A little company in St. Croix Falls, WI, is making big waves in the snowmobile performance industry.
Bikeman Performance Plus, Inc. is building sleds that win races and set track records. Its motors and go-fast goodies are showing up in winner’s circles everywhere from drag races and watercross, to hillclimbs and the X Games.
This success story might sound familiar: a little money, some big ideas and a garage. Visionary James "Jimmy" Krantz hasn’t yet brought Bikeman Performance (BMP) up to the level of success of famous garage companies like Apple, Harley-Davidson, Hewlett-Packard, Google and Lotus Cars, but his company is certainly enjoying success as one of the fastest-growing companies in the snowmobile performance industry.
His philosophy is simple, “This is not just our job, it is our passion. We love to win. We are dedicated to ourselves and to our love of speed and horsepower and we pass this on to our customers.”
Founded in 2004, Bikeman Performance now builds some of the fastest snowmobiles and is quickly becoming recognized as a leader in UTV/ATV performance as well. Its relentless R&D team is consistently producing industry-leading tuning programs and state-of-the-art performance parts and kits proven to provide reliable horsepower gains as well as add longevity to existing platforms.
The R&D team doesn’t just talk about horsepower, they guarantee it. “Some guys talk about how much horsepower their pipes or kits will provide, but they don’t even have a dyno,” said Jimmy Krantz, owner. “Our R&D team is tweaking motors on our SuperFlow 902 dyno every day. We are honest about our horsepower gains and I think our customers appreciate our realism.”
BMP has enjoyed years of steady growth. Mistakes have been made and learned from. Ownership has changed and the company has felt growing pains, outgrowing its 10,000 sq. ft. facility and moving into its 18,000 sq. ft. facility in St. Croix Falls in 2010. According to Krantz, the company may soon outgrow this location as well.
“I’m continually investing in our future,” said Krantz. “If my engineers want machines and instruments, I buy them. This November I invested more than $300,000 in new technology. We had to do some re-arranging to fit the new machines, but our facility is now unparalleled. We’re streamlining so our engineers have all the tools they need to spend their days in pursuit of perfection. And making lots of horsepower in the process.”
Bikeman recently celebrated the sale of the 2,000th unit of its most popular item, the Durability Kit for Polaris 800 CFI/HO 2008-up. The kit is like an insurance policy for the ill-fated motor, which typically loses 20-30 lbs. of compression after just 1,500 miles. It is likely to develop severe problems sooner than many riders would expect due the relatively short life of stock pistons and rings. The BMP Kit utilizes Teflon-coated, forged pistons (customized to BMP specs by Wossner) that are .250 in. taller than stock to dramatically reduce piston slap and lessen fatigue on piston skirts. They feature a .020-in. offset wrist-pin to reduce skirt loading, a wider ringland to reduce ring temperature and four gas ports to allow lubrication of high-load areas and effectively lengthen piston skirt life.
The Durability Kit includes a cylinder spacer that raises the cylinder the same amount as the piston is taller so port timing isn't changed. The added crankcase volume even produces six more hp so the engine life is extended dramatically while gaining power at the same time. The kit comes with two new pistons, rings, wristpins, circlips, longer cylinder bolts, cylinder spacer, longer dowel pins and two base gaskets.
Consumers are very happy with the made in the U.S. quality. Whether it’s a big-bore kit, billet head kit, clutching, drivetrain, electronics, exhaust, intake/venting, nitrous, suspension or turbo kits, BMP extensively tests all products to ensure the most performance and reliability possible.
If you are looking to upgrade your snowmobile, ATV or UTV’s performance, BMP is a wise choice for all of your performance needs. Look them up at www.bikemanperformance.com. Or give them a call at (715) 483-3003 and ask for Mike, Mark, Neal or Jimmy. These guys love to talk horsepower.