The Rise Of The Motocrossboard

Depending on how you look at it, Andrew Keel’s Motocrossboard is either either a two-wheeled, motorized, dirtboard or a very small, light motorcycle that you stand on sideways. Either way it appears to be another strange way to roll through the woods standing sideways.

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From Humble Beginnings, 2012 Motocrossboard Sales Launch with Features on JUNKies, Modern Marvels and The People’s Gizmos, Thanks to Gadget and Tech Websites.
Duluth, GA, Aug 23rd, 2012. The Motocrossboard was conceived in ’90’s from the desire to feel the freedom of snowboarding anywhere, any time. It came to life a few years later by the inventor’s own hands as a rough, but surprisingly functional, garage built prototype on a shoestring budget. 2012 marks the first year of production with for models of Motocrossboards on sale now. With upcoming feature segments on TV’s JUNKies, Modern Marvels, and The People’s Gizmos among others, Motocrossboard could soon become a household word.

Motocrossboards are essentially light motorcycles. Their unique steering and suspension design allows them to be ridden and steered just like a snowboard. While this sounds difficult and even dangerous to learn, Performance Concepts, Inc. reports more than a hundred people have learned to ride Motocrossboards after only a few minutes of practice. Most notable is PCI’s 74 year old test rider Earl Keel that will be featured riding the MXB MOTO-GT prototype on Modern Marvels. “Occasionally, people refer to the Motocrossboard as a motorized skateboard. According to Merriam Webster it can’t be defined as a skateboard at all. It meets the definition of motorcycle though.” says, Andy Keel. Curators of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum don’t consider it a skateboard of any sort either. The Barber Museum is known as the best collection of motorcycles in the world. The original MXB MOTO-MX Motocrossboard prototype will soon reside in the Barber Museum. “I was speechless when the Barber Museum arranged to send for the MOTO-MX prototype. To have my first attempt at a unique motorcycle design reside with the best collection of motorcycles in the world is quite an honor.” says Andy Keel.

Andy Keel, inventor of the Motocrossboard and CEO of Performance Concepts, Inc. conceived the Motocrossboard in the ’90’s after returning to college in Georgia from four years of snowboarding and mountain biking in Vail, Colorado. “I just wanted something that offered the same freedom as snowboarding and it didn’t exist. I had no intention of selling a product. Ever since I was a little kid, I had access to tools and stuff to tinker with. I have over 500 days of snowboarding. I’ve raced motocross, mountain bikes, and BMX. I was a bike mechanic and a ski and snowboard tech for five years and an engineering recruiter for 8 years. It took everything I learned from all those experiences to design the Motocrossboard. I learned that much more again in the years of Motocrossboard R&D. If there was a problem I couldn’t solve which was rare, I had access to hundreds of engineers to turn to. Additionally, our shareholders range from pro cyclists, motocrossers and snowboarders to lawyers, corporate executives, inventors and Doctors of engineering.” says Andy Keel

Considering the economy has been plagued by the worst recession in US history, it’s a significant achievement for a startup to get a product like this to market. “It helps to have a visually stimulating product.” says Andy Keel. “My business plan didn’t include a budget for advertising. I told potential investors that the Motocrossboard had intrinsic visual stimulation and TV networks would spend their own money to put our product on their shows. They believed it.” Keel demonstrated the MOTO-MX prototype for MTV’s Nitro Circus in hopes of getting it on the show. “After Travis Pastrana taught me how to play Beer Pong, I rode the MOTO-MX prototype around Ken Block’s house at 50 mph. A show appearance was eminent but MTV canceled season 3.” says Andy Keel.

Keel still needed to secure no cost mass media exposure to make his invention a successful product. But he didn’t know how to get it. “I thought just taking the usual website, YouTube, Facebook page route would lead them to us.” says Andy Keel. Nearly a year passed without significant media interest. Meanwhile, product development was still full tilt. By Nov.2010, PCI was ready to release the MXB Shocker in limited production for Christmas.

Without an advertising budget, it would be hard to get enough orders to justify even limited production. “Christel Caperan, a friend of mine who taught me how to snowboard, has been our marketing consultant for a year. She has 15 years of experience in international marketing and communication, 4 of those years being at the European headquarters of Burton Snowboards. She suggested a press release. We wrote one and sent it to four or five gadget and tech websites. The next morning e-mails from potential buyers started coming in.” says Andy Keel. Caperan now serves on PCI’s Board of Directors.

