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Michigan Innovation Leads to Motorcycle Comfort

by Ashley Woods

Eight years ago, Macomb resident Jim Mick thought his motorcycle days were gone for good. He'd first learned how to ride at 14, delivering newspapers to the Detroit News. Since then, Mick put hundreds of thousands of miles on his touring motorcycles. With his wife, Jeri, he cycled to the "high points", or highest land elevation points, of every state in the Union--an ambitious project he narrated in his book, High on a Wing: A Motorcyclist's Travel Log to, and Trvia about, Highpoints.  Then a right hip replacement in 2000 left him unable to stretch his body over the large-bodied bike.

It's a rough situation, when age and injury threaten to come between a man and his bike. Mick, a Vietnam vet who retired from the Marines as a CW04 Warrant Officer, spent a lot of time that summer in the garage. "I designed pegs made of metal, so I could set my legs on them," he said. He sent the design off to his brother, Ted, owner of an in-state machine plant that produced aircraft aluminum.  What came back was a pair of slender steel pegs that Mick attached to his bike, which allowed him to ride for longer periods of time without pain--and a small Michigan business was born.
 
He made a pair for Mike, a fellow friend and rider, who raved about his "Mick-O-Pegs" throughout the entire journey. "He said, 'See if you can make them spring-loaded and chrome for my bike," Mick remembered. As Mick toured motorcycle rallies that summer, he said he kept hearing one question:"What do you got on your bike here?" 
 
What began as a means of relief soon became a cottage industry for Mick, who now sells at least one pair of $250+ Mick-O-Pegs a day. That original design? Buy it in 25 different designs to match your bike and degree of flexibility. The garage workshop where Mick first designed the pegs? Too small, what with all the assembly and packaging. He bought a burned-out trailer, restored it, and christened his business "Riding is Wonderful, Inc."
 
Thanks to Mick, motorcyclists around the country are able to continue riding without pain or risking further injury, and he's also making sure that his success spreads to other Michigan companies. All of the production and assembly of the Mick-O-Pegs (and every last bit of steel) is made and manufactured in Michigan.
 
"My brother, Ted Mick, makes the pieces with his CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines," said Mick. "He brings them to Troy Labs in Rochester, who do all of our black hard coat anodizing."  Anodizing is a process of impregnating color into aluminum. "It's more durable than paint," Mick explained. The spring, which provides more comfort for riders, is a product of MNS Spring in Warren. Finally, the Mick-O-Pegs are sent to Norbrook Plating on 9 Mile in Warren for a chrome covering. 
 
"The EPA has strict standards on chrome plating," he commented. "It's very hard for a small business to compete. The spill-cost and the cleaners are so expensive, they just put them out of business." Pausing, he added, "They don't have those environmental guidelines in China or Indonesia." An acquaintance introduced him to a Chinese company and ran a quote for his chrome plating that was "so significant, I could cut my costs by 40%.",but Mick said he has no plans to direct his business overseas. Part of the problem, he explained, is his relatively small size as a business. "These big factories overseas want me to put in a year's worth of orders--hundreds of Mick-O-Pegs," he said. "What if they've made a spring wrong? How am I going to ship it all back?  Plus", he added, "Staying here in Michigan--it's helping our economy, even that little bit."
 
Jim Mick's modesty is also evident when he talks about the future of his business. One could imagine a big-name touring motorcycle company paying plenty of money for the idea, then adding it as an option for all of their bikes. He's also licensed his first Mick-O-Pegs dealer in Southeast Georgia--"a customer and a believer"--but Mick insists he has no plans to expand. "I can do most of this myself now," he said, "and I'm not sure I want to get much busier."
 
He's already cut his meager advertising budget so that he wouldn't have to raise the cost of Mick-O-Pegs for his customers. That doesn't leave much profit for Jim Mick, either. "Basically, Mick-O-Pegs pays for me to live the life that I want to live," he explained. He put over a thousand miles on a new BMW touring motorcycle he purchased in North Carolina in early May. The bike was a business expense--Mick will design a pair of Mick-O-Pegs for the cycle this summer. The ride back to Michigan, though, was pure pleasure. He'll bring plenty of Mick-O-Pegs, as well as copies of his book, High on a Wing, on the road to a few motorcycle rallies this summer.
 
What did Jim Mick do when age and pain threatened to come between him and his passion? Invent a new solution. That's the Michigan way.
 
Learn more about Mick-O-Pegs at www.ridingiswonderful.com.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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