Deborah Storey For AL.com
Like Richard Branson or James Bond, Charlie Van Valkenburgh is someone that other guys would like to be.
He rides motorcycles. He designed parts for the International Space Station. He turned his hobby into a career, quit his day job to be his own boss and now sells his invention around the world. In 2012 he rode one of his motorcycles nearly 200 miles an hour in the Utah salt flats to set a speed record.
Charlie Van Valkenburgh is a former motorcycle racer who also designed parts for the International Space Station.
Years ago, Van Valkenburgh realized he could build a better stand for his own motorcycles. He started selling a few.
They were so popular that he started his own company in 1994. Through trade shows, trackside vendor sales and reviews in motorcycle magazines the word began to spread.
Huntsville-based Pit Bull Products Inc. now sells 10,000 to 15,000 stands a year to riders in Russia, Japan and Italy — and a lot in Australia.
"The stuff on the market was pretty crude," he explained about his inspiration. "I think we make the best and have more variety."
For someone who has ridden the length of a football field in one second, Van Valkenburgh's business approach has been surprisingly cautious and methodical.
He started the company in a smaller location just a couple of doors away from the current one on Pearl Street and built his own 25,000-square-foot custom shop only when business could support it.
He was also slow to quit his day job designing mechanisms for the International Space Station, gradually moving toward part time as his own business took off. The year he decided to pursue making stands full-time UPS went on strike "and I was about to starve to death," he said, because of challenges in shipping his product.
"I had enough optimism that I didn't see the pitfalls," he said. "I thought I could always go back and find another job.
"We were in it for the long haul," he said. "What we do works and it's employing people."
By 1998 Pit Bull had shifted into higher gear and business doubled a few years in a row. The company now offers more than 640 products for more than 20 models, with basic stands starting at $149.95. Pit Bull employs 18 people full-time.
Van Valkenburgh speaks proudly of gradually building a debt-free operation — not at all the freewheeling approach you might expect from a rider who set a speed record.
Riders use the stands to display their bikes or work on them. Many buy more than one.
"Numerous customers have collections of motorcycles and store them on our stands," said Pit Bull General Manager George Hoffman. Italian manufacturer Ducati, known for high-performance motorcycles, "was displaying all their bikes on those stands."
The gold-colored stands are attractive and unique, but they're also cost effective.
Dealers charge $50 to $60 to take off a rear wheel to change a tire, Hoffman said. "If you can (do it yourself), you've paid for the stand after two or three times."
To begin assembly, bare steel tubes from Ohio make their way through an automatic band saw, then a tube bender and notcher before moving to tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. Other parts make their way through lathes and milling machines. The 12-step zinc plating process includes chemical cleaning, electrical charges, repeated rinses and a dryer.
After being dunked in multiple vats, the bare metal is transformed into a shiny work of art before the trademark red hardware is attached.
Van Valkenburgh has learned a lot about trademarks and patents since selling his first stand to a fellow rider at a show.
"Now we patent every little thing we do," he said. "Some aspects of the stands I wish I could go back in time and patent."
Imitation is flattery, they say, but in business it's a killer. One competitor bought a Pit Bull stand, spray painted it and advertised it as his own.
A patent infringement suit can cost $100,000, Van Valkenburgh said, but he found a quicker, cheaper way to discredit that imitator: "an Internet smear campaign." It worked.
Currently their biggest competition comes from "Chinese knockoffs of our own product," he said.
Van Valkenburgh always emphasized quality and workmanship. He declined to use welding robots or cheap overseas parts. The stands carry a lifetime warranty. The unique squared-off shoulders of the curved tubes inspired the Pit Bull name, and the zinc plating gives them a recognizable color.
"We believe that your stand should last forever," the company website says, "because if it breaks, it's likely that your bike is on the stand when it happens."
Van Valkenburgh — part of a family that has been in Huntsville for generations — graduated from Auburn in 1980 with a degree in industrial engineering.
The website promotes his professional expertise: "A Pit Bull motorcycle rear stand is designed by a former motorcycle racer who just happened to also design mechanisms for the space station."
In August 2012 he took his modified BMW S1000RR to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and set a record of 198.25 MPH.
More than 20 years after a simple goal to build a better motorcycle stand, Pit Bull continues to evolve with new products and designs.The prototype for a new BMW stand is on Van Valkenburgh's work desk right now.
The company also sells custom-designed stands, sprockets, chains, shirts, mugs, stickers, spool kits, spider grips, stand pins and more. An online blog keeps customers up to date on new products and answers questions. Hoffman said the company is looking at strong growth again this year.
Pit Bull introduced a trailer restraint system that holds motorcycles from the rear axle securely without straps by anchoring it to the floor, a concept that seems basic enough but wasn't available before Van Valkenburgh thought of it.
They can't disclose their celebrity customers, but Hoffman did say that legendary motorcycle drag racer Rickey Gadson is a strong believer in the trailer restraint system and uses it at his drag racing school. So does American Motorcyclist Association Hall of Famer Kevin Schwantz.
So who is the typical Pit Bull buyer?
"Smart and savvy," Van Valkenburgh answered. "A little on the wild side but not thugs."=
Far from thugs, apparently. Hoffman said some of their customers use the stands to keep the kids from knocking over their motorcycles in the garage.