Not many people would turn a dirt bike crash into a business venture, but that’s exactly what Brian Bennett did. Like any seasoned racer, Brian has had a few wrecks. One particular wreck left him beneath his dirt bike, and while many thoughts might have come to mind, one of his first was looking at the exposed radiator and thinking about how vulnerable it was to damage. He dusted himself off, finished the race and started looking for a radiator guard to buy. The market was slim, and he was unimpressed with what was available. So, he got to work forming Unabiker Dirt Bike Armor.
Brian has a BFA in Industrial Design from Purdue University. A life-long maker and fabricator, Brian has extensive experience making everything from parade floats to Indycar parts. Brian has been racing motorcycles since the late 90’s and brings a wealth of firsthand experience from the rider/racer perspective and as a business owner living the Unabiker lifestyle. Brian has a very “keep it local” philosophy and takes great pride in designing and manufacturing all Unabiker products in-house from his northern Indiana world headquarters.
Unabiker Dirt Bike Armor prepares a dirt bike for the full send with protective accessories for off-road motorcycles used in extreme environments. Unabiker Radiator Guards are custom designed for off-road motorcycles to protect the vulnerable aluminum radiators. The guards protect motorcycles by wrapping the radiator in an aluminum structure that fits under the motorcycle’s stock bodywork with no modifications to the bike required. The guards are available in black anodized finish and bare aluminum. Unabiker manufactures over 100 unique models to fit most motorcycles made since 2000. Unabiker Radiator Guards are typically the first guards widely available when new motorcycles come out. By utilizing 3D scanning, rapid prototyping, and design finalization on production equipment, Unabiker can make new model radiator guards available for purchase a day after scanning the bike.
In 2001 Unabiker went from a single car private garage space to an 800 square foot space on the Indy 500’s Gasoline Alley. In 2002, the company moved to Interstate 65 and Keystone in Indianapolis to a 2800 square foot shop. In this location, capital assets increased with purchases of a drill press, press break, band saw, industrial routers, and screw machines. In 2009 the company moved to Walton, Indiana, into a 3200 square foot facility. With more space, capital assets again increased with purchases of two CNC lathes, a CNC press brake, a laser, a laser scanner, a tig welder and a burring machine.
Through assistance from the Indiana SBDC, Brian developed a business plan, worked with the Indiana University Kokomo’s Key Center for Innovation, completed Indiana University Bloomington’s HOPE program, received financial advising and completed gener8tor’s eight-week intensive marketing program. Brian is now in the process of enhancing his website and social media platforms to increase web traffic.
Unabiker has sold over $3.5M to customers on six continents. Never one to be satisfied with the status quo, Brian is now working on his seventh continent – Antarctica. Many of the world’s top pro racers trust Unabiker to protect their motorcycles in the most grueling races on the planet, including Baja, Erzberg Gonzocross and more. Unabiker is everywhere someone is pushing the limits on a dirt bike.