Tuesday, December 29, 2009

iPhone & The BK Webcam

I got a call from Canada today that was pretty interesting and slightly odd. It started with the caller saying, "This is going to be weird, but bare with me.." The caller stated that he had just got a new app for his iPhone that allowed you to see webcams from around the world. He stated that our shop came was one of the ones on the list and he wanted to make sure that the app was working. He had called to make sure that we were a real business and that the camera feed was real.

I honestly thought there was a catch or he was messing with me so I really didn't give him my full attention... He told me that he was seeing a blue snowmobile with a green hood that was open. I told him that I wasn't doing anything outside at the moment. He corrected me and said that he was watching a sled INSIDE. Thats when I noticed a blue skidoo with a green cat hood leaning on it. The caller then saw ME in the camera and described what I was wearing and asked me to wave. I did and he got excited that the feed was real. That was the end of the call.

I don't know ANYTHING more! I assume the app chooses random cams, or searches for ones based on a topic of some sort. I am very confused and intreagued. Does anyone know of this app or know how it works? email me at douglashein@gmail.com

New Addition to the BK Team

The newest member of the BK team arrived today, 12-29-09!


Mike, co-owner of Bk Boat n Sleds.com, and his wife April welcomed the newest member of their family into the world today. Mike has been granted some time off from the hustle of the shop while he gets a crash course in Fatherhood. It looks like the season may be a little short for Mike and April too....unless we can get the lil one out on a kitty kat STAT!

If you catch Mike at the shop, tell him congrats on the new lil girl... and give his some tips!



Last Update of the Year




815-363-1254
New-Used-Aftermarket-OEM

Thursday, December 24, 2009

BK University

Come out and Learn some tips and help a mourning family.


We had mentioned doing this a few weeks ago and the time is coming near. This will be a two night seminar. The list of topics is listed above and it we will help with all questions that you may have.

We will be donating all the proceeds to the Sossong trust so Timmy's daughters can continue school and not have to worry about financials as they enter a new chapter of their lives.

Come Join us for 2 nights of fun and information!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Tips in Buying a Used Sled



Don't be afraid or nervous in buying a used sled.
Here are some helpful tips to make you a PRO!


815-363-1254
New, Used, OEM, Aftermarket



Xmas Week Update



Call for Part needs
815-363-1254
New, Used, Aftermarket, OEM

Friday, December 18, 2009

Sledding In a Tough Economy


Last year the gas prices tried taking a swing at sledders and it looks like this year, household income will try to get in a few rounds. With less money to spend there has been a shift from new part purchases to used parts. In this financial time, everyone has a vise grip on their wallets and the prices on new OEM and aftermarket parts are just not an option for some people. The used part industry is on the rise because of it. The used part market has always been around for sledders. With forums, classifieds, and swap meets at almost all sled events, the sledding community has always had access to cheap parts. This has helped the sport continue as long as it has. Sledders have always had a tight, family-like community and because of that have always had avenues for support. This community is one of the only niches that you see this sense of comradery and support among riders.

Sledding is an escape from the financial woes and the stress that everyday life produces. I think that is why there has not been a huge decline in the sport. People are addicted to the freedom, the friendships, and the pure fun that snowmobiling provides them. It isn't about having the nicest sled out in the powder, or how much money you have into your gear and rig. It is about being on the trails and supporting a community that non-sledders have no idea exists. I think that is part of the appeal also. It is a world with in a world. And while that world only exists for a few months a year in most parts of the world, the freindships continue all year long.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Tiger Woods






Share this on your facebook and help us get this breaking news out to the public!

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For Parts


Monday, December 14, 2009

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

1st Annual Bk Boat n Sleds Swap n Show


The first annual Bk Swap n Show was this past weekend. We had some awesome weather for it and a lot of people came out to the BK shop for the first time. It was also awesome to see some familiar faces as well. The swappers were a little thin, but there was some great deals and I watched some big items leave the lot. A 2 place enclosed trailer was sold out of the swaps pretty early in the day.

