Dealer Highlight: Larry Yeager On What Fuels His Passion For Motorcycles
The Yeager family loves to be on two wheels. It’s something that’s clear when you hear Yeager Cycle Sales Owner, Larry Yeager talk about his business. He and Rick Yeager have been running the family business since 1983, building close relationships with generations of customers.
What’s your personal story about how you got into the motorcycle industry?
Before there was a Yeager’s Cycle Sales, my grandpa, J.R. Yeager, would repair motorcycles after work in the dirt-floor basement garage of their house in the 200 block of West 7th Street in Sedalia, MO. It wasn’t long before he and his wife Mary Lou moved to 16th and Ohio and officially opened the doors of Yeager’s Cycle Sales, bringing on the Harley-Davidson line of motorcycles in 1956. They stayed at this location until 1973.
During that timeframe, they added Suzuki motorcycles in 1966 and Yamaha in 1986. It was a big move to have a storefront on South 65 Highway, the current location. There have been several building additions and remodels, plus the addition of Polaris ATV/UTV in 1996. My Uncle Rick purchased the business from grandpa J.R. in 1980, and I became the third-generation owner in 2007. Just like my uncle, and also my son, we started out in the business by washing motorcycles and picking up trash while learning to be a mechanic and then a salesman, working all positions in the store.
How does your dealership staff work together to tackle obstacles?
It’s always comes down to communication. I’d like to say that if there’s good communication, you won’t have obstacles to overcome! However, we all know there is no perfect world. We now use an app that we can text employees, and vice versa, to help keep everyone informed and involved in the business, which helps.
What’s your favorite part about being part of the Missouri automotive and powersport industry?
To be lucky enough to be in a business in which you love what you are selling and love what you are doing. Where else can you work and get the opportunity to ride a motorcycle and introduce others to the sport you love?
What is your dealership’s involvement with the local community?
We have two motorcycle groups (Harley Owners Group and the Sedalia Motorcycle Association) that base out of Yeager’s Cycle Sales, and both are very civic minded. These groups support local food banks, Meals on Wheels, Senior Center, Shop with a Cop, Center for Human Services and similar charities. We also host a number of benefit poker runs throughout the summer and an annual Red Cross blood drive in February.
What’s changed in the industry/marketplace during your career?
Now that’s a really hard question. Is it the computers in the workplace? Is it the sophistication and computerization of a motorcycle that you can even answer your phone will riding? Is it the all new electric motorcycle? Is it the explosion of the side-by-side UTV into the marketplace? Or is it just how we’ve grown from a small little garage-type business that just my grandma and grandpa operated to now a business where we have 26 employees. Now I feel old.
What advice do you have for someone looking to join the automotive and powersport industry?
I would really like to see more motorcycle and ATV/UTV mechanics. If a person has any interest in being a mechanic, stop by and talk with our mechanics and get a feel for what the career entails. We offer internships for mechanics through State Technical College of Missouri in Linn.
What are you most proud of about your dealership?
The customers. When a customer comes in and tells us about the 1962 Harley he bought from my grandpa, and then how many more he purchased from my uncle, and that he’s ready to buy another bike, you just realize the friendship that you have with your customers. We have some customers we are now selling to the third generation of their family. We work hard to let all of our customers know they are part of our motorcycling family.
What is your favorite car, motorcycle or powersport of all time?
That would be a toss-up between flat-track motorcycle racing and drag racing. My dad holds an NHRA drag racing record and my uncle won many AMA flat-track races, so I better not choose just one! The Yeager family loves to be on two wheels.
What is the best advice you can give to a consumer making their first powersport purchase?
Choose a motorcycle that fits your height and reach so that you are comfortable. And when you ride, ride as if you are invisible and no one can see you. People are distracted — they don’t see other vehicles and they won’t see a motorcycle. When you ride a motorcycle defensively, you become a much better automobile operator.
Which vehicle service repair do you feel is most essential to your vehicle’s longevity?
Keeping your motor oil and transmission oil changed on a regular basis is most essential to the vehicle’s longevity. However, the most important fluid to change on a regular, two-year interval is your brake fluid. You don’t want to be caught riding a motorcycle without good brakes.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career?
Honesty and empathy. I truly believe that’s why we have so many returning customers and such a big family of a motorcycling community. They trust us and know we will do our very best to solve any issue. And because we are also motorcycle riders, they know we will do our very best to make sure their needs are fulfilled.
Tell us an important story or memory during your time at the dealership.
Being raised in the motorcycle store was such an experience for a young boy. I was lucky enough to be able to go to the shop every day after school. This afforded me to spend time with family and learn how to work on bikes. It gave me the work ethic that I have today. I thank the good Lord every day for the bountiful gifts that he has given to me.
