Baxter bike shop makes big impact in local, national market

Doug Guyer opened a package stored underneath his work bench. He untaped a mass of bubble wrap, revealing a diamond-cut cylinder and heads manufactured for a Harley-Davidson. Guyer is a machinist at Revolution Cycle in Baxter, and custom performance is Revolution’s business.

"The more surface area you have when the air passes by the engine, the better. It's a heat exchanger," Guyer said regarding the efficiency of the diamond-cut parts. "That's how it
cools itself. You do get oil to cool these too, but the majority of the time it's basically due to when you're traveling down the road. It's the amount of air that passes over that engine, pass these cooling fins that keep the engine cooler ... It depends on how fancy you want to get in your bike."

Revolution owner Todd England will make a motorcycle as fancy or as basic as the rider prefers. England opened the business in 2004 with his wife, Lynae. The shop is a parts manufacturer specializing in performance rebuilds, servicing existing bikes and designing and building the current trend in motorcycles: three-wheel trikes. England began the business years earlier in Cedar Rapids, but it was when he returned to his childhood home of Baxter to start a family that the business grew from an 800-square-foot building to a 4,800-square-foot retail and machine shop.

"Moving here has cultivated that growth because there's not a hardware store here," England said. "So if I want something I've got to drive. When I was in Cedar Rapids I was
two-and-a-half blocks from a hardware store. Here, you drive. So I thought, 'Man, if I'm in that position, there's got to be other people.'"

Located at 120 S. Main St., Revolution's modest storefront is part of Baxter's intimate downtown strip. The business is nearly 100 percent word-of-mouth. England said the
machinists at Revolution let their craftsmanship speak and the biker community market their product. According to England, Revolution's motto is "We start where Harley leaves off."

Thriving in a town of approximately 1,052, Revolution services hundreds of bikes locally from Des Moines, Ames, Marshalltown and Newton, but where England's
business has really grown is in nationwide orders.

Topographically, Revolution Cycle’s biggest market is in rebuilt parts coming from California, Texas, Arizona and Florida, respectively. The warmer climates allow riders to use their bikes nearly year-round. England said his business took off after the recession of 2008 due to rebuilds, when many other shops saw a fall-off in sales.

England has coined the Revolution Cycle "Engine in a Box." It contains two cylinders, two heads, pistons, gaskets and cam. He believes his locally built kits can give "top shelf
performance on a budget."

“It’s basically everything you need to build a performance package,” he said as he picked up a brown corrugated shipping box from the salesroom floor. It was marked and ready to be shipped to Fargo, N.D. Nearly half a dozen packages littered the ground ready for shipment with U.S. Postal Service tags reading Lakeville, Minn., Minneapolis, Minn., and Phoenix, Ariz.

“Our main objective is for people to advertise for us. We don’t advertise much,” England said. “If we do our job right, you are the best advertising we can get.”

Walking behind the service counter, England opened a tool chest tray, which was coated with assorted industry stickers and Harley decals revealing another niche market Revolution has tried to capture. He pulled out a tiny metal plug the machinists at Revolution have dubbed “The Pet Rock.” It’s an oil amplifier meant to increase oil pressure while the bike is at idle. England said he sells hundreds of the $7 pieces, which they manufacture at the Baxter shop.

“A lot of people think because we’re from Baxter that we’re slow, you know, that we’re never busy,” he said. “But three feet of snow on the ground, 90 degrees, we’re busy all year.”

Back in the machine shop, Guyer finished up boring related to the diamond-cut cylinder. He said that Revolution will not begin to do modifications on a piece until it receives the
corresponding parts from the manufacturer.

Although a company like Harley has part specifications, Guyer said even the slightest manufacturer error could throw off the accuracy of the custom cuts.

In the garage, England has vintage, custom and modern bikes from the Newton area on hoists. He points out a 1968 Harley, baggers and shovel heads with plates from Poweshiek and Jasper Counties. In the rear of his shop, England has cold storage — bikes that are either his personal rides or pieces that are waiting to be attended to. Lifting the steel door, he revealed the oldest bike current at Revolution, a 1968 Harley.

"Americans, or Harley specifically, designed a bike to get away. Literally, go ride," England said. "You try to get lost. That's the culture. There's a big difference between commuting
to work and going out for a ride. Just like the family Sunday ride — when you're in a huge city, you don't have a Sunday ride. Whereas here in the Midwest, or I'm sure in many, many places, you enjoy going out for a drive. Whether it be on a bike or in a car or whatever it is, I think that's part of the American culture."

Along with that culture comes safety, and it’s a two-way street. England said that it’s important for motorists to watch for bikes on streets and highways, noting that there are many fatalities and accidents every year from lack of attentive driving. And taking to bikes early in his youth, England understands the dangers associated with riding.

“I was on my first motorcycle when I was five,” he said. “This was just a really cool hobby that turned into a dream.”

Mike Mendenhall can be contacted at (641) 792-3121 ext. 422 or via email at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com.