Andy Wagner is looking for a succession plan

I am 64 years old and still ride with no plans to stop. I rode 275 miles last Saturday on a 1958 Triumph 650. Currently have around 30 bikes and none are for sale!

When I get to around 80 years old, I will start selling and keep about five bikes. Selling the Laverda's may be a problem as the younger riders of today have never heard of Laverda and don't even come over to look at one.
 
What I have in my mind. How can we as the forum save the work and stock as Andy has done and also Wolfgang and others for the future of the spare parts we need.? Could JLO or 3c Moto be a solution and can we ask the forum and the clients support it? I think we all need reliable source of spareparts for the next 10 to 20 years. I personally with my age of 68 feel myself to old to start with a new business …
 
andre g said:
What I have in my mind. How can we as the forum save the work and stock as Andy has done and also Wolfgang and others for the future of the spare parts we need.? Could JLO or 3c Moto be a solution and can we ask the forum and the clients support it? I think we all need reliable source of spareparts for the next 10 to 20 years. I personally with my age of 68 feel myself to old to start with a new business …
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Neither Jean-Louis nor Guiliano are much younger, so the age problem remains and would only be a rather short-term solution. Finding a wealthy, enterprising and resourcefull 25-year-old Laverda tragic is going to be difficult, simply not many of those around, especially none willing to waste much of their their life keeping old, analog, obsolete motorcycles running just to please a motley bunch of old farts that refuse to lay on thier sofas all day.

Quite a few one-marque clubs support spares schemes for members only, but these require quite high financial input to work effectively. Dedicated (and knowlegable!) staffers on a salary with an on-line shop outlet would be a minimum requirement.

As far as I'm concerned, my own tiny little enterprise already takes up a inproportionate amount of time, time I'd rather spend tootling through the landscape enjoying my bikes. I'm not complaining though, it helps to keep my bikes on the road and pay for a nice yearly vacation. My years of self-employment have taught me that I no longer yearn the responsibility that comes with running a larger business, let alone the effort required just to keep the joint running.

At 68, I'm hoping for at least another 10-15 years of wrestling the beasts until I might need to seriously down-size. Also still have a few travel plans/adventures on my bucket list, won't be stopping until I've ticked them all off, or keel over... physical decline is a very real threat!

piet
 
my health and strength was always absolutely top notch until I retired, which happened slowly, only doing the work that came to me (no selling or advertising) and then caring for my late wife (Andrea) eventually took up 100% of my time, this caused me to sell out to a wanker who blew/upset the contacts and failed at 43 years old. 15 years later I still get an occassional tender in the post and maybe a random phone call (they should all, after all, be going to wanker not me). This could easilly happen to anyone who takes on Andy Wag's operation, or Rowan Bell's, Wolfgangs or even Redax, taking it on is one thing, but putting in the effort to succeed is very much another. The market has to be there as well, I did try it a little with the purchase of all Slaters stock of Chott parts, OK, so there were ever only 42 officially imported Chotts to the UK, but selling on the stock of parts (plus bits I had made, cables/springs/gaskets) was 2 maybe 3 enquiries per year, 50% of them from overseas, is that relevant, well maybe if you look at percentages, I was never under any illusion this this was going to become "an income" but I did think I would get maybe 10 to 15 enquiries per year..... no chance
CLEM
 
I’ve gone through something similar with my own small business, and figuring out whether to stay a solopreneur vs entrepreneur made a huge difference. I realized I was too attached to doing everything myself, which made handing things over harder than it needed to be. Letting go of some control and trusting the next person, or system - can really help move things forward without losing what makes it special.
 
I guess if there was a possibility of downsizing the stock to an amount of "essential spares" which we,they or the Clubs could contain in order to maintain our bikes on the road for the foreseeable future it might be a more feasible solution :unsure: and certainly in the clubs interest to maintain membership and sustainability of the clubs future.
The tuning,adapting and cosmetic parts could be seen as down to an individual's choice of which there still must be an abundance of parts available and are not necessarily needed to be "Laverda spares"or essential to the continual running and maintenance of our bikes.
 
Schurminater said:
I guess if there was a possibility of downsizing the stock to an amount of "essential spares" which we,they or the Clubs could contain in order to maintain our bikes on the road for the foreseeable future it might be a more feasible solution :unsure: and certainly in the clubs interest to maintain membership and sustainability of the clubs future.
The tuning,adapting and cosmetic parts could be seen as down to an individual's choice of which there still must be an abundance of parts available and are not necessarily needed to be "Laverda spares"or essential to the continual running and maintenance of our bikes.
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Mention a spares scheme to the ILOC, then duck.
It would appear that the ILOC has decided to sink keeping a stiff upper lip.
Paul
 
I believe the Vincent Owners Club operate a limited company spares scheme ...... ( and maybe Velocette as well ? ) ............

Not sure how that gets by ......... the last Vincents I saw were a Rapude and a Black Shadow being trailered behind a Range Rover along the A38 .......

Good news for the spares company , I thought ....... but they were`nt broken down ....... I saw the Rapide being ridden down the road a little later on , then the two of them back on the trailer heading off in the direction of the M5 .........


The point is , how can The VOC Spares Co Ltd even exist , seeing the number of the Stevenage vees and singles you see on the road appears to be virtually zero ......... and therefore the marque mileage covered and spare part requirement presumably pretty much less than zero ...........

I believe a Limited Company .... which exists as an independent entity ....... has shareholder liability limited to the amount they invested in the company , therefore protecting their personal assets if the company ever happened to go belly up ........


