The Return of Matchless?

[Hudson]

Franco Malenotti has purchased rights to the Matchless name and plans on re-introducing new versions. Malenotti is a an entrepreneur and motorcyclist who purchased Belstaff in 2004 for 10M Sterling and turned it into a fashion label before it was sold to Labelux, a Swiss company that also owns Bally and Jimmy Choo brands.

According to the article, Malenotti will produce a very limited run of bikes, whilst also launching a Matchless clothing line.

Nice to see some Brit bike brands coming back. Besides Triumph, Royal Enfield, Metisse, and Brough Superior, wonder if the market is ready for another brand. I've always liked the Matchless logo.

 

[Geezer]

I love to have a well built Silver Hawk.

 

[kamal]

Hmmm. I read that the operation could be based in London. Wonder if he got the original plans etc., or just the name? And was the AJS name part of the deal?

Interesting!

Al

 

[SeattleTy]

I can handle riding one those around town, they look like a lot fun

 

[El Toro]

There was an attempt to bring back Matchless back in the late 1980's. The bikes were built with Rotax engines. They had a low production run, and it took a couple of years to clear out the inventory. And the marque failed again.

There have been attempts to bring back Norton a couple of times, including a current attempt that appears to be going slowly. You probably know that when AMC failed in 1966 and Villiers bought Norton's part of it, they also acquired Matchless inventory and parts. For the first few years (from 1967) they used up existing inventory, and there were some bikes that were essentially combinations of Matchless and Norton parts - all, of course, with the Lucas electrics, Smith instruments, Amal carbs, and other common parts.

None of these modern incarnations end up having anything to do with the originals. That's probably a good thing. The originals are mighty pretty to look at, and for their day, they were a lot of fun to ride, but they don't hold up for touring, or even for daily riding, compared to modern bikes. One can only wonder what sort of bike they'll bring out with a new Matchless badge.

In the US, Indian is the marque that gets this recycling treatment. I think Excelsior might have been brought back for a while too.

Meanwhile, in my neck of the woods, another major dealership appears to have bitten the dust. Ultimate Toys Motorsports in Knoxville has been closed for a couple of months, and although they do not acknowledge this on their voice mail, or in any signage on their building, if you call them, there's no one to take your call, and if you go over there, they are "closed for inventory." They had Suzuki, Triumph, Ducati, BMW, Victory, Aprilia, KTM, and other marques.

 

[brady]

Meanwhile, in my neck of the woods, another major dealership appears to have bitten the dust. Ultimate Toys Motorsports in Knoxville has been closed for a couple of months, and although they do not acknowledge this on their voice mail, or in any signage on their building, if you call them, there's no one to take your call, and if you go over there, they are "closed for inventory." They had Suzuki, Triumph, Ducati, BMW, Victory, Aprilia, KTM, and other marques.

This is a growing trend. It's tough for bike dealers to be successful in a tougher economy and the lending law continue to be much more restrictive then they were 3-4 years ago. I also think that dealers can have to many brands. Having to many options can delute what you are truly good at then service goes down. Look at the example of Ulimate Toys. How can you cater to the BMW,Ducati and KTM crowd and still have knowledgeable staff that can help you Japanesse, British or American bike fans? IMHO pick a small handful of bikes that are of similar culture and be experts on those.( Rant/ Hi-jack done

)

I have a friend that tried to bring Norton back here in the States. In the end it just cost too much money. He was going through millions a year and finally just decided that he needed to cut his losses. His bikes were amazing. Im confidant that if they had ever made it to dealers they would have sold very well.

 

[El Toro]

The only successful reincarnation that I can think of is Triumph, and they've been touch and go. Royal Enfield seems to be successful too, but they have been in continuous production in India since 1956, so they're not really reincarnated, but instead just long suffering. The Indian entity that uses Royal Enfield as their name had to do battle over the rights. Neither of these brands have anything approaching a decent dealer network. It takes a certain kind of buyer to put up with it.

Meanwhile, you're certainly right about the problem of diluting expertise when you carry too many brands. I think this was part of the problem for Ultimate Toys. In their best days they had a gigantic inventory. If those bikes were floor plan bikes, they probably ended up in debt to several importers.

One thing that I found to be quite unusual is that two Honda dealers have gone under in this area, and they went under via two different business plans. One went under by being very aggressive in inventory and discounting. He went into bankruptcy with many creditors. The other went under by being unwilling to take any risks at all. All bikes sold at msrp. Nothing but late model low mileage Honda trades were accepted. