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LIFE CYCLE is a RACE TECH SERVICE CENTER with employees Shawn Kolhoff and Josh Minnard as our suspension specialists.
Race Tech's motorcycle suspension knowledge, experience, research and development technologies are a product of mechanical engineering and applied sciences. With its focus on motorcycle suspension applications, Race Tech has become the industry leader in suspension advancements and tuning.
LIFE CYCLE is the only RACE TECH SERVICE CENTER in Michigan! Please call shop for more details!
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DETAILING SERVICE:
We are now offering a motorcycle detailing service. The off season is a perfect time to have your bike cleaned up, have any leftover maintenance or repairs done, or have accessories installed. Call Matt in service for details. |
SERVICE HOURS:
MONDAY<> 9:30-5:30
TUESDAY<> 9:30-5:30
WEDNESDAY<> 9:30-6:30
THURSDAY<> 9:30-5:30
FRIDAY<> 9:30-5:30
SATURDAY<> 9:30-3:30
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HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT PLEASE BRING US YOUR CLEAN USED OIL (We save energy by heating the service department with it.)
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Matt Dost, Service Manager
Matt started working in the service department last spring as service writer and Assistant Service Manager. Following some changes, he has now moved into the Service Manager position, a job he is undertaking with diligence.
Originally from Texas, his father, a petroleum engineer, had to constantly move his family around. Settling in Colon, MI, Matt graduated from high school in 1971. Afterwards, in 1976, he graduated with a BS in Medical Technology from Michigan Tech in Houghton.
Finished with school, he joined the army and was stationed in Kansas, where he became a Medical Service Officer. He was also the Maintenance Officer for the fleet of military vehicles, which included cargo trucks, field ambulances, and jeeps.
In 1986, he moved back to the Kalamazoo area, and has been here ever since.
Matt always loved motorcycles, learning to ride on friends’ bikes. It took him a while to buy one, however, with not only his parents against it, but wife number one and wife number two as well! He finally bought his first bike, a ’95 Honda Magna, between his second and third wife. And, yes, he also finally hitched up with a bike lover.
Carol, the current, more adventurous wife, bought the Magna, and Matt bought a ’97 BMW R1100RT. They rode together for a little while, then sold the Magna so Carol could upgrade to an ’01 BMW F650GS. This bike fit her well, and she really enjoyed riding it, until some health problems had to slow her down. She has since gotten better, and is considering taking the back seat of the ’00 BMW K1200LT “cruise ship” he bought to replace the GS and the RT, the latter of which he sold at KFC.
When in the army reserve, Matt rode his Beemers extensively, taking trips up to the UP, New Jersey, New York State, Canada, Blue Ridge Parkway (VA to NC), the famous Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap in NC, Cherohola Skyway in the Smokey Mountains, Ft. Knox, KY, and multiple excursions to Kansas.
A member of the Iron Butt Association, he did two Saddle Sore 1000 rides. (That’s 1000 miles in 24 hours.) The first time, in ’02, he did the ride in conjunction with the Great Lakes Gold Ride, which goes all around the five Great Lakes in 50 hours. The second time, in ’04, he just did the 1000 miles.
Matt operated heavy equipment for five years, and put in a total of ten years in the excavation business, working for Crest Excavation and Development, and Powell Custom Homes. He was also the Service Manager at Terminex Pest Control for six years, and sold new cars at Denooyer Chevrolet for three years.
He retired from the Army Reserve in ’06 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He has a 17 year old son named Mike.
His hobbies include flying (he is a pilot), golf, and shooting guns.
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Scott Dean, Service Mechanic
It’s been seven years since Scott Dean joined the service department, converting his 12 year auto wrenching career into motorcycles, which have always been his hobby.
He purchased his first bike, a ’73 Honda CL125, with the $60.00 he made from collecting cans and bottles. After transforming it into a dirt bike, he staked his claim to fame by launching it off a dirt hill and jumping an entire parking lot, jamming the forks painfully on the landing. He proudly states that the county installed a guard rail there, just because of him.
At the age of 17, he acquired his first street bike; a Honda Ascot 500. He’s been riding a procession of bikes he has fixed ever since. His current mount is a Triumph Trophy. Carrie, his partner, enjoys riding on the back, when they’re not busy raising their son, 19 month old Jacob, and his older siblings..
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Shawn Kolhoff, Service Mechanic
Shawn was recruited from our customer base in January of ’06, and recalibrated into a motorcycle tech through training at both the Triumph and Ducati service schools. He and his brother, Josh, attended a Race Tech Seminar in California last November, completed the suspension classes, and became certified. They now head up our Race Tech Service Center as our suspension specialists.
His wife, Shawn, of same name and spelling, has joined him on many of our shop rides; she on a Ninja 500, and he on a Triumph TT600. The TT600 is now his track bike, which he plans on racing the WERA circuit with this year. His street bike is a Ducati Triple 9, purchased by the Shawns as their wedding anniversary gift.
Anthony, their one year old son, demonstrates his motor genes by scooting around the house on a toy Ducati. (sporting Pirelli tires, of course.)
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Larry Henderson, Service Mechanic
My first bike was a ‘69 Triumph Bonneville 650, purchased in Decatur for $350.00 as a basket case in February of 1982. I rolled it out of the garage in July of the same year, and rode it constantly, all over Michigan and Indiana for the next three years.
My next bike, a 1978 Moto Guzzi 850 Lemans, started my love affair with Italian bikes. It was highly modified and years ahead of its time in style and performance. Another notable bike of mine was a 1974 Kawasaki Z1 900.
I worked in a Honda shop in the mid 80’s, and was a mechanic in a dirt bike shop in Las Vegas in the late 80’s. I also have experience working as an auto mechanic.
I built a 1967 Triumph 650 chopper that won “Old School Chop” honors at Kalamazoo Chopper 3rd Annual Bike Show. It was a Hardtail with a rattle can paint job - black with blue pinstripe flames - with hundreds of handmade parts on it. This project bike represented twenty years of machine incarnate, and reincarnate, as it morphed its way through my mechanical and creative inclinations.
Since starting work at Life Cycle in spring of ‘07, I have taken factory training courses for Triumph and Ducati.
My current bike is a 2005 Ducati Monster 620.
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Trevor Bouma
My riding hobby started when I was three with the birthday present of a 4x4 Jeep Powerwheels. This was my pavement cruiser for a few years, until I realized how poorly it did off road. I soon traded this battery eating machine in for Dad’s lawn mower. As many young children do, I burned figure eights into various parts of our lawn. Finally, I got booted off of lawn patrol and left with nothing.
Soon my friends’ farms and back lawns were being terrorized by me on mini bikes and go carts. Like most old toys, they break with excessive abuse from young terrorists like me.
At the age of 12, I acquired an ‘02 Polaris Magnum 325 4x4, which I rode all over Michigan for years, including northern Michigan, the UP, and a road that was a stone’s throw from Canada. Then, I purchased my current ATV; a 2000 Honda 400EX with a list of modifications 10 feet tall.
Later this year, I will be getting my cycle endorsement for a future purchase of a road bike. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming season. |
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|  story by... Brian Misner
RECYCLE Please help us lower our energy needs. Bring us your clean(no antifreeze or fuel)drain oil.Our service area is heated by a highly efficient waste oil furnace.
We buy used motorcycles, atv's and scooters!
SERVICE CENTER Most makes and models.Call our service manager Matt for appointment
LIFE CYCLE OF KALAMAZOO
TOLL FREE 1-866-744-3773
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