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Meet Dennis Afanasyev of Beach Moto in West Los Angeles

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Dennis Afanasyev.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
One would think in a motorcycle Mecca such as Southern California we would have multiple motorcycle stores that carry quality gear. Unfortunately, it’s not the case. The vast majority of motorcycle shops have no idea what quality gear is, how it’s supposed to fit, and what the difference is between real quality and mass-produced junk.

As a daily commuter, I always struggled to find motorcycle gear that worked for me. People who don’t ride have no idea what it’s like to be on the bike rain or shine. Your gear has to be well fitting, with multiple functionalities, it has to be able to withstand daily abuse and protect you in case of an accident. No matter what I tried, I always came up short. After a while my closet was full useless gear, and not much else was available.

So, when one day my friend asked me if I knew someone who wants to sublease his hole in the wall warehouse, I naturally thought that it would be cool if I had high end motorcycle gear shop there. After some consideration, I quit my daily job and Beach Moto was born. Right away fellow riders responded in a very positive way and pretty much from day one we had steady flow of customers who already learned the hard way that cheap gear doesn’t work.

Few years have gone by and I was able to move to nicer retail location. I recruited my sister Kate who has a burning passion for anything on two wheels. Our collection slowly grew as we carefully selected whatever quality gear we thought was worthy. Motorcycle gear is what we do all day long, so with years of experience we can really provide our customer with expert advice on what gear would work best for them. We don’t settle for second best, there are plenty of shops that do that and it’s fine. Our customers are smart, educated professionals who know exactly what they are looking for.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Every day we are fighting two major battles here.

One is explaining new customers why they should spend a little more and invest into quality gear that may potentially save their life in the future. With variety of motorcycle stores offering questionable “quality” gear, it’s gets really confusing. Throw in some online education, and customers feel like they know it all. The truth is it takes years of experience to know exactly what works, and we have this knowledge. Trust me, that $100 helmet is NOT the same as $500 helmet despite what the seller may claim.

Another battle is getting riders into proper fitting helmets. Beginner riders are actually easy because they put their trust into our hands and we usually outfit them with proper sizes right away.

Experienced riders are completely different. When you tell a guy who has been riding for 25 years that he needs to go one, two or sometimes three sizes down, we get a lot of resistance. It’s not uncommon to see riders come with XL helmets and walk out with size S. Few stubborn ones refuse to believe that they have been wearing wrong size all these years. So, they continue to use their oversized and unsafe helmets because nobody ever bothered to get them fitted into proper size. It’s extremely frustrating for us because we know how dangerous it could be.

Please tell us about Beach Moto.
What we do is offer the highest quality motorcycle gear we can find. We are not partial to any brand. If it’s the best you will find it here. We refuse to bring something in just because it will sell, only products that we trust are found here. Sometimes it’s hard to stick to this philosophy because it means lost sales, but we refuse to sell something just for the sake of profit. Walmart and Cycle Gear will have their customers, we will have ours.

Most of the customers who come through our doors become regulars and we treat them like family. We hold ourselves to the highest standards or customer service. Our Yelp and Google business reviews speak for themselves. 5 stars is the only way we do. Anything less is unacceptable,

I am immensely proud that absolutely everything you see in the store was built by my hands. I inherited this building in extremely sad shape, it hasn’t been touched in 30 years. I planned everything from scratch, gutted and rebuilt, custom made every shelf and rack. It was a lot of work but well worth it.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I grew up a walking distance from the race track. So, every weekend my grandfather or father would take me for a walk and we would watch motorcycles and cars race through the forest. I still remember the smell of two stroke GP bikes going by.

Pricing:

  • Helmets $180-$1500
  • Jackets $180 – $1200
  • Pants $200 – $700
  • Gloves $60-$400
  • Motorcycle Boots $200 – $500

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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