"OTD Cyclesports is committed to our rock-bottom, low warehouse prices in all of our dealerships." So says the website for OTD (Out-The-Door) Cyclesports at www.otdcyclesports.com. With stores in Denver, Colorado and Northern and Southern California, OTD offers low "Out-The-Door" prices on motorcycles, ATVs and other recreational equipment that include all taxes, license and government fees and no setup or freight charges. Now those deals are available to foothill residents at the OTD Cyclesports store in Auburn, CA.

"We came in late 2006 and took over the APEX Motorsports dealership in town," said General Manager Brad Rhodes, who relocated to Auburn from the East Coast. "We knew we wanted the franchises, the Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki motorcycles." But the prior location on Grass Valley Highway (where the now-closed Auburn Nissan sits) was inadequate for a variety of reasons. A move was already in the works, but in the meantime, OTD also acquired Auburn Polaris, which sold Kawasakis. Management agreements with both companies created an increased need for more space and OTD moved to their current location, 11905 Dry Creek Road, in November 2007.

The move took two days and the new store opened on November 16th. "OTD Cyclesports of Auburn, with all of its umbilical cords cut, is really pretty new," Rhodes said. The move has proven to be a wise one, just six months later. "The expectations that we had for the store have been completely blown away; we are doing very, very well in our new location."

The new shop is larger in size and easy to find, once you realize where it is. I saw the 'monument' sign at Dry Creek and Highway 49, while waiting to turn left to get gas at the Arco station on that corner. Coming from the Grass Valley area, you can see the top of OTD's building from that intersection; just turn right, go past the Arco lot and turn into the next driveway. Although building signs have not yet arrived, Rhodes hopes to have them installed shortly, drawing attention to the shop's location.

The gasoline crisis has spurred a sharp increase in sales of street-legal motorcycles, according to Rhodes. "We mainly sell dirt bikes and ATVs (All-Terrain Vehicles), but with the gas increase, we've seen a change in what we're selling," he said. "We're still selling dirt bikes and ATVs but we're mainly selling street bikes now." That change has temporarily caught Rhodes off-guard, as far as on-site inventory is concerned, but that problem is alleviated by the ability to transfer stock from OTD's other stores as needed.

Unlike automobile dealerships, where the price of a new car is similar at same-make/model locations and there is no real advantage to 'going down the hill' for a better deal, Rhodes says OTD starts out with low prices and great customer service. "We don't just beat it, we crush it," Rhodes says of other dealerships' pricing. "That is our whole philosophy."

Rhodes says what sets OTD Auburn apart from other Motorsports shops is the service department. "We take very good care of our own customers," he said. Those customers come from as far away as Oregon and the Central Valley of California, as well as local and surrounding communities. "We just treat people the way that we would want to be treated," Rhodes said.

New for May is the 'Out The Door Service For Less' program and Auburn OTD. It began as a way to streamline the service department's time spent researching, then quoting, service prices. "We took the retail price of the parts, plus our labor rate, and added them together, and if, for example, it came to $237.18, were just going to do it for $189 out-the-door," Rhodes said. Now the service department can look up the work needed and give an exact price quote without looking up individual parts and figuring out labor rates for each job. "There has been overwhelming response," Rhodes added.

The next departments up for overhaul are the parts and accessories departments. Those are more difficult to streamline because of a shop's inability to have each and every common or obscure item in stock every day. Rhodes says he is limited by the lack of a huge warehouse space, but promises to do what he can to meet each customer's request. "We're keeping track of all this (customer requests) in our computer system," he said. Even items that have to be ordered usually arrive within 48 hours.

The Auburn OTD Motorsports shop sells and services Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Polaris motorcycles, ATVs, watercrafts, scooters, snowmobiles and the new RUVs (Recreational Utility Vehicles), and sells parts, accessories and Honda generators. Rhodes and his staff can be reached at 530-885-7105.

NASCAR Notes: The Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series were at Darlington Speedway in South Carolina last weekend for their second set of night races this month. Tony Stewart won the Nationwide race Friday night, his first win ever at Darlington. Kyle Busch, who complained about his car in the early stages of the race, won the Saturday night Sprint Cup race, despite bouncing off the wall several times and dealing with lug nut problems during pit stops. The teams are home this week in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Cup drivers are preparing for the All Star race Saturday night and the Craftsman Trucks will race Friday night. The Nationwide Series has the weekend off.

Good luck to the NASCAR Camping World West teams, who are at the Iowa Speedway battling the Camping World East teams this Sunday. At least 55 cars will attempt to qualify for that race, including teams from Bill McAnally Racing and Motorway Motorsports, both local shops. A number of big names in motorsports, such as Kasey Kahne, Steve Park and Ricky Carmichael, are scheduled to compete alongside teams fielded by Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Kyle Busch Motorsports. The race will be shown live on HDNet and rebroadcast on SPEED channel.