I visited Motorvation a few days ago and can confirm they are still in business and sidecars are being assembled and installed. They are also supplying parts and doing repairs on sidecars. They've been hit hard by the loss of many suppliers and price increases as well as the tight labor market in the area. They are working to improve cash flow by selling off excess inventory and a couple of their demo sidecars are for sale if anyone wants a sidecar quickly. The business is also available for sale, but the financial sector has no interest in anything related to motorcycles since the bankruptcies of Excelsior-Henderson, EBR, and others but I'm sure owner Mary Sontag will consider offers.
Had the same experience others described. Was told the same 6-8 months production time and it took 18 months to finally get my side car. I still had to install part of the wiring myself. Like the product and Gary was great but if I had know the truth about completion time I would not have purchased from them.
Yeah, that’s the common experience. Sad thing is that they are still taking orders, still telling people 6-8 months, and still stringing them along with no communication for thrice that time. At some point, probably not too far off, they will make their final sidecar and the remaining 40+ customers who made down payments will be s.o.l.
I found Mary to be very nice, but when you’re hearing the same excuses and sad stories that other people have been relating for a decade or more you have to acknowledge it’s become an unethical operation.
I’m either going to get a used sidecar, a Ural, or a Cozy. I don’t have the time left to order one from DMC and get it by spring. I’m not giving up another season of riding with my kids.
IIRC Motorvation has been telling customers to expect a year or more wait for some time. Truth is, I don't think anyone can supply a decent sidecar by spring and year and more waits are pretty common for custom ordered sidecars, trucks, etc.. As for Motorvation's ethics, they've been honest about the production schedule for decades. And unlike many other businesses, they also supply reasonably priced parts and service for sidecars they built decades ago. And if anyone wants a sidecar quick, buy a used one and Motorvation and several of our other great sidecar makers and mounters can often make any repairs and mount the sidecars in much less time than it takes to make them. For example, Motorvation has a couple near new demo sidecars and trailers for sale and probably over $100,000 in parts and tooling in stock to make more parts if anyone needs repairs or mounting by spring.
While I know this post is about Motorvation we were mentioned. Our lead times are about 5 months right now, we have come close to doubling our production since this time last year, we are working on adding a second shift and are making additional molds for our more popular sidecars so that we can build more then one at a time. I have come out of retirement in order to run things, We have added more and better equipment in order to do more in house and better control quality and lead times. This week we start molding our own windshields in house as this has been a hold up in the past and in the next several weeks as there is a learning curve we will have moved powder coat in house. We have also purchased 2 CNC milling machines that we hope to have up and going over the next several months.
We will also be building a sidecar for one of the made in the USA motorcycles that will be a factory option. We intend to run a dedicated assembly crew and area for these and plan on building about 250 a year. The hard part in all of this is hiring. Finding people that want to work and have even the most basic skill set, things like the ability to read a tape measure and do complex math like what is 3/4 minus 1/2 😉 We offer a very good wage with full benefits and yet as we are in an area that is essentially at zero percent unemployment and are out in the county a ways we get few people to apply. If we can hire, our goal is to get lead times to under 6 weeks. Our lead times have never been more then 7 months on average, ok so once in a while due to paint or some very custom work we may have gone over this but in general we try not to. If lead time are much more then this I take it as a sign that I need to up production and have always done so.
We do have in stock the last 2 dozen or so Sputnik sidecars left any where in the world, We modify these with a stronger axle and a made in the USA wheel and provide them with proper bike specific mounting hardware usually in about 3-4 weeks lead time. While fit and finish on Sputnik sidecars is not the best, and while these are NOS sidecars built about 15 years ago, they are a great value in a robust sidecar that uses a proper mounting system not a bunch of struts with "universal" clamps.
BTW, Champion sidecars is up for sale, they stopped taking orders months ago so that they could have all of the orders filled by the end of last year. If the economics of production no longer work for a company this is the ethical way to close down after first filling all orders. This is also what the previous owner of Texas sidecars did as did Liberty sidecars.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
That's good to hear your business is doing well. There certainly doesn't seem be a shortage of demand for sidecars right now. I'm glad you're handling supply! Sadly, everyone is having labor issues right now. I work in food manufacturing. I've been doing product development for about 10 years and currently work for a large consulting/contracting company. There's a dearth of skilled labor in all industries; it's a major deficit.
I'm excited to see which US manufacturer will be using you for a factory sidecar. That's cool you have NOS sputniks. I have to confess I don't like the style for the bike I'd be putting it on. I have a '95 HD Fatboy which I'm using for this hack. The cozy Euro has the right style and after talking to Kevin about it I'm satisfied with its dimensions/weight and ability to handle the load of a 650lb bike in a turn. However, I will need mounting hardware for it. I think I'll be giving you a call for that part of the project :).
I'll be eagerly watching and waiting for your new factory sidecar!
Kevin at Cozy is one of the "good guy's" in the industry we have been working together for over 20 years. Only met once back in the late 1990's. He will not sell you a sidecar for a bike that he feels it would not be safe one. Most (if not all) of the other companies that sell sidecars made in India are only interested in a sale. Also he only gets the highest quality sidecars that come out of India. I would recommend some up grades to the mounting system which do require welding on the sidecar and are very similar to what we do on Velorex sidecars as can be seen at this link http://www.dmcsidecars.com/the-result-of-improper-sidecar-mounting-and-the-proper-fix/ Provided the sidecar is large enough for your passenger and is mounted well a Cozy may serve you well for year to come and are usually in stock. At this time mounting hardware is about a 4 week lead time from us.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
866-638-1793
If Indian comes out with a sidecar I hope they come out with one that Hannigans has. I think it one of the best ones that looks like it belongs on a Indian. Its nice and easy to get in and out of.
I have seen the Hannigan on an Indian and while I will admit it does look very nice if I were buying one I think I would prefer the DMC Tomahawk
I personally think it is more elegant and better suited for the Indian than the Arrow and you don't have to lift part of the dash to get in and out like the Heritage
but that's just my 2 cents worth
Jay should use the Hanningan style fender, it would make the Tomahawk look 100 % better. His style fender looks good for the trikes but not the sidecar. JMO
As the Tomahawk was designed for the Indian, we lifted the shape of the fender from the front fender of an Indian but widened it by 1/2 inch as we are making ours from fiberglass which is thicker then their steel fender as such if we had not widened it we would not have been able to run the same sized tire. We can leave the fender fully skirted like Indian did in the 1940's or trim it. The fender is attached to the swing arm so we are some what limited in the shapes we can do. We did this so that as the electric trim goes up more of the wheel is not left exposed.
Jay G
DMC sidecars
www.dmcsidecars.com
866-638-1793
Quote from GearheadGrrrl on February 4, 2020, 4:27 pmI visited Motorvation a few days ago and can confirm they are still in business and sidecars are being assembled and installed. They are also supplying parts and doing repairs on sidecars. They've been hit hard by the loss of many suppliers and price increases as well as the tight labor market in the area. They are working to improve cash flow by selling off excess inventory and a couple of their demo sidecars are for sale if anyone wants a sidecar quickly. The business is also available for sale, but the financial sector has no interest in anything related to motorcycles since the bankruptcies of Excelsior-Henderson, EBR, and others but I'm sure owner Mary Sontag will consider offers.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who has taken delivery from Motorvation lately (this year).
I've been waiting for 16 months. They don't answer phones and the 800 line is disconnected.
