Skip to content

USCA Sidecar Forum

For some extra information about navigating the forum you can go to Forum Tips

Please to create posts and topics.

2014 Motorvation Engineering

Page 1 of 4Next

Any other 2014 New potential owners out there?

Not 2014, but perhaps in a year or two--I like the looks of their sidecars.

That's what made me put a deposit on one.

They once gave me a grand tour of their works. I was favorably impressed with both their engineering and machine work.

I actually got an estimate from them for matching their Spyder to my 2002 Bonneville, but the price was out of my range then.

Had to call to find out that after a 4 month estimate from 5 April 2014 that I am now only "1/2 way through the pecking order". I have emailed a couple of times re: completion with not much response, but a Facebook comment about Murphy's new Doggles and a " still waiting" remark drew an admonition within hours last month. PM FOR DETAILS.

Allmost 6 weeks out from "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah", we are like at least one other client; by way of Yelp posted on 06/ 2014;

"""""We ordered our side car July 26, 2013 in hopes to pick it up and travel RT 66 on my 66th birthday. It now looks like that won't happen as we have no delivery date or production date. Pat S.""""

I am not one to paste crap on the Web, but C'mon Man. No email, message, phone call about delays or delivery expectations except "we are a little behind ...".
Great Service and Customer relationship may get a Company a reference, but none and no product or bad product will get a company a lot of verbiage.

Not many options left.

DWP

96flgeez - 11/3/2014 12:30 AM

Allmost 6 weeks out from "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah", we are like at least one other client; by way of Yelp posted on 06/ 2014;

"""""We ordered our side car July 26, 2013 in hopes to pick it up and travel RT 66 on my 66th birthday. It now looks like that won't happen as we have no delivery date or production date. Pat S.""""

I am not one to paste crap on the Web, but C'mon Man. No email, message, phone call about delays or delivery expectations except "we are a little behind ...".
Great Service and Customer relationship may get a Company a reference, but none and no product or bad product will get a company a lot of verbiage.

Not many options left.

DWP

GLAD YOU POSTED THIS AS I HAD NARROWED DOWN MY CHOICE FOR NEW HACK TO 2 CHOICES, I GUESS THE OTHER ONE WINS. THANK YOU

came back to edit, just want to get facts straight in my fogged up brain, if ya think answering my questions will cause you problems then pm me, but I think a open forum answer would benefit buyers
am I right in reading that you ordered your s/c in 2013 and still don't have it?
were you going to install yourself or have factory do it?
do you order a lot of custom features that would account for the delay?
thanks and I wait for your response

The 2013 contract had not been fulfilled in time for a Rt66 trip by another client, and that was posted in Jun 2014 on Yelp by "Pat S.".

All of the options I ordered were/are straight off the build list. Paid for a matching Harley wheel, matching single color paint and striping. Optional windscreen, brakes, etc. All of it was added up, deposit made in April 2014, 4 month DELIVERY ESTIMATE STATED, photos sent and got verification after I called to add a steering dampener and was assured that was not a problem.

I waited till about one month before estimated due date to check on progress and inform them the first two weekends in August were not going to be good for us to bring out the bike from Indianapolis for prepaid install and ask about near overnight accommodations with no response till FB post in JULY 2014. I sent another email to them and got the 'little behind' response.

Check their FB page, Motorvation Engineering and look for post about 'Murphy and his Doggles' and the following exchanges. The FB response came back in about 3 hours. I sent a message to explain my FB post as not a sideways query RE: delivery and did get the 'we are a little behind'. Followed up with an email "September or October?" No response, called later and got, "Your half way through the pecking order."

I have no idea WHAT IS HAPPENING. The Yelp post was discovered in an online check of other forums and searches to see if anyone had any info on 2014 contracts.

I had posted some amounts about deposit, but edited that out.

The FB respondee is my original contact and my last call and the response, 'Half way through', was with another employee after asking to speak to my initial contact.

Dave

bought mine used '78 Spyder (prototype?) ordered needed mounts for FLHST $700 easy install great ride much different than the TLE on my EGlide. For another long wait try Liberty.

Would this be yours? The one that I found in an aircraft hanger in Nampa, ID a couple of years back that has a belly tank?

Lonnie

Attached files

Well atleast the Company is monitoring it's FaceBook page. They deleted my post that linked their Better Business Bureau rating and complaint record in less than a day...

To be fair; business are not required to be Accredited. Ratings are explained on the BBB site for Accredited and non Accredited. One complaint for the last 3 year period. Widow was asking for refund. Interesting read.

http://www.bbb.org/iowa/business-reviews/motorcycles-supplies-and-parts/motorvation-engineering-in-sibley-ia-32053833

Still waiting for some response on open contract after approximately 7 months, three weeks.

Yelp and BBB trails are a b---h.

yes that is it the fuel pump is missing and the filler cap has a broken latch. I added a hd turn signal to the tail light. I would like to find a spoke wheel and wind shield.
I've got the '98 road king and TLE I got from you up for sale has a rebuilt motor.

96flgeez, sorry for the delay and hope you get your hack soon. I live near Motorvation and visit frequently and can verify that they are indeed still building sidecars and working their way through the long list of orders. When an option like a matching wheel, turn signal, etc. is ordered they have to order those parts and wait for them to arrive, then fit the sidecar into the production schedule when all the necessary parts arrive. Same with custom paint, especially if it has to match an older or rare bike. If you want faster delivery, it's best to buy the sidecar in the quite durable black or white gelcoat and limit your options to what Motorvation has in stock.

