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HUNTSVILLE, ONTARIO
Ahead of the game
A new stainless steel can from the makers of the B & B Eliminator
by MICHELLE DOBROVOLNY
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THE REBIRTH OF A CLASSIC: The B & B Eliminator is coming out in stainless steel for the first time this year, for a more durable and stylish can with the same great rumble.
—photo courtesy MBRP
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The B & B Eliminator, the most popular brand of aftermarket silencer, is getting a significant upgrading this year as Martin Barkey Racing Products Inc. (MBRP) switches from mild steel to stainless steel cans.
“Going to full stainless makes for a more durable and a more stylish can,” said Marc Cloutier, the national sales manager at MBRP.
But sledders won’t have to worry about a price increase on the B & B—MBRP’s diesel truck exhaust systems are also produced in stainless steel, so the company was able to make the switch to its sled line without adding huge costs.
“We’ve been able to gain efficiencies that a shop just doing snowmobile exhaust could never hope to do,” explained Cloutier.
The development of a classic
The switch to stainless steel is just another stage in the hugely successful evolution of MBRP. Established in 1995, the company was built on the entrepreneurial drive of husband and wife team Martin and Ginger Barkey, who saw an opportunity to market the silencer that Martin’s father, Gord, had developed for his sled.
“Back then, there weren’t that many manufacturing operations producing (silencers),” said Cloutier. “It was mostly mom and pop shops and they didn’t have the standardization of the manufacturing process that MBRP brought to the table.”
From a humble debut—selling just 300 units in its first year—MBRP has gone on to sell tens of thousands of silencers worldwide.
Of course, what really matters to sledders is that the B & B Eliminator produces a fantastic sound.
“It’s the difference between music and noise,” said Cloutier. “It has to do with the harmonic balance that we are able to create as the exhaust gases go through the system.”
True to their sledding roots
One of MBRP’s biggest successes has been its entry into the market for diesel truck exhaust systems, which now accounts for about 80 per cent of business. Yet MBRP is still firmly a sledding company—it can’t really be otherwise, situated as it is in the passionate sled town of Huntsville.
“It really is a culture,” said Cloutier. “Some MBRP employees even ride their snowmobiles to work.”
So while the sledding market forms a small part of revenue, MBRP will continue to devote time to developing its silencers, if only because Barkey likes to tinker around in his shop
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