Barnes Brothers Motorcycles
For those of you unlucky enough to know me you know I am pretty brand loyal and value exceptional customer service. A few weeks ago I made a life altering decision to switch brands away from KTM for my main big bore bike. I did some scientific paddock research and the overwhelming response was R1. I spoke with Blake and Liam Barnes who are N2 riders and their family owns Barnes Brothers Motorcycles about a potential new bike. I have know them for a few years now and they are also a ktm dealer and were my main parts supplier for both rc8’s and my rc 390. Liam also races ccs and Wera so they get the addiction.
I bought a Yamaha side by side from the dealership in December of 2017, and it was the best transaction for a new vehicle I ever had, more than fair price and I told them what I wanted for protection, winch, heater, cab..... they figured out the rest and delivered it to the farm. After that I knew these were the guys for the R1.
Knowing nothing about the 2018 R1 I gave them a list of traditional upgrades, suspension, dampener, brake pads, body work.... 3 weeks before my next track day. Not only did they hit the mark with an almost perfect bike (it needed some clicker adjustments), they also had it completely prepped and safety wired for me to pick up on my way to pirc.
During break in at Pitt Blake and Liam called or were in my pits checking on me and the bike. I wasn’t a fan of the brake master or rear caliper set up after the break in weekend they took the bike back to the shop from pirc to address my concerns and then delivered back to the track my next track day. During the last 5 weeks there has been constant communication with them and status updates. This Monday at Main they pitted with us and were regularly helping with control adjustments. In addition their father drove in from Pittsburgh and also got his hands dirty.
The 4 of us were talking about the dealership and what it was before they bought it (a giant POS, most likely stuck in Bill’s craw with all ballz) and how they have transformed it into something special. I would recommend them to anyone that asks me. I really wanted to take the time to give them a meaningful thank you and also try to pay it forward for them going above and beyond to help me with my lifestyle change to Yamaha. I think they are working on a build video with some GoPro footage including pirc and main laps, I’ll make sure to update this with links when they are done.
!)...I'd love to get on board with all the new tech but puttering around at my pace on a 1000 would just be shameful. Putting a stuff on TomD would be worth it I think.