What Keel didn’t expect was the gadget and technology websites would lead to the media exposure the Motocrossboard needed. Within 24 hours of the press release, the producers of History Channel’s Modern Marvels had contacted Keel requesting to film a segment about creating the Motocrossboard. Two weeks later they sent a film crew to Georgia. “I though the exposure would come from the Motocrossboard being an extreme sport. I hadn’t realized that it would gain mass media interest as a technological work.” says Andy Keel. With the promise of mass media coverage PCI decided not to take orders for the 2011 MXB Shocker. Instead the company focused on further product development and design for manufacturability.

The continued R&D resulted in a 2012 MXB Shocker offered at $1699 to $2399 instead of $2999 for a 2011 MXB Shocker. The 2012s are several pounds lighter and easier to learn to ride due to better handling characteristics. 2012 Shockers are geared for 18 mph, weigh as little as 67 lbs. and have a range of up to 36 miles depending on battery choice.

The MXB Shocker is joined by 3 new models for 2012. The MXB MOTO-GT ($1699 to $1999) has a 50CC 2 HP gasoline engine, a CVT transmission, is geared for 18 MPH and weighs around 66 lbs. The MXB MOTO-GTR ($2099 to $2399) has a 4.3 HP gasoline engine, comes geared for 25 MPH and weighs around 63 lbs. The electric MXB Shocker R ($2599 to $2999) is the highest performance of all. It has peak power of 2500 watts thanks to a 48V, 60A, LiFePO4 battery pack and massive torque from the large diameter brushless motor. It comes geared for 28 MPH and weighs around 69lbs. All models come standard with the new cast 535 Aluminum / Magnesium alloy and Chromoly frame, 5 inches of plush suspension travel adjustable, coil over, oil damped shocks and 20 in. spun 6061-T6 aluminum wheels. “All models get the best suspension and wheels. It’s silly to go off -road without good suspension and large diameter tires. And pound for pound nothing beats 2 in-line wheels. That’s why bikes have had 2 in-line wheels for almost 200 years now.” says Andy Keel.

The 2012 models are available now with incentive pricing for pre-order. They ship within 60 days of the order date or 94% of payment amount can be refunded.
Visit www.motocrossboard.com for details.
Watch motocrossboards in action at http://youtu.be/q72Ro-AguLI

The 2012 Motocrossboards are reliable and easy enough to ride that Blue Moon Safaris has been planning commercial, week long African Safaris in Tanzania around Mt. Kilimanjaro on MXB Shockers. The first safaris are planned for 2012 and will mark the first time an electric vehicle has circumnavigated Kilimanjaro. Adventurous individuals can book their own Motocrossboard safari at www.bluemoonsafaris.com

The TV appearances kick off with the MXB MOTO-GT prototype as the feature invention of an episode of JUNKies titled “Surf Cycle” on Science Channel. JUNKies is a new unscripted show by LeftField Pictures, the Producers of Pawn Stars and Oddities, where inventors and tinkerers meet the purveyors of a salvage yard and demonstrate how new inventions can be made from salvage parts of other machines. JUNKies “Surf Cycle” airs on Aug. 25th at 10:00 PM, 26th at 1:00 AM, 27th at 5:00 AM and 10:00 PM, 28th at 1:00AM, 29th at 5:00 AM, and Sept. 1st at 9:30 PM, Eastern Time. A trailer for JUNKies can be seen at http://science.discovery.com/tv/junkies/

The People’s Gizmos, a Canadian comical unscripted gadget show will air an episode featuring the 2011 MXB Shocker on Sept. 13th. In the episode, the host invites people from the general public to learn to ride the MXB Shocker and review it.

Modern Marvels will feature several Motocrossboard prototypes on the first episode of season 18 titled “Weird Machines” on History Channel this fall. “Modern Marvels was a major score for us. It’s one of the longest running series on TV. It’s the flagship show on the highest rated cable network. They show episodes over and over for years and years. I estimate the episode will air 26 times the first year and could continue to re-run as long as there is TV. It has the potential to put the Motocrossboard in front of hundreds of millions of viewers in the coming years. To make sure it wasn’t a coincidence, I asked the producers how they found out about the Motocrossboard. They confirmed that they had found it through a gadget and technology website.” says Andy Keel

Motocrossboard, Shocker, MOTO-GT. MXB and the MXB logo are trademarks of Performance Concepts, Inc. US and International Patents Pending

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