www. PowersportsBusiness. com Powersports Business • May 2026 • 21

CONFERENCE

BY CHRIS OFFICER ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Diamondback Harley-Davidson isn’ t one of the largest Harley dealerships in the country, but what it is missing in square footage, it makes up for in operational excellence and a premium customer experience.

And its efforts aren’ t going unrecognized, as the Lawton, Oklahoma-based dealership recently received Harley-Davidson’ s 2025 Platinum Bar & Shield Award for exceptional service, a recognition given to the top five Harley dealerships in the nation.

Harley-Davidson’ s Bar & Shield program is the company’ s comprehensive dealer performance and rewards initiative, measuring results across overall sales, financing performance, and customer satisfaction. Performance baselines are established using historical benchmarks at both national and territory levels.

PEOPLE AND PROCESSES The recognition was the dealership’ s second Bar & Shield Award in as many years. But after earning Silver status in 2024, Diamondback General Manager Bobby Callahan credits his staff and the procedures put in place by his managing team for continuing to raise the bar and bring home back-to-back awards.

Diamondback Harley-Davidson, located in Lawton, Oklahoma, recently received Harley’ s 2025 Platinum Bar & Shield Award, as one of the top Harley dealerships in the nation.( Photos: Diamondback Harley-Davidson)

“ It’ s just people and processes. We have a solid management staff, and our team all drank the Kool-Aid. They get on board with every kind of process that we put in place,” Callahan says.“ And it takes good people to do what we did. We’ re running on all cylinders.”

However, Diamondback— like so many dealerships across the country— endured post-pandemic adversity. The store opened in 2019, and after the Covid sales surge, the store went through some growing pains. But even during that period of difficulty, Callahan says the market wasn’ t dead— it still had a pulse— and it was just a matter of putting the right managers in place, knowing what processes to work through, and getting team members to buy into the vision.

“ Every week we’ d have manager meetings,” he recalls.“ We went over our opportunities and, eventually, our sales jumped, and service followed.”

The two Bar & Shield Awards are a testament to how effective Diamondbacks processes have been. After righting the ship, Diamondback has put itself in an even better position in 2026 to thrive, now that the industry has stabilized somewhat.

“ I think the market, based on what I’ m seeing, is definitely stronger this year than it was last year, especially for U. S. sales,” Callahan says.

STAYING AHEAD OF INVENTORY That’ s a good sign considering Diamondback had a successful 2025. Callahan says the dealership, as of early April, is only sitting on three 2025 models— every other new unit is a’ 26. He estimates that the dealership sold between 215 and 229 new units last year, and feels the store is in great shape for 2026.

“ Some dealers are not that fortunate, but we did a good job at the end of the year to push out the’ 25s, and here we are with only three carryovers left,” he says.“ That helps with everything— especially because you’ re not discounting as much.”

Among the more popular models sold at Diamondback has been Harley’ s Trike range. Callahan says this year it positioned itself to have enough inventory to meet demand, and says the models have“ really excelled” lately.

For 2026, Callahan predicts a 10 % increase in major unit sales, putting the dealership at around 450 annual bike sales.

NEW OUTPACING PRE-OWNED Diamondback typically carries roughly 100 units on its showroom floor, about a fifty-fifty split between new and used. But Callahan says new unit sales are slightly outpacing his used machines. Pre-owned vehicles are a great way to get customers through the door, he says, but once they’ re in, it’ s the perfect opportunity to push the new units.

“ There are a lot of dealers that push the pre-owned, but we focus more on our new bikes,” he says.“ If somebody comes in on a straight line for a pre-owned, our dealers do a good job giving them that option on a new bike. That really lets us have a better newto-used ratio, and it’ s really working for us.”

See Diamondback, Page 22

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