Back in 2013, John Patrick “JP” Loja was a nursing graduate and worked as a medical representative. He had no interest in riding motorcycles at all. Today, he’s managing a booming exhaust system business and catering to a wide motorcycle market, including racing bikes and celebrity big bikes.
About 10 years ago, JP was dragging himself to motorcycle events and bike nights on an UBER. One of those were popular bike night at Ropali Classics wherein he met the immediate custom motorcycle bike building community and established a support within their network of riders. Todee Teodoro of Kratos Custom Cycles offered custom exhaust projects for JP and introduced him to his clients as well.
“That was the beginning of it all for Orion. When I met guys at bike nights, also during Motobuilds Pilipinas. I was able to support through custom exhaust requirements and meeting deadlines for trade shows.”, JP added.
It all started as a small underbone exhaust workshop along Kamias QC
In 1997, Orion was formerly Jhous. It was named after Joshua, JP’s in-laws’ youngest son. The small business was originally catering to two and four-stroke motorcycles, until 2013 when laws on noise pollution were strictly enforced.
JP met his wife at nursing school and totally had no idea about the exhaust system business. When they finally got married, he took his “PR” skills in the motorcycle industry. He steered Jhous to innovate by packaging free DB-killers with custom made exhausts.
JP had no idea that his career would end up in the motorcycle industry
The idea of catering to big bike segment of motorcycles started in 2015 for Orion Exhausts. They started working on KTM 390 Dukes by creating linkages to accommodate slip-ons bought by customers. Orion started retrofitting pipes since full-system exhausts were very expensive.
JP was able to ride the tidal wave of events in 2016 onwards. It became a power boost for Orion Exhausts and JP kept dragging his feet until Access Plus started offering projects. Orion worked on racing exhaust systems and eventually met needs and expectations.
JP closely monitors each project to satisfy customer needs
JP keeps on challenging his personnel to continuously improve their craft
“We kept researching and to always made sure to meet the client/s expectations. Our training is an internal competition between us. We are always open to accept new challenges and we don’t back down from them. We do research if it’s necessary. Practice makes perfect in this industry”, said JP.
“Our biggest challenge was working on the bike of the celebrity rider Kuya Kim Atienza. He was very particular with what he wanted and required the utmost attention to detail. We did not back down from the challenge to make a custom exhaust for him.”, “he added.
The celebrity satisfaction opened a lot of demand and more recommendations for Orion Exhausts. They started working bikes for Ding Dong Dantes, Jericho Rosales and more. Orion was also able to collaborate with local manufacturers to cater exhaust needs for customers.
A handful of motovloggers has also flocked to Orion, which made more opportunities for the business. Their presence in the social media world has also increased, the brand’s presence became more visible to potential customers through recommendations.
Personalities and motovloggers started flocking his workshop and helped jumpstart Orion.
With constant innovation, creativity, collaboration and positive attitude, Orion Performance Exhaust was really making a lot of noise in the motorcycle community. JP wanted to focus on one thing and continue to improve locally made products to fight the surge of fake products while creating local employment.
“The power within” is Orion’s corporate slogan. JP’s inner strength is happiness. Whenever he’s loud, people stay. When people stay, it’s a community. Orion is a vibe that amplifies motorcycle communities one rev at a time.
Back in 2013, John Patrick “JP” Loja was a nursing graduate and worked as a medical representative. He had no interest in riding motorcycles at all. Today, he’s managing a booming exhaust system business and catering to a wide motorcycle market, including racing bikes and celebrity big bikes.