Anyone with a few quid spare to invest in a Moto Laverda Spares Co Ltd ? ....... I`ve got fifty quid I`m willing to risk losing if it didn`t work out ......... ;) .........


The more people willing to invest in such a scheme ....... ( ie members of a club , or even a forum ) ...... the more likely it is to be able to survive as a viable operation surely ......... rather than all the responsibility and risk being shouldered by just one individual .........
 
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rocketonarail said:
I believe the Vincent Owners Club operate a limited company spares scheme ...... ( and maybe Velocette as well ? ) ............

Not sure how that gets by ......... the last Vincents I saw were a Rapude and a Black Shadow being trailered behind a Range Rover along the A38 .......

Good news for the spares company , I thought ....... but they were`nt broken down ....... I saw the Rapide being ridden down the road a little later on , then the two of them back on the trailer heading off in the direction of the M5 .........


The point is , how can The VOC Spares Co Ltd even exist , seeing the number of the Stevenage vees and singles you see on the road appears to be virtually zero ......... and therefore the marque mileage covered and spare part requirement presumably pretty much less than zero ...........

I believe a Limited Company .... which exists as an independent entity ....... has shareholder liability limited to the amount they invested in the company , therefore protecting their personal assets if the company ever happened to go belly up ........


Anyone with a few quid spare to invest in a Moto Laverda Spares Co Ltd ? ....... I`ve got fifty quid I`m willing to risk losing if it didn`t work out .........


The more people willing to invest in such a scheme ....... ( ie members of a club , or even a forum ) ...... the more likely it is to be able to survive as a viable operation surely ......... rather than all the responsibility and risk being shouldered by just one individual .........
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The VOC spares scheme appears viable. Godet have their work cut out and may well be making some parts themselves since they build new Vincents.

www.voc.uk.com

Spares List - Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club

www.voc.uk.com www.voc.uk.com

Godet Motorcycles - The Vincent Specialists

Fort de 40 années d’expériences dans la restauration de motos Vincent et Egli Vincent, Godet Motorcycles vous propose aujourd’hui ses propres modèles
www.godet-motorcycles.fr www.godet-motorcycles.fr
1764341506722.jpeg

There are some Vincents being ridden, but you probably won't see them at pub meetings or bike shows.

Wagner has been notifying the sale of his business for near a year and Rowan who bought the Slaters stock has been selling the whole lot for 2 years. Price was £23 000.

As has been pointed out, amongst others by Red, is that parts need to be stocked and that is money immobilised and going out to pay premises.
You may snigger about Vincent parts, but Laverda parts will be no faster moving, and maybe even less so.
As my good friend Ray Sheepwash, ex ILOC chairman wrote in an editorial at least 25 years ago. "Ride your bikes, wear them out, break them, it'll keep the dealers alive".
He wasn't listened to and the majority of Laverda motorcycles have become old mens garage queens, sometimes taken out if the weather is fine and quickly polished before going back to the garage. Some of these people do ride, but BMWs.

Paul
 
You won`t see me at a pub meet or bike show either ! ........ ( except maybe riding by ) ..........

The VOC Spares Co Ltd does indeed seem to be an impressive operation .........

Maybe the Laverda option is to find someone in the club / forum with double garage space to donate foc ..... get 200 or so riders to donate £250 each in order to buy up any stocks of spares that are available ....... who then as a " member " will be entitled to take advantage of a 90 % discount on whatever spares happen to be held within that stock .......

The only expense as far as the scheme is concerned would be post and packaging ..........

There is still the money tied up in spares which may be slow moving ..... but bear in mind the people who contributed to setting up scheme will be those most likely to use their bikes and be in need of the spares , and would therefore benefit the most .......... and a couple of hundred of quid isn`t too much to ask in the first place .

Additional contributions could be made into the scheme now and again to finance the purchase of the more commonly needed and generally available items or pattern parts .

The garage space donator will be able to bask in the self satisfaction of doing something worthwhile as far as Laverdas are concerned ..... and the people who contributed have the advantage of obtaining those parts at a substantial discount ..... ( sort of getting a return on their investment ) ........

Those who had no interest in the scheme can just get stuffed ......... ( to put it politely ........ ) ............

Of course that won`t help new Laverda owners who would be unaware of all this , or help to finance the build of new parts ..... but you can`t have everything ............
 
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Tippie said:
And someone to take orders, find parts, pack and send, get returns, deal with payments, etc. etc.
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........ and someone to be trusted with the bank balance ............

On second thoughts forget it ............ looks like the best we can hope for is that some of the ex Andy Wagner stuff eventually ends up on Ebay ...... rather than in a skip ............
 
The last email I received from him said he will now be closed ( November ) ........ and will reopen again for 4 weeks only next year ....... June , I think ....... and then will close again for another 12 months ..... reopening again for 4 weeks in June 2027 I suppose ........ assuming he has no takers for the business in the meantime ........

I gave the correct info on here when I received that email a couple of months ago ...... It`s .somewhere in a different post , but I can`t remember exactly where in order to check ............

So it sounds as if he will be closed for 48 weeks of the year , but keeping hold of his stock ...... as for the moment it sounds as if he has no choice , unless a buyer suddenly appears ........

So all you have to do is place your orders with him around next May / June for delivery within that 4 week time frame when he is open again ...........

Could almost be the ideal solution for all parties ...... for as long as that arrangement lasts ....................
 
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