About California Cycleworks, Inc

The foundation of Ca Cycleworks as it is today grew out of Chris’ (the owner) strong feelings about the golden rule. Treat other people the way you would want to be treated.

We are a small company selling new aftermarket parts for motorcycles. These can be the same parts as used by OEM (and sometimes better). The aftermarket industry also supplies non-standard products to help customize and help make your bike stand out from the crowd. Our purpose is to sell items on the Internet in a fair and truthful manner. We do our best to honestly operate the company and keep our customers’ needs at heart. Occasionally we make mistakes, but these are honest mistakes. If you think we have made an error, please contact us and we will do our very best to resolve the problem.

We are comfortable with our suppliers and very familiar with the parts featured in the catalog & shopping cart. We have been partners with most of these companies for a decade or more. We only sell from vendors we trust and that we know stand behind their product and services. We keep buying from them because the few times that mistakes have happened, they go the extra mile to keep our customers happy.

Learning about the parts we sell

Please use the catalog & shopping cart to see what we sell, pricing, and for orders. While any parts can be special ordered, the parts we list are ones that Cycleworks offers at great prices with the industry’s best customer service! If you do not see what you want, e-mail or call and see if we don’t know someone else who sells it.

Our goal is customer satisfaction. We take the time to educate our customers (you!) about the products we sell and available alternatives. We are authorized dealer for many suppliers — browse our shopping cart to look for product lines you are interested in. If we don’t have it for your bike but you know the part is made, e-mail us so we can get you a quote.

California Cycleworks history

California Cycleworks, Inc, is an S Corporation organized in California, directed by Chris Kelley. Being a corporation offers our entity access to the most professional services available and ensures the highest customer confidence. We’ve been under Chris’s care for ten years and are excited about the next ten!

Personal note from Chris

California Cycleworks as a motorcycle-related business has been in operation since at least 1990. Two people before me ran the company as a full service independent repair shop, operating under d.b.a. I have had the pleasure of working at Ca Cycleworks since 1994, and am proud to be at the helm now. Bruce, the former owner, left in November 1997 to work with Lee Shierts in North Carolina and I ventured into the scary world of entrepreneurialship. I filed my d.b.a. and my intention was to serve existing customers, finish up their work orders, and close down the operation as I was nearing completion of my college degree. I moved the business from 7079 to 7147-A University Ave, a less costly garage at the opposite end of the same building.

Shortly after, I got my Electrical Engineering degree and was about wrapped up with the shop’s business when I was hired as a software engineer contributing in the pioneer of HDTV network broadcast equipment. I started to completely close Ca Cycleworks and moved out of the 7147-A University Ave "stall" but then I started getting e-mails from the information page I started about my 1992 Ducati 900 Supersport. More than a few people were asking about how and where I got the parts for my Ducati. I explained how their local independent japanese bike shop can get in with the vendor and buy the carbs from them.

Then the magic words hit me: "Can I just buy them from you and have you ship them to me?"

This came at a pivotal moment. I was becoming disenfranchised with "big business" and was saddened over a situation where sales and project management tricked both the development engineers and the customer… So my awesome ex z!na said to quit the software place and "just run your damn parts business. But you pay your own bills, that’s your nightmare."

Near 2003, I organized California Cycleworks into a limited liability company and operated partially out of my home and also an industrial warehouse space. At the end of 2004, business volume grew to the point where a traditional retail store front was required and we signed our lease at 6338 Riverdale Street in San Diego. In 2005, California Cycleworks reorganized into a California S Corporation. I sought this change as the proper path to growing the company, hiring employees, and using outside sourcing for payroll. For 2010, we grew into a larger facility closer to downtown San Diego, our current location at 663 33rd Street.

More about Chris

We have gained a great reputation based on my experience with modern 2V and 4V Ducatis and some of our t-shirts say "the dot com for your Ducati." But please don’t think that’s it! To better understand my philosophy on modifications and parts selection, please allow an excerpt of my experience:

• Brand variety; some bikes I’ve owned and can still remember them:
  • 5 or 6 Kawasakis. highlights are the injected GPz750E (the E is the turbo model) and GPz1100 of 1984 and 1985, but I still have fond memories of others: a GPz550, KZ750, and two KZ650s.
  • 3 or so Hondas. I loved my vtr1000 Superhawk / "superchicken" but rather hated the 1979 CB750 I had in high school.
  • 2 Aprilias. Both were RS250 race bikes.
  • 4 Yamahas. The venerable FZR600 and the under-appreciated SecaII 650. People despairingly called it the Sucka-two… until it flew around them on the outside of a tight canyon road. Oh, and I almost forgot the Riva 125 and Seca 400 I learned to ride on.
  • 2 Suzukis. Yeah, I had a GSXR750. Almost forgot about it. Was pretty sweet but not quite as fun as my 900ss. It was a fixer upper that I turned about 60 hours of my shop labor into about $800 profit. Being in college will do that to a person. But I also had a fun time for a year or so while in Navy A school on a GS1000. THAT bike was fun!
  • Ducati? More than a sane person should admit to: 92 900ss, 96 916, MH900e #1636, 97 m900 "pongo", S2R800, M620, and a M1000 that’s kind of in a million pieces right now.
• Experience:
  • 3 years employ as a technician
  • 10 years operating Ca Cycleworks building relationships with both customers and vendors
  • At least two hundred thousand riding miles: 30,000 on the 92 900ss, 40,000 on the 916 are recent high numbers but a few logged in at least 20k with me: GPz550, FZR, GPz1100, one or 2 of the KZs.
  • Club racing championship: I raced at WSMC - Willow Springs Motorcycle Club for 3 years and had pretty good results. In those approximately 6,000 miles racing, I learned a lot of simple, little things about motorcycles, what parts do, and what I "feel".
  • Military: My time in service generated a hard work ethic and also cultivated the concept of taking the time to do a task correctly the first time even if it takes longer. Often heard while cleaning a barracks or kitchen facility: Any job worth doing is worth doing right the first time!
• Innovation - two concepts I have discovered:
  • That a KZ750 top end can fit into 650 bottom end. This had a huge impact on others, as overbore kits for the 650 were only to like 700cc. But the 738cc "750" cylinder block would accept an 810cc overbore. Going form 652cc to 810cc was a big deal to racing folks back in the 80s. Me? For putting in the research, the shop I hung out at GAVE ME the spare 650 bottom end laying around to replace the 750 bottom end I grenaded. And I got a kick start!
  • The technique of measuring Ducati desmo valves solely at the opening shim. It really helped that I was taking physics classes at the same time as trying my first ever desmo valve adjustment!! I was trying to grasp the concept of how it all worked and what I was measuring when I realized that the valve is a linear "system" and the valve "dropped" when you press on the closing shim with the ramification that the closing shim clearance is added to the opening clearance. I immediately shared this concept by publishing a how-to on my ducatitech.com information website.
  • Expanding a motorcycle's fuel capacity by removing the airbox, fitting pod filters, and then expanding the fuel tank down into the freshly created void. We started this in 2004 with the MH900e MH51 fuel tank. This experience honed our skills for the Hypermotard 6.4 gallon HM69 long range fuel tank.

Thanks for visiting!
- Chris Kelley