The Old Bike Barn Story

Hi, this is Barrie Haughton (aka Bear), president & founder of www.oldbikebarn.com  I have been told by many that it's high time I tell the story of how this crazy motorcycle parts machine got started and how motorcycles saved my life.
  Growing up as a kid I was into all things “Hot Rod”. I avidly read Hot Rod Magazine, Rod & Custom, and Car Craft from the young age of 10. By the time I was 15, the muscle car pricing crisis (well it was for me) was way out of hand with even rust buckets and less than pristine examples of desirable models fetching 10k or more and often well into the 6 figures. My dreams of owning a 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6, Classic Mustang or Super Bee had been crushed. Then in a stroke of genius, my dad (The Old Honda Man) suggested vintage bikes. These machines were cheap, plentiful and with a great power-to-weight ratio. I could easily pull up at a light on my CB750 and blow the doors off the latest machines and Muscle cars alike. Needless to say, I was hooked!
  I spent my teens building and restoring all kinds of bikes. At 18 I joined the Military and traveled to 28 countries in my 10 year career, eventually working under American, British, NATO and UN command. Every time I would do a tour of duty, I‘d come home and buy a few more bikes to tinker with. To-date I have owned some 38 bikes; my stable currently houses 13.
 
In late 1999 disaster struck while on a tour of duty in the Balkan’s I sustained 2 fractures in my spine. The doctors in the field medic tent made it clear I might not walk again, I made it clear I would because... I had to ride my bikes!

I came home to some rough times. The Army didn’t renew my contract, and once leave was up they miraculously had lost any record of me being injured over sea's. The young Military doctor had the gall to ask me if it happened on leave. I couldn’t believe it! I got Veterans Affairs and a lawyer involved and…  surprise, surprise, after many months without pay, my files turned up.

They made good on it and paid for my re-education and design school. Those were some rough years; I was still in a lot of pain and limped badly for a few years. My back was too fragile to ride bikes, but I stayed convinced that I could ride again someday. Around this time I built a hobby web site called www.oldbikebarn.com. The site had a reader’s ride section, and I was selling off my personal collection of vintage parts to supplement my Veterans pension. Then it happened…  I started to receive hundreds of emails asking me for parts. Remember, this is back in 2000, 2001 – the Internet was not what it is today. With little competition, I seized the opportunity, and started to source reproduction and new parts for my site. I was running this from my apartment, waste deep in parts. I moved into my first commercial location in 2002, where the SH*T promptly hit the fan. The web site was getting too much traffic, and I was working 80-plus hours a week – in poor health.

That’s when the one-man-show became a company made up of motorcycle lovers/enthusiasts; my younger brother Billy came aboard at that time and has since grown through every level of the company to Director of Operations and is my right hand man.

Today the company has grown to a vast product line covering hundreds of models; 1969 to present day.
We are a site by bikers for bikers: filling our fellow motorcyclist's needs with fast, friendly service, and an all too uncommon personal touch.
I remember every time someone says motorcycles are dangerous that they saved my life. If I had listened to those doctors, I might never have ridden again!
Thanks to all of our loyal customers for their support that took www.oldbikebarn.com from my apartment to where it is today!    

Bear (President & Founder)