The swappers that did show up came in all types of vehicles. I have never seen a load job like this Arctic Cat, but I guess as long as it fits, it works! There was quite the selection of items this past weekend. I saw stock parts, aftermarket, new stuff, and some random items that were just laying around the house.



We also had the folks from SnowmobileCalendar.com visit with us! They were one of the few vendors that joined us for the event. Amanda and Bill also left us a bunch of 2010 calendars for our local's that missed the swap. Calendars are available for $10 at the shop. Other local business' and clubs that joined us were Profound Hound, Got your DJ.com and The McHenry Sledheads. I also met Mike Potts from the Jim Potts Motor Group out in Woodstock, Illinois..."No one knows Skidoo like they doo".


The BK shop exploded out into the lot too! We had a nice ultra for sale, the BK grill was making burgers, the couch offered a place to relax and a customer sold us a sled.. The golf carts were out and about too. The new "Sled Heaven" loft was a hit too. We had a lot of folks hanging out in the 800 square foot loft browsing the part bins. There were some great deals Sunday.

There were also some very creative sledders out there. The above picture is of custom footrests that a customer of ours has fabricated. They are very solid and a lot wider than stock. They are very slick looking. Please contact the BK shop if you have interest in hearing more.

Can't afford a slushguard? Here is a very creative solution. This guy has about $50 into this homemade slush guard. It is 1 & 1/2 plastic 55 gallon drums. It actually looked pretty nice in person. He had to point it out to me because I did not notice.

One of the most interesting sleds at the show was this older VMAX. The motor and pipe was all custom painted to match the decals of the sled. But thats not it...this sled is protected by a Python car alarm. Thats right, if you open the hood, jump on the seat, or tamper with the ignition, the alarm will sound. It is all controlled by remote. It was pretty slick.

Thank you to everyone that came out! It was a great turn out for being the first annual. We will be working on more events and will keep you all posted!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Mchenry Sledheads

We sat in on the first meeting of the Mchenry Sledheads yesterday. The organizers of this group are some regulars at the BK shop and we were happy to join them for the first meeting of their club. The group that attended were all like minded, in that they were looking for a 'family' to join rather than just a club. It was a great mix of folks and everyone was after the same goal...ridin and havin fun.


The sledheads have a lot of events planned already and are hitting the ground running with thier advertising and sponsorships. Due to the younger demographic of thier members, the sledheads want to make sure that they are not viewed as a bunch of hooligans. They are all serious sledders and respect the tradition of sledding. They want to cast a new light on local sledding and hope to work with other established clubs in the area to do so.

We are sponsors of the club and look forward to working with the Mchenry Sledheads all year round!

For more info or to join the club, check them out online....
www.mchenrysledheads.com


Monday, November 30, 2009

We Now Carry OEM Parts.









We just expanded our inventory and picked up OEM parts! We can now supply you with all those little and specific parts that the aftermarket companies don't make. We are officially your one stop powersport parts shop. If we don't have it used, we can get it new...no matter WHAT it is!



Update for 11/30/09

Monday, November 23, 2009

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Racing Extreme Grass Drags

Racing Extreme held their 2nd Annual Grass Drags and Swap meet over the weekend at the Golf Farm here is Wacaunda, IL. I have to be honest, I was a little skeptical about the turn out because the event had been postponed twice. We all really lucked out, it was a beautiful day and eveything went off with out a hitch.

There was a nice swap spread by about 9.30 am. The vendor section was a little thin this year, but that just gave the vendors that were there more attention! BK was set up on the corner right behind the food and beer. It was a very high traffic area. Myself, Pete and Cody were out hitting the grass spreading the word about BK. I snagged a deal right away out in the swap, so that made for a nice start to the day.


There were a TON of BK logo's out there this weekend. We sold about 25 ditch banger shirts and handed out a couple hundred stickers. I was able to talk to a lot of people about parts and really did some quality relationship building. It was great to see all of our friends and customers out there wearing thier "I Bang Ditches" shirts. It was also cool to see a bk logo on the back of someone I DIDN'T know.

