I have several customers with sidecars now on order with us that after waiting absurdly long amounts of time for sidecars they have on order with Motovation placed orders with us. Motovation has refused any refunds and keeps giving them the run around on delivery times. Today, one of these customers informed me that Motovation is now in Bankruptcy. Do not know if they are reorganizing or liquidating. If you have a sidecar on order with Motovation you might check on the status. Nothing is showing on their web site. In any event, I would not place any new orders! Jay G DMC sidecars 866-638-1793 www.dmcsidecars.com
Absolutely! Place your orders with Freedom Sidecars, they don’t advertise other’s misfortune to try to rake in business and they don’t have issues “bad batches of materials” as excuses for chassis failures.
Jay is doing people a favor here. And yes he does need to pay the wages and the overheads. But he already had plenty of business.
Jay, that was a cheap shot. Instead of publicizing Motorvation and it's now very ill owner's misfortune you should join those of us who would prefer to save Motorvation for the future. Living nearby I've been a regular guest of Motorvation's owner and loyal workers and witnessed the slow slide into bankruptcy. It appears that no crimes were committed at Motorvation, just some of the innocent mismanagement of assets that's common in small family businesses- For example, there are "lifetime supplies" of several sidecar parts on hand but not enough cash flow to pay suppliers to build more sidecar tubs to mount them on. There are also several demo sidecars and trailers that should have been sold long ago and parts inventory and tooling that would take several hundred thousand dollars to duplicate. There is also the invaluable asset of Mary and workers like Gary who have four decades experience building sidecars and trailers, and prices should have been raised long ago. I've looked into buying Motorvation myself and with other potential investors and I couldn't make the numbers work- There's probably over $100,000 in deposits on orders that would have to be fulfilled and that was a deal killer. Hopefully by shedding those liabilities that could never be fulfilled via bankruptcy Motorvation can remain whole and in business to serve us sidecarists in the future. That's the outcome I want to see and hopefully you and other sidecarists will join me in keeping Motorvation alive. The alternative is total liquidation, and sidecar parts and tooling go for pennies on the dollar in rural Iowa auctions...
Poor Jay's a victim alright ! Of his own reputation, he builds allot better sidecar than he used to but it seemed to be be a long learning curve. I hope his customer service has improved.
Since I have recently been considering a Motovation Spyder sidecar, I for one really appreciated the warning. It may have been somewhat self serving of Jay but it was useful to me. I have visited the Motovation website frequently in the last couple of weeks and there is no indication of trouble or delayed deliveries. The email Jay sent prompted me to do some searching on the company. Frankly, I have a lot more sympathy for the people that left large deposits and got no sidecars than for the ill owner. Just glad I didn't become one of them.
The sidecar buyers are probably out a few thousand bucks, they'll survive that and live to find another sidecar. Motivation owner Mary Sontag who kept the company alive after her husband passed away a couple decades ago probably won't be so lucky.
When you get rid of the bad mfg company’s, the good well always get better. Maybe it might be possible for Harley and California Sidecar to start making them again.
Disdain for the opportunist. Love for the failed business that continued to collect deposits with little to no hope of delivering (which also seems opportunistic). Got it. Is there a Reader's Digest version?
I'm not getting the negative comments towards Jay. If I was about to send off a deposit I sure as heck would not want to see it disappear into the black hole of bankruptcy. I would welcome a heads up from someone in the know and feel resentful if I could have been told and wasn't. And Ms GHG, saving Motovation for the future by taking deposits that won't result in a sidecar and won't be refunded, which could have happened if it had all been kept quiet, doesn't seem a sound business plan for the rejuvenation of the business. Besides which you said you couldn't make the numbers work anyway.
Sorry to destroy the above fantasies, but with or without Motorvation being around neither HOG(NYSE) or California are likely to get back into the sidecar business and Motorvation has been completing and delivering sidecars within the last couple months.
Just another short sad chapter in the demise of the Merican sidecar business, Motorvation was or is nice little shop does or did allot of it's own work. Merica always says it loves small business mom and pop etc etc We don't trust big government but we loved big bidness that brought us Boeing, GM , Chrysler government bailouts public funding and tax deferred sport stadiums, the NCAA and big profits from unpaid athletes. I can go on forever we even have professional amateur adv riders example Helge Pedersen. All this is about what ? If your not extremely successful in Merica you must be guilty of something ! Mary was or is a pleasant woman so Motorvation's demise is sad Jay and DMC are what they are and have a history, we don't need to go over the stories ! Ok for those who don't get it there are inmates on this thread who have done business with DMC and have had structural failures while using their rigs. DMC apparently doesn't call you up and say " we've had issues with product like yours if you bring it by we will upgrade at minimal cost. A little good will would go a long way.
And while some of the deposit makers may wish to believe they'd been scammed, nobody at Motorvation is suddenly rich and retired in luxury somewhere warm. There are no winners here, and we're all losing to some degree- The deposits are probably lost, the parts supply for us current owners is uncertain, jobs are probably lost, Sibley may have another big empty building downtown, the owner is on oxygen and after medical appointments I'm amazed she has the energy to make it into work, and her kids inheritance is probably lost. So quit beating up on the folks at Motorvation and give them a break!
My friends and I used to skate in their production building with Mary's kids when I was younger. Sad to see another building sit empty in that small town.
I don't see it as beating up on Motovation. More like beating up on Jay for suggesting a check up of the status of your order if applicable. And nobody had suggested or inferred 'scammed' except the person defending Motovation.
