Customer Input and Product Development
Erik Stephens, Director of eCommerce at BWI (parent company of brands like Twisted Throttle, DENALI Electronics and more), shares the evolution of rider-focused lighting products.
In this episode, host Heather Wilson Schiltz talks with Erik about how real-world rider experiences and customer feedback influence product development, from forward lighting to side visibility and CANbus-controlled accessories. He also breaks down homologation, why some aftermarket lights can be dangerous when improperly designed or installed, and what riders should understand before upgrading their motorcycle lighting.
The conversation also explores the business side of scaling enthusiast brands, including international growth, localized marketing, distribution, fulfillment and the importance of listening directly to customers at events like the BMW MOA National Rally and Touratech Rally.
🎧 What You’ll Hear:
• How Twisted Throttle started from a motorcycle accessory group buy
• How DENALI Electronics grew out of a need for better vehicle-specific lighting solutions
• Why rider safety is a major motivator behind DENALI product development
• The difference between seeing better and being seen by other drivers
• Why side and rear visibility are becoming bigger priorities for motorcyclists
• What homologation means and why street-legal lighting standards matter
• How CANbus technology changed motorcycle accessory installation
• Why real-world demonstrations help riders understand lighting performance
• What DENALI learns from customers at motorcycle rallies and events
• The challenges of scaling motorcycle and off-road brands internationally
• How rider needs differ between the U.S., Europe and Australia
• Practical starting points for riders who want to improve motorcycle visibility
🌐 Learn more at DENALIelectronics.com
🌐 Learn more at VisionXOffRoad.com
🔔 Subscribe for more stories and strategies from inside the motorsports world
“After dark, we invite just about anybody that’s that’s at the rally to come over to a big open field. And in that open field, everybody gets a chance to point their lights downrange and we can see what their original headlights did for distance and then what their bike with auxiliary lights does for distance. We’ve put signs downrange for your visibility distance. NHTSA figured out that in order for about 90% of riders to be able to see an obstacle that’s coming and react to it and get out of the way, they need to be able to see at least four seconds down the road.
And so we took the four second distance — 10 miles an hour, 20 miles an hour, 30 miles an hour, right up to 70 miles an hour — and put the the sign markers down this field. And so everybody gets to see what their sight distance in seconds is, or what what their safe driver speed is, assuming you need four seconds, with and without their auxiliary lights. And it it would actually probably surprise you. A lot of bikes only have a couple of seconds of headlight distance.”
-Erik Stephens, BWI Director of eCommerce
