Another article about a business that lives inside the world or motor sports.
Nate Delaney is a racing entrepreneur. He’s part of a large group of entrepreneurs that populate and support the world of motorsports.
Delaney stands by some of the trophies he’s won while racing and holds one of his sprockets.
His company is Delaney Drive Components specializes in motorcycle off road racing. And like many his involvement in the two-wheeled world goes back to when he was a young boy.
“I got my first dirt bike when I was in sixth grade, it was kind of a graduation present from mom and dad,” he said. “And once I started riding and learning how to ride I became very passionate about it and I just love it. Something I car deeply about, I have three daughters now, they all ride and it’s a great family sport.”
And one of his daughters Ave Delaney, is the 2016 4-Stroke Pee Wee champion in the MRANN series. He also rides a lot, stays active with the local clubs and MRANN, the umbrella group for motorcycle off racing in our area.
Over the past decades he’s been working in the industry but that came to an end last year when he began the business.
“The general consensus around the country and the world for that matter is that a lot of these companies have gone away from really being involved with the sport, and it’s really a shame,” he said. “If you’re a dirt bike company, in my opinion, you should be really involved in the sport. And I’ve seen a lot of great talented riders being unsupported and our land use issues are huge.”
He’s very passionate about the land use issues as Delaney feels many are essentially trying to eliminate the sport of off road riding.
In fact the mission statement he created for the company is about creating high quality products for off road motorcycle riding, supporting local shops, riders of any age, skill level and discipline and , “…to encourage and promote a healthy future for off road riding and racing.”
Backing his commitment he donates $5 from every sale to a land use charity. And he’ll switch charities every quarter so he can help more of them.
Delaney Drive Components (DDC) was launched in June 2016 and is now heading toward its first anniversary. His choice of products came from his knowledge of them.
“I definitely know about sprockets for sure, I thought there is a need out there to support these riders that have been left unsupported. So I took my knowledge, started to design my own sprockets and I came up with a design that certainly is the strongest on the market today,” he said.
His, like many sprockets begin as a part of a sheet of steel and are cut to a design. Delaney uses vendors for that part of the process and they give him a rough laser cut product.
Delaney is hands on when it comes to finishing his sprockets. Here’s he drilling bolt holds in one of them.
Photo courtesy – Nate Delaney
“Once its cut the sprocket is ground to be flat, smooth and finished to a particular thickness I’m looking for,” he said. “After that the bolt holes are drilled, I do that step myself, I do a little bevel on the sprocket teeth, then it gets into a big tumbling machine so that knocks all the burrs and sharp edges off and the final step is chrome plating it.”
Only a few chrome-plating shops are left due to regulations so this is another area he uses vendors for. There are a couple of shops in Reno that do this so Delaney uses them.
Delaney grinding rough spots in a sprocket.
Photo courtesy – Nate Delaney.
Once the sprocket is finished it’s packaged and ready to on a bike.
He also has a partnership with RK and sells their chains.
“So I’m selling RK chain exclusively which is an excellent product,” he said. “I’m stocking the EXW chain which is their very high end chain recommended for off road use. It’s what they call an XW ring, it has three different sealing points on the plates of the chain by the ‘ O ring,’ therefore that keeps the grease locked in there.”
Delaney added that’s he’s impressed with the chains and offering three different grades of it, the EXW, MXU, which is a narrow ‘O ring’ chain more geared to motocross riders and a standard, MXZ4.
He explained that if a person is on a motocross track they typically won’t see axle deep mud ruts or sand which can kill sprockets, chains and about everything else. So in motocross most run aluminum sprockets because they’re so light while in off road use he feels steel is the metal of choice.
Asked about how the reception has been to his product line he said, “Very, very well. I have a lot of people I’ve known through the years, who contacted me and many of them actually reached out and asked me to make my own product.”
So he had the demand going into the business and in a classic economic way, the need found him and he filled it.
“I’m very pleased, we’re growing every month, the word’s getting out there more and more, we have some really big race teams, including Purvines Racing out of Las Vegas,” he said.
Among the riders on that off-road team are Destry Abbot and his son Cooper. Delaney said the team is full of heavy hitters in the world of off-road racing.
“I also have some other really fast guys and some on the east coast and have a couple of what I describe as world travelers. There’s kind of this elite group of riders who literally ride around the world on their dirt bikes. They put in more mileage and more time on a dirt bike than anyone and there are a few of those guys riding my product and very, very happy,” he said.
He’s also gotten response from shops in Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Like most businesses these days Delaney has a website where he does something special for veterans.
Nate Delaney with some of the sprockets he manufacturers and sells for off road motorcycles.
If a rider is a veteran sends a photo of themselves in the service, plus a current one and a couple of lines about themselves it will be run on the site. This is a way of honoring veterans.
Dealers are close to his heart, asked about this he said, “I support dealers the greatest extent that I can. Dealers are definitely the lifeblood of the sport. If you didn’t have a local bike shop and you wanted to go riding today and you suddenly realized that your shifter was broken if that shop’s not there, you’re not riding today. So it’s very important to keep the shops open and to offer them a margin to where they can make money.”
Like anyone creating a business there are people to thank and Delaney expressed appreciation to his wife Amy, both of their families plus his many friends. He also gave special thanks to Carson Motor Sports, Reno Motor Sports and Big Valley Honda for their support.
Looking ahead he said, “What I’m doing is my passion for the sport. Everything I can do in anyway to help the sport whether it riders or keeping our rights for land open to ride on that’s what I doing.
For further information on the products Delaney Drive Components (DDC) offers please check their website at, www.ddcracing.net.
Delaney has found the need, filled it and is now growing his business both nationally and internationally.
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The newest is familiar to anyone in the riding lifestyle. It’s PJ & Co Restaurant and Saloon located at 1590 Wells Avenue in Reno.
Good food, great place and they have Bike Night every Wednesday. For further information please check their website at, www.pjandco.net.
Concours Body Shop, owned by racer and race supporter Gil Grieve, is a business doing quality repair work on cars and trucks.
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Into riding or racing a motorcycle? If so Reno Motorsports is for you as they have a full service shop as well as about anything a rider could want.
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