Jesse Ziegler | October 8, 2017
Rocky Mountain ATV/MC was an official vendor at the 2017 KTM Adventure Rider Rally.
The 2017 KTM Adventure Rider Rally was held in Crested Butte, Colorado for the second time in three years. With nearly 500 attendees including a massive staff of KTM event planners, celebrity riders, world-class racers and helpful technicians, it was a popular destination, to say the least. On top of that, nearly 30 vendors from the Adventure Motorcycling industry showcased their latest adventure-motorcycle gear and services.
We had a quick chat with Rocky Mountain ATV/MC’s Ray Butts inside their booth at the KTM Adventure Rider Rally to see why they made the trip, what kind of cool new stuff they have and what they think the KTM Adventure Rider Rally is all about.
What product is drawing the most interest from the attendees at the KTM Rally?
Ray Butts: This is the first time we’re an official vendor at the rally. We attended the event two years ago this year we made arrangements to set up the booth and come out in an official capacity. It’s been a great event hooking up with everybody here. We’ve been giving some commemorative stuff out and showing off some of our own project bikes.
A couple of the newer bikes we built out showcase the products we have for the KTM 1090 Adventure R and the Husqvarna 701 Enduro. There aren’t a ton of parts out for those yet so we jumped on them. Now that we have our R&D shop set up at the warehouse in Utah, we can do some rapid production of cool parts.
This is a love of ours. We are all adventure guys and we’re into it and that helps us communicate with the customers. So when we’re building out pannier systems, top racks and these tank systems it’s an easy conversation.
For example; with the Husky 701, there really aren’t a lot of auxiliary tank options. We’ve had this bike for about six months and I’ve been dying to ride it but, where we ride, you need to be able to go a couple hundred miles and the stock bike won’t really do it. So, we took the Rally Raid kit for the KTM 690 and machined parts to make it fit the 701. And now we have the range we want. We’re going to Nevada in a couple weeks for a final shakedown on the parts and we can have them for sale in a few weeks after that.
Why should riders consider attending the KTM Adventure Rider Rally?
Ray Butts: I tell them they should come because of the networking. You get out here with all the cool vendors and get to see what can help your ride. Especially in the Adventure niche, a lot of the players don’t go through the normal channels of distribution. They’re direct-to-consumer, which isn’t something I like to promote (laughs) because I want to sell the stuff we sell, but it is good to see. There are some things traditional aftermarket will never address and these companies will build it. Plus, you get to meet a ton of other riders. The next thing you know, a rider from Indiana and rider from Ohio are sharing trails and keeping this part of the industry vibrant and healthy.CN
To learn more about Rocky Mountain ATV/MC, visit www.rockymountainatvmc.com