[1] Scott Meyers completes American IronHorse deal: “I want us to be the best, not the biggest”
The troubled Fort Worth, Texas, custom motorcycle manufacturer American IronHorse has been bought out from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by Scott Meyers, an American IronHorse dealer with custom shops in Montana and Minnesota.

Meyers is a former senior defence industry executive with an impeccable business career record and all the corporate credentials needed to indicate that he has the experience necessary to successfully rescue the business.

However, he is also a lifelong rider who hails from a family that has ridden since the 1920’s, and he became a custom shop owner five years ago with American IronHorse and Arlen Ness franchises.

With two dealerships, Rocky Mountain Choppers at Bozeman, Mt., and BlackWater Choppers of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Mn., Meyers comes at the acquisition from the position of being a dealer who is both committed to the brand, and has an insider’s experience of the difficulties the company encountered.

Within hours of his deal being approved by the bankruptcy court, Meyers gave AMD an exclusive interview that will be published in full in the July edition. Meyers said: “American IronHorse swamped the market with bikes in 2005 and when inventory started to stick they agreed to pay for the flooring. In my view this is what ultimately caused the bankruptcy”.

Meyers says his aims are simple: “I want to create a sustainable, profitable business; I want to make the transition into it being so as quickly as possible, and as easy as possible for the firm’s dealer network. We are fully committed to supporting the American IronHorse brand in every way possible”.

“We will slim down the dealer network,” Meyers went on to say. “Those dealers who wish to stay with us will be asked to agree new dealer contracts, but the level of commitment we have to ensuring that their business dealings with American IronHorse are profitable is absolute”.

Meyers says that his dealerships spent a six-figure sum on flooring finance interest in 2006 alone, “so we fully understand the position that American IronHorse dealers have been in. We are fully committed to establishing American IronHorse as the premium brand in manufacturing highly profitable custom motorcycles. My aim is that American IronHorse should be the best, not the biggest”.

Meyers cites the cycle of Harley’s own experience, with authorized Harley dealers seeing their businesses move from wait lists to discounts on MRSP’s in less than a decade. “We need to return exclusivity to the American IronHorse experience, and we can’t achieve this without supporting the profit objectives of our loyal dealers”.

Meyers has said that he is making ‘Good Faith’ offers to dealers in respect of warranties and finance. “We have agreed terms with Textron for them to continue to offer flooring programs to American IronHorse dealers. While dealers themselves, rather than the company, will have to pay for that finance, our manufacturing policies will ensure that inventory can be financed profitably and moved quickly”.

“In terms of standing behind the motorcycles built since the company started, we are going to honor warranties on all unsold bikes, and provide factory warranties for all bikes already on the road that have not yet had warranty claims”.

At this time the plan is for the existing management team to continue. Meyers went on to tell AMD that “the transition to our ownership will have been completed by the end of May and we will be in a position to make substantial capital available immediately to enable the business to re-start trading activities as soon as possible”.