Tubing Suppliers: Rickard Metals Inc., Ontario Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co., Fullerton

Motorcycle frames are made of steel tubing, and Southern California has a number of tubing specialists. MCM found two of them--one is a small company run by an off-road motorcycle enthusiast, the other a $15-million-a-year distributor that caters mainly to the homemade and kit-built aircraft market.

Jim Irwin, owner of Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co., said business has thrived despite a weak economy since 1990. “We’re pretty recession-proof, because people who build their own aircraft and cars are pretty serious about it and will trim other expenses to buy the parts they need.”

The Fullerton-based company, started in 1965 by Irwin’s parents, has 70 employees and has expanded from its original line of aircraft-quality spruce lumber into exotic metals and a plethora of aircraft and auto parts.

With a 450-page catalogue of 15,000 parts, and an average order size of $75, the company ships nearly 800 daily orders. Irwin said he honestly couldn’t remember MCM’s order for chrome molybdenum tubing--a lightweight, high-strength alloy that’s a blend of several metals. It is commonly called chrome moly.

MCM, however, found Aircraft Spruce to be ideal--a job shop that didn’t scoff at its small order.

At Jim and Peggy Rickard’s tubing distributorship in Ontario, the MCM order is remembered. Rickard is an avid motorcycle racer who has begun to actively hunt for business outside the shrinking boundaries of the aerospace business that once provided the bulk of the company’s income.

“We sell exotics like titanium tubing that was used on the B-2 bomber,” Rickard said, “and government contracts have been the bulk of our business, so the defense cuts have hurt us. We’re looking to get into other things, like sporting goods.” Titanium golf clubs could be a big seller for the $3.75-million-a-year company, he suggested.

When Rickard met MCM partner Bill Kniegge in an off-road race one weekend last year, a business linkage was inevitable: MCM needed a supply of tubing and Rickard needed the work.

The initial order was for less than $1,000, but Rickard said he expects to continue supplying MCM with rectangular tubing and flat sheet metal when the company starts production of its racing motorcycles.