Samson motorcycle exhaust.- from one man band to worldwide brand....

Ten years ago, a biker/machinist began the Samson motorcycle exhaust company; a company that is now one of the largest in the industry.

Samson motorcycle exhaust is one of the great success stories of the motorcycle parts industry in recent times. From a one year lease on a 2,000 square foot building to a fully owned 80,000 square foot production facility plus a 40,000 square foot chrome plating site; that spell success in anybody’s language. Of course it would be just as easy to measure the Samson motorcycle exhaust success in revenue – with well over $6 million dollars worth of annual sales, they are a major player in the motorcycle exhaust business.

...passionate about exhausts...

But their success owes much more to the passion of the owner and employees for what they do and the fanatical following they have built up in the bike community, than it does to any fancy business model.

...in the beginning...

It was back in the early 1990’s that Samson motorcycle exhaust began, with some second hand equipment including a bending machine, a roll-out machine, a swedging unit, a finger swedging machine and a welder. In seven months they had outgrown their first premises. So they moved into a 5,000-square-foot building. They were out of space again in less than a year. They leased another 2,000 square feet, then another 2,000, then moved into a 15,000-square-foot building with a five-year lease. Again, the owner thought he'd never use all the space. He put an additional 600-amp electrical service in and built walls, but quickly outgrew the building. He leased buildings on either side of him until he had 23,000 square feet. That lasted until 1999 when Samson motorcycle exhaust moved into their current facility in Anaheim, California.

Samson exhaust and Dynaglide...

The first motorcycle model the Samson exhaust range targeted was the Dynaglide. They built staggered duals and drag pipes, which were turned out, tapered and slash cut.
Samson motorcycle exhaust “put the word around” by doing some mailshots to dealers, which eventually paid off.In September 1991, he started bending tubing and in March he made his first sale to Freedom H-D in Denver.

...standing out from the crowd...

Samson was still buying small production runs of steel and looking for suppliers who would work with them. At that time, they were buying in baffles and muffler donuts. But it soon became clear that they needed to do something different, to stand out from the crowd. One of the ways they achieved this was by manufacturing thicker sturdier clamps to make fitting the exhausts easier.

...knocking on doors...

Samson’s initial approach to marketing their exhausts was simple: go to the dealer shows each year with new products and sell them at the right price. In this way Samson have built a strong, loyal customer base.
In '92, the Sturgis Community Center opened its doors to vendors for the first time. Samson struck a deal with drag specialities as a distributor which allowed them to make some real volume sales. The distributor approach has paid off for Samson, with over 88% of their sales going through distributors.

...building the brand...

Samson’s game plan was always to establish a brand name, and the name was reinforced with constant mailings and advertising. Another major part of the plan was always having something new and fresh; he achieved this in the early to middle ‘90’s by launching a signature series of fishtail pipes for Softails.

...bring on the Big Guns...

Big Guns launched Samson exhausts into a new era of pipe building.They built pipes that would fit any Softail model with floorboards. Exhausts were produced for FXRs, Softails, Dynas and Sportsters.

...stickin' to the basics...

From a business standpoint Samson motorcycle exhaust have a few basic philosophies.
• They don’t hire upper-management, they groom them from within.
• Each pipe has a warranty. If there ever is a problem, they take care of it. Since the brackets were thicker from the beginning, they have very few problems with any exhaust.

...keepin' the blues away...

You may wonder what's coming. Samson motorcycle exhaust are constantly on the lookout for new innovations in the muffler and exhaust world. They make a point to listen to the customer and responds with new parts. A recent innovation is wider tabs on heat shields -- some 50 percent thicker than stock. 220-degree wrap-around heat shields for 2 1/4 inch pipes. Because of pipe bluing, heat shields are being designed for better coverage. Samson have also been working on sleeved or double-walled mufflers to prevent bluing.

...bafflin' innovation...

High-velocity baffles to suck the exhaust out of the pipes, donut replacement with a cone configuration to enhance the size of the expansion chamber in a muffler and to improve exhaust flow. The faster the exhaust moves through a muffler, the less heat there is to blue the pipes and performance is enhanced. Samson have acquired their own Dyno testing machine and Dyno tune their own exhaust systems.

With a customer first attitude like that its hardly surprising that Samson motorcycle exhausts go from strength to strength.

return from Samson motorcycle exhaust to exhaust pipes

return to motorcycle parts accessories and more