THE FAMILY BUSINESS
Having Fun With Fredericktown Yamaha Triumph
I
an Riley, General Manager of Fredericktown Yamaha Triumph was born into the family business. His earliest memories are going to the races with his Dad and “working” as the official shop greeter as a toddler. While his career path seemed pretty clear, becoming a movie star was something of a surprise! Little Giant: The PW50 Story has become a viral sensation on YouTube, resonating with millions of people whose lives were touched by the ubiquitous minibike.
With the supply chain issues and increased demand from the next generation of riders. PW50s have become the proverbial unicorn. “PW50s are probably worth more now than they were back in the day, according to the accidental star. “The challenge in that whole movie was finding parts to restore it. You would think getting parts would be easy for something so common, but in this current situation, trying to find a piston or replace some basic parts is the hardest part.”
“My parents opened up in 1975 in the small town of Frederick, Maryland. We’re about 45 minutes north of DC and about 40 minutes west of Baltimore,” says the second generation dealer. “It started as just Yamaha… a family business. And 47 years later, we’re still cranking along.” When Richard Riley mustered out of the Navy he followed his passion for motorcycles (see The Life Of Riley sidebar) and originally Ian’s brother worked in the store for a number of years before a career in music took him to Ireland.
Riley had to get resourceful. “Yeah, I have become pretty good at working eBay and the Internet and calling dealers to source product,” he admits. “We have to do that daily anyways for our service department. So the PW50 was just another process we are dealing with on a regular basis because of the whole COVID supply chain issue.”
“I came on onboard in September 2008 to help out the family business,” notes Ian. “We were just enjoying the life of the family motorcycle shop.” Well, he was enjoying the quiet life in the family business before the PW50 movie came out and he became a YouTube star. “I didn’t see that coming! It started out as a fun little project with a friend Brett Smith from We Went Fast. To see the production of the movie was just icing on the cake… being able to save a PW50 from the back of somebody’s barn was fun.”
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Richard RIley and Ian Riley