18 • August 2026 • Powersports Business

FROM THE EDITOR

INDUSTRY PODCASTS

POWER

HOUR EP. 53: PERFORMANCE BROKERAGE SERVICES DISCUSSES BUY / SELL MARKET IN Q1 Brendan sits down with Performance Brokerage Services’ George Chaconas, Juan Pardo, and co-owner Jesse Stopnitzky for this edition of Power Hour to discuss the health of the buy / sell powersports market in Q1. instead of human-to-machine. But there are places where the AI machine will take a larger role, such as backroom work and lead management.

Hollen suggests that the dealers who are winning today use AI to go back to the basics, in other words, doing some things old school and with more time to manage customers and relationships. This makes much more sense to me than trying to let AI take over everything, or handle too much where you lose the human touchpoints. You become a vending machine and not

part of the whole process. AI is also about giving up more control, and some owners, let’ s face it, will never do that. But I will also argue that those are the same dealer principals who are most at risk. Doing things the same old way just doesn’ t really work anymore, sadly. I miss a lot of the old school ways( not all of them, though).

Having worked in racing for several years, I know that you don’ t win races by bringing the same thing to the track every weekend. To win, you must be open to change and let it be part of the process. Going faster is the goal, and no matter how you do it( within the rules!), a win is a win.

I think dealers are ready to win again, judging from the insights we have seen in the first half, talking to dealers and industry leaders. We don’ t have the full picture of the first half yet, but many are sharing that business is getting better, not worse. Getting back to the basics seems to be what is working. We aren’ t going backwards. It’ s more like“ Back to Basics 2.0.”

POWER HOUR EP. 52: AMERICA’ S 9 / 11 RIDE MARKS 25 YEARS OF REMEMBRANCE As the nation marks the 25th anniversary of 9 / 11, PSB speaks with Ted Sjurseth, cofounder of America’ s 9 / 11 Ride. What started as a grassroots memorial ride in 2001 has grown into a major annual event honoring first responders and victims of the attacks. Sjurseth discusses the ride’ s history, dealer support, scholarship fundraising efforts, and how motorcyclists continue to unite in remembrance and service.

THE

DEALER LAB PODCAST EP. 34: AI-EDITED PODCAST, CLAUDE’ S“ FABLE 5,” AND BUILDING AGENTS THAT RUN A TURNAROUND Max, Danny, and Justin catch up after skipping an episode and explain a new format where the show is edited by an AI agent that cuts gaps, adds intro / outro, bleeps curses, and generates promo clips. They discuss Claude’ s“ Fable 5” model returning temporarily on subscription before moving to token-based pricing, and how the model rebuilt a company website perfectly and enabled rapid creation of tools like a customer portal. The conversation shifts to data centers, community pushback, and the tradeoff between slowing AI infrastructure and making AI access more expensive.

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DEALER LAB PODCAST EP. 32: BIKE SHED’ S ARRICK MAURICE ON GROWING MOTORCYCLE CULTURE, BRAND MARKETING, AND WHAT DEALERS CAN LEARN Arrick Maurice, chief growth officer of Bike Shed and former marketing leader for Ducati North America, Ferrari North America, Rivian CX, and Harley-Davidson global brand marketing, joins The Dealer Lab Podcast with Max Materne and Danny French to discuss building motorcycle culture through content, community, and hospitality. The conversation covers EV motorcycles and youth e-bike trends, dealer fundamentals and customer-first retail illustrated by Arun Sharma’ s MotoCorsa, and how Bike Shed aims to lower barriers to entry via spaces, media, events, and new global membership.

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DEALERSHIP FIXIT PODCAST: 1,200 USED BIKES A YEAR, NO DEALER FEES, NO FLOOR PLAN: INSIDE LUCKY U CYCLES WITH JEREMY COON In this episode of the Dealership fiXit Podcast, Jacob Berry and Jeremy Coons get into the real tactics behind running a high-volume used bike operation and scaling it to a second location. This is an honest, no-fluff conversation packed with things dealers can actually use. Coon sells around 1,200 pre-owned motorcycles a year out of one store in Wildwood, Florida. No new franchises. No floor plan. No dealer fees. He built it from the ground up starting at 23 years old, and in 2026 he took over a second store in Fort Myers, added the Piaggio brands, and tripled its sales in the first 120 days.