site as well and FAQ’s and help. here’s the first on many installments that well let you get to know us and or brand better 2009.
T
he Old Bike Barn Story
Hi this is Barrie Haughton (aka Bear) president & founder of www.oldbikebarn.com I have been told by many it’s high time I tell the story of how this crazy motorcycle parts machine got started and how motorcycles saved my life.
Growing up as a kid I was into all things “Hot Rod”. I avidly read Hot Rod Magazine, Rod & Custom, and Car Craft form the young age of 10. By the time I was 15, the muscle car pricing crisis (well it was for me) was way out of hand with even rust buckets and less than pristine examples of desirable models fetching 10k or more and often well into the 6 figures. My dreams of owning a 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6, Classic Mustang or Super Bee had been crushed. Then a stroke of genius my dad ( The Old Honda Man) suggested vintage bikes. These machines were cheap, plentiful and with a great power to weight ratio I could easily pull up at a light on my CB750 and blow the doors off the latest machines and Muscle cars alike, needless to say I was hooked!
I spent my teens building and restoring all kinds of bikes. At 18 I joined the Military and traveled to 28 countries in my 10 year career, eventually working under American, British, NATO and UN command. Every time I would do a tour of duty, I ‘d come home I would buy a few more bikes to tinker with. To-date I have owned some 38 bikes; my stable currently houses 13.
In late 1999 disaster struck while on a tour of duty in the Balkan’s. During a show of force to clam the local militias and war lords down, I sustained 2 fractures in my spine I could not walk at first, and they were not sure I would again. I was devastated, but I told the doctor’s in the field medic tent that I would walk because I had to ride my bikes.
I came home to some rough times. The Army didn’t renew my contract and once leave was up, they miraculously had lost any record of me being injured on duty. The young Military doctor had the gall to ask me if it happened on leave. I couldn’t believe it, I got Veteran’s Affairs and a lawyer involved… Surprise, Surprise after many months without pay my files turned up.
They made good on it and paid for my re-education and business school. Those were some rough years. I was still in a lot of pain and limped badly for a few years. My back was too fragile to ride bikes but I stayed convinced that I could ride again someday. Around this time I built a hobby web site called www.oldbikebarn.com The site had a readers ride section and I was selling off my personal collection of Vintage parts to supplement my Veterans pension. Then it happened… I started to receive hundreds of emails asking me for parts. Remember this is back in 2000, 2001 the Internet was not what it is today. With little competition I seized the opportunity, and started to source reproduction and new parts for my site. I was running this from my bedroom waste deep in parts. I moved into my first commercial location in 2002 where the SH*T promptly hit the fan, the web site was getting too much traffic and I was working 80 plus hours a week, in poor health. That’s when the partnership that made this business what it is today was formed.
Enter My long time friend Kevin Murphy, an avid rider himself 
(having cross the continent by bike) Kevin left his previous job, and with his strong back ground in web design I approached him to help out. I could no longer do it all: build the site, ship the goods, answer the 800 number, manage the accounting and what seemed like a million other tasks. Kevin came aboard as a consultant at first but that quickly grew into a % partnership, because of his talent for making my ideas about the web and motorcycles even better.
Today the company has grown with a full staff and a vast product line covering hundreds of models; 1969 to present day.
The key players are all brothers or old friends: my brother Billy, Kevin’s brother Brian and our time long friend Pat, run the show with Ronny our latest manager handling the shipping staff. We are a site by biker’s for biker’s: filling our fellow motorcyclist’s needs with fast, friendly service, and an all to uncommon personal touch.
I remember every time someone says motorcycles are dangerous that they saved my life. If I had listened to those doctor’s I might have never ridden again!
Thanks to all of our loyal customers for their support that took www.oldbikebarn.com from my bedroom to where it is today! Bear (President & Founder)