GearheadGrrrl - 12/1/2014 2:43 PM

96flgeez, sorry for the delay and hope you get your hack soon. I live near Motorvation and visit frequently and can verify that they are indeed still building sidecars and working their way through the long list of orders. When an option like a matching wheel, turn signal, etc. is ordered they have to order those parts and wait for them to arrive, then fit the sidecar into the production schedule when all the necessary parts arrive. Same with custom paint, especially if it has to match an older or rare bike. If you want faster delivery, it's best to buy the sidecar in the quite durable black or white gelcoat and limit your options to what Motorvation has in stock.

GearheadGrrrl,

Welcome to the Forum as a 'New User'. Hope to hear more from you soon on the Forum to increase your post numbers. As well as another respondee to this thread. I have noticed an increase in FB correspondence monitoring, by the Vendor, to remove tracks of my questions and their responses about delays and BBB ratings and complaints.

I really would like to hear from the Motorvation Engineering if any options ordered are delaying my contract commencement and completion, but that time does not seem important to the them. Some kind of simple response from Motorvation Engineering to our emails about what is now a 4 month delay, would be greatly appreciated. Email and telephone activity seemed to be important in April of this year when ordering, but after July's questions about delivery, communication has been scarce.

'A bit behind' and '...half way through the pecking order' as emails and telephone responses do not offer any consolation to a simple question. When. There has never been any indication the options would delay delivery, even at the time of initial deposit. At that time with options, a 4 month estimate with the condition of 32 previous contracts was offered and ACCEPTED.

The delay in completion is not the primary concern, but the lack of correspondence in reference to A delivery and the appearance of stonewalling. Something that has been mentioned in online discoveries by others in dealings with Motorvation Engineering. If a non standard component to Motorvation Engineering, a Harley Davidson wheel as an example, is delaying commencement of the build by it's lack of availability, then a simple change to an order could have helped resolve the delay in even beginning a build.

If you visit Motorvation Engineering again soon, PLEASE extend my sincere desire to the staff to successfully completing this contract and simply let us know what is going on.

Actually, I'm not really a new user- I've been on this board several times over the years, but spend most of my time over at advrider.com and the various airhead forums. I also put out a blog over at http://www.GearheadGrrrl.com .

Back to the trials and tribulations of custom building sidecars, and for that matter custom building anything. The sidecar market is a small one, and that small volume is split between a half dozen or so manufacturers and importers just in America. So small a market that I doubt any manufacturer is selling more than a few hundred sidecars a year, with the exception of Ural. With these low volumes some manufacturers and importers like Velorex and Texas sidecar go with a basic model or two... Which simplifies inventory and speeds production. Most manufacturers custom build to a degree, some to the point where there is no standard model and every sidecar is a one off and long delays in production are to be expected. I believe you mentioned 48 orders ahead of yours... That translates into over a hundred thousand dollars of inventory just to build those 48, never mind stocking parts to build any other combination of options and custom parts the next customers may order. As you can see, there's no way a small business can maintain that kind of inventory, nor keep enough staff to deal with the avalanche of orders that come every spring and then dries up in the fall. There is also frequently a need to engineer custom requests and find parts vendors- Even if they've done it before, sometimes parts sources disappear and they have to find new ones or substitute a different one. I've worked most of my life in the trucking business and it was the same way- even though my employer bought hundreds of trucks a year, even a fairly standard truck took 6 months from order to delivery and something custom like a step van with a diesel engine often took a year or two- In fact many times Ford, Freightliner, etc. would build a special model for us and it took a couple years to engineer it, get all the DOT and EPA certifications, procure all the parts, assemble the chassis, and have the body installed.

Actually, we're fortunate that Motorvation can build a sidecar and mounting hardware for many motorcycles without our having to leave the motorcycle there- Some of the other manufacturers require that you leave the bike there for them to work with. In fact, Motorvation can build a sidecar and ship it to you, with no need to actually travel to their shop, and with their excellent instructions they're easy to install. BTW, have you had a chance to visit their shop yet? I'd highly recommend it!

And no, I'm not a "shill" for Motorvation, just a happy owner of a Spyder and Formula II who has no financial interest whatsoever in the business. And while I've been waiting going on a year for a new seat, when I've seriously needed repair parts they've promptly supplied them or directed me to a vendor for them... Can't complain about that! Both of my Motorvation sidecars are over 20 years old, and one has over 100,000 miles on it... What's a years wait, when your sidecar is going to give over 20 years of riding satisfaction!

********************
"Actually, we're fortunate that Motorvation can build a sidecar and mounting hardware for many motorcycles without our having to leave the motorcycle there- Some of the other manufacturers require that you leave the bike there for them to work with. In fact, Motorvation can build a sidecar and ship it to you, with no need to actually travel to their shop, and with their excellent instructions they're easy to install. BTW, have you had a chance to visit their shop yet? I'd highly recommend it!

And no, I'm not a "shill" for Motorvation, just a happy owner of a Spyder and Formula II who has no financial interest whatsoever in the business."

*********************

We just wanted to be a Happy Owner also. 32 not 48. Never asked to justify inventory vs production costs. Just agreed to pay an amount for a product over an estimated given amount of time, with some expectations of discussion over delay. Just sayin'.

.....................................................

Gearheadgrrrl,,

.......................................
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Date registered 7/29/2013 12:55 PM
Last logon 12/2/2014 1:31 AM
Total posts 2

++++++++++++++++++++++

MY CONCERNS ARE WITH Motorvation engineering.... out

............................................................

Even with the sidecars, I've only ridden about 30 miles since it turned cold three weeks ago. It's winter, the time when we catch up on repairs and building new stuff up north here, which means Motorvation is getting' caught up and come spring your sidecar will be ready to go!

......... Can I cite your visit recommendation? ...................

Page 1 of 4Next