The highlight of the drags had to be Thunderstorm (previously Bob Barta 's) in the 1000 class. It is a polaris storm body with a 1000cc thundercat motor. This was the first race for the new owner and he underestimated the power of the sled. The sled was VERTICAL off the line. The buzz in the crowd was "it should have done a back flip." It was that close...there was NO reason that sled didn't fall back on the rider. It was an awesome sight to see.

I think we are really going to have a huge turn out for our own swap meet (Dec 6th). There was a lot of people stopping by the booth to confirm that it was still going on.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

"The Pro X Prank"

While Mike, one of the owners of Bk Boat n sleds.com, was away in florida...we decided to play a little prank on him and get him all excited.

This is "The Pro X Prank"....







We got him good. He thought we had it here at the shop until he went to Facebook to see pictures of it. When he did look for the pics....he found the video. I am not looking forward to the revenge, but it was worth it.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Mud Boat


A customer brought in his home made mud boat this past week. It has a 340 sled motor powering it. It was a very cool set up. It is all aluminum and was custom built in his garage. He started with no plans and finished with this 16 foot boat.

The motor is all stock and uses both sled clutches. The secondary is having some issues, but it works. He even kept the throttle and handlebar end as the tiller.


The entire boat is coated in LineX. It has the matte finish on the top and the gloss on the bottom. The boat is designed to stay stable when you walk around and it only drafts 1 1/2 inches with 2 people aboard.

All the plasma cuts and welds were done by the owner of this unique vessel.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

BK Sponsored Snow X Racer

Jeff Peters, #331, is the newest member of the BK race team. Jeff will be racing the Winter Thunder Challenge, run by Racing Extreme, this season. Last year, Jeff took 3rd in both sport A and B in season points and 2nd in Juniors. He will be racing both classes this season as well. We will keep you posted in his progress.

Thank you to Racing Extreme for the use of the photos. Racing Extreme has Grass Drags and Swap going on this weekend at the Golf Farm in Wauconda, Illinois.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Bk Cruiser Motor Pull

The BK Cruiser was pulled from it's slip at Rustic Harbor earlier this week. The BK Cruiser is a 25 foot 1977 Apollo hard top cruiser made by AMF. It's first stop was the BK shop to get the old mercruiser 305 pulled. It is old and tired and just didn't have the power to push the 'ol girl anymore. It shouldn't have even been running based on the compression on some of the cylinders.


A 350 long block has already been purchased for it so all the dressings will be swapped over to the new block over the winter. Come spring, the Apollo will feel like a new boat!

We had a very small window to work with between the top of the transom and the bottom of the new loft. We had to jack the front of the trailer up about 3 feet to dip the back of the boat about a foot. It JUST made it out.

It was odd to remove a motor and CARE about the electrical and hoses. Usually we hope in there and start cutting away. This time we had to replace bolts and everything.

This is the last time this motor will be that close to this boat. A lot of the components will return, but they will be attached to a whole new animal. With a couple other upgrades, the BK cruiser will be back on the water ready to party next spring. Until then, it will sit all bundled up for the winter.

Monday, October 19, 2009

I Bang Ditches.



We officially have www.iBangDitches.com up and running. It is the venue for you to share your ditch-banging stories. If your story makes it to the blog, you will receive a Bk Ditch Banger packet!

Please visit iBangDitches.com for more info and the email address to send your stories to. And as always, share this info with your friends. The bigger it gets the more fun we all can have!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Hitler Commercial



As many of you have seen, there is a new BK Boat n Sleds.com commercial out there. This Hitler clip if from the movie Downfall. A few years ago, it was an internet rage to change the subtitles and personalize the video. I was a little behind the times on this one, but it is still just as funny as when this was popular.
How We Did It.
I used a website to pull the stock video off of YouTube. Once I had it on my computer, I uploaded it back up onto our YouTube channel. Then I just used the YouTube annotations to make the subtitles. It isn't a professional job by any means, but it did the job.

Now I we need your help in spreading it. Each time we share a video, it gets a little bigger. This is one of those vids that can go a long way if we let it...lol So share this with your friends and spread the word. You guys are the ones that have gotten us this far, so thank you!

"I Bang Ditches"

It is gonna be cool to be a Ditch Banger this season. Our new Ditch Banger advertising campaign is off to a good start. We have sold about 40 of these shirts so far. We are selling them for $5 a piece through the door at the shop, or $10 shipped to you. Why so cheap? Because we placed an add on your back. Deal?

We are also working on commercial about ditch banging and we have a few other things up our sleaves for the season. We will leak all that soon... on our facebook fan page.

Pec Snow Show

We were out at the Pecatonica Snow Show at the Winnebago Fairgrounds this past weekend. The show supports the Tri-County Trail Alliance. We opted to set up in the Dealer Hall and the turn out was actually pretty good! There was a nice swap section and the grass drags. The dealers were all inside near the food and beer. There were also raffles every couple hours in the dealer hall. All of the raffle prizes were donated by the dealers. We tossed in 4 $50 gift cards and had 3 of them used right there at the show.

Like the Belvidere show, we did not bring product. There is no nice way t display used items....it always looks like crap. We try to keep a clean image and not look like a junk yard at these events. The couch made it out to the show too...that is as "trashy" as we get lol.

We handed out a lot of Koozies and stickers at this event too. A few posters left and a lot of people were ordering the new "I Bang Ditches" t-shirts. Unfortunatly, we sold out and did not have the shirts in time for this show, BUT, people were happy to have us mail them right to thier doorstep.

If you would like to see more behind the scene BK action as it happens check out the webcam, facebook, and twitter to keep you posted 24/7!

Friday, September 25, 2009

NEW Snowmobile Parts - IN STOCK!


Its that time of year!! Dust off your sleds, and get them geared up for the snowy season which is upon us! The BK front shop has been turned over with tons of new parts for your sleds!


We of coarse are continuing to grow our used parts, however we also have grown our NEW "IN STOCK" Parts for all makes of sleds, and all the MUST HAVE items to keep you on the trails!

If you have not seen our new 800 s.f. addition to our Lakemoor shop be sure to stop in and check out the sprawling shelves of new and used snowmobile inventory!

Everything from:

Hyfax, Helmets, Mirrors, Bogey Wheels, Carbides Studs, Fuel Gauge Caps, Amsoil, SeaFoam, Chain Case Oil, Belts, Fuel line, Saddle Bags, Spark Plugs, Bearings, Crank Seals
and SO much more all in stock! There is more on its way too!

THINK SNOW

Weather you ride Polaris, Yamaha, Arctic Cat, Ski-Doo we have the parts for you!







Thursday, September 24, 2009

Promotional Photo Shoot





The whole BK team made a special trip down to Amanda Hein Photography in the West Loop this past Wednesday. This was our first professional photo shoot. We had been in the Northwest Herald, but this was different. It felt cool to have these pictures taken. It really solidified that we are here to stay.

Amanda Hein also does some stellar work, so we know that the pictures are going to be above and beyond! These pictures will be used on the website, promotional items, and advertisements. It is just going to be one more thing that sets BK aside from our competitors. Thank you to all of you that have gotten us this far. We are all excited to see how far we can go!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

BK goes HD


About time we gave up the crummy video quality! Be ready to enjoy our videos from here on out in HD quality!

This is our new toy! Let us know your thoughts!


Snowmobile Powered Golf Cart

We took a 1996 Ez Go 4 stroke golf cart.. Gutted it out and put in some real power.

We added a 500 cc fan cooled Polaris twin motor
Electric Start
Polaris Tachometer
Forced are intake and cooling
Forward & Reverse
Custom Exhaust from 4 different snowmobile pipes

Top speed at this moment is about 45 mph, still working on the clutching.