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by Victor
Wanchena
German Firm
Wins Bid For Vespa
The Italian company Piaggio, best known to motorcyclists
as the makers of the famous Vespa scooter, has been bought
out by a German investment firm. The Morgan Grenfell Private
Equity offered 752 million dollars for an 80% stake in the
company. They out bid the Texas Pacific Group, the private
investment group that recently saved Ducati from
bankruptcy.
Morgan Grenfell
also owns a 7% stake in Ducati since they went public
earlier this year. Texas Pacific will also retain its 10%
holding of Piaggio. A senior member of Morgan Grenfell's
board says he hopes to follow Texas Pacific's lead and
return the scooter maker to profitability and then go public
with the company in the next three to five years.
Excelsior-Henderson
Keeps On Keepin' On
Excelsior-Henderson is still fighting their recent
financial woes with the announcement that they have missed
one payment of their loan from the State of Minnesota.
According to E-H President, Jack Thorton, the company is
trying to stretch their remaining cash while they revise
sales and production figures. They have reportedly signed a
letter of intent with two of their initial institutional
lenders. The deal will provide an additional 4.5 million
dollars to the cash starved E-H. "This new financing package
not only shows investor confidence in our overall plan,"
said Thorton, "but reflects the significant improvement the
company has experienced in the key areas of distribution,
cost control, and product innovation. Best of all , our
employees, dealers, suppliers, and customers have
accomplished solid progress in just six weeks."
Since the layoffs
and realignment of September E-H reports they have lowered
the component cost of the bikes by 5% and their dealer
network has increased by 20%.
E-H has also
introduced a new model to their lineup. Called the Deadwood
Special, it's basically a standard Super-X with drag bars, a
lower smaller seat, gloss black powder coating on the
engine, and flamed paint job on the tank. It's only
available in black. The name of the new bike comes from the
town in South Dakota where the Hanlons had their first
inspiration to build the Super-X.
Welsh Cops
Caught In Own Speed Trap
Welsh officials don't like speeders, especially speeders
on motorcycles. So to combat the recent rise in rider
fatalities the Welsh have started Operation Safe Rider '99
which among other things encourages riders to obey the speed
limit though the use of speed traps. But since its inception
the program has managed to nail four off-duty constables for
riding at what can only be called an "elevated and
aggressive" pace. In fact all of the constables were clocked
doing in excess of 100 mph. It is unclear whether they were
unaware of their own speed traps or were just in an
incredible hurry.
It is Alive
The Tul-Aris is alive. For those of you who don't
remember, the Tul-Aris is an entirely home brewed GP bike
built around a 700cc Polaris snowmobile motor and the brain
child of astrophysicist and engineer--read rocket
scientist--Dr. Robin Tuluie. Last year we were able to bring
you a series of articles about what Rob and his team go
through in designing and building the Tul-Aris. Now after
some time the Tul-Aris has emerged from its secret
lab.
I was brought
blindfolded to their top secret test location for the
Tul-Aris' maiden run. Sans bodywork and mufflers, it was a
sight to behold performing beyond expectations. The
thunderous roar of the Tul-Aris made me think, "Something
wicked this way comes," and was not unlike the sound of a
Klingon battle cruiser at takeoff. Stay tuned for more about
Dr. Tuluie and the Tul-Aris in up coming issues of Minnesota
Motorcycle Monthly.
M.M.M.
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