CULLMAN, Ala. – A group of members from the Cullman Chamber of Commerce, Wallace State, Cullman Area Technology Academy and the Cullman Economic Development Agency went out to tour Busted Knuckle Off Road facility on Wednesday to see the assembly process of Rock Bouncers. Owner Jake Burkey and his team showed everyone around his shop where the crew work on specialty Rock Bouncers. The off-road vehicles are four-wheel drive custom made machines that can climb near vertical walls and pull themselves over boulders to reach the top of a hill.
Busted Knuckle has been in Cullman around four years and will soon be expanding to include another building. Currently, they can build a standard buggy in approximately five weeks, though it may take longer if they have to wait for parts from manufacturers.
The tour included the shipping and receiving area where all parts needed to build a buggy can be found. “We keep everything in stock, and we try to be proactive as much as possible with supply chain issues and everything else. Procurement has been kind of a difficult thing. Sometimes, we have to change our design based on what’s available,” said Burkey.
The team sell parts to customers all over the United States, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Italy. “We do almost double the amount of retail sales than we do in the off-road buggy sales because a lot of guys can’t afford a $100,000 buggy.”
Burkey raced competitively in the buggies for eight years, so many customers call for his advice about what parts to use since he has the added experience of building and driving the buggies. It has been Burkey’s dream since he was a kid to own his own shop and fabricate his own buggies. Now, he has taken the opportunity to build and improve the Rock Bouncers he has raced in for years. “We live it, we breathe it, we’ve been doing it for as long as we can remember,” he said.
Jasmine Davison said, “We really just wanted to get our name out in Cullman. We definitely have a lot of people that view our social media accounts, but they’re from all over. We’ve been in Cullman right at five years and we still meet people who don’t know what Rock Bouncers are, so our goal being a brick and mortar is to let everybody know especially where we’re at, what the Rock Bouncers are and what we do as an industry.”
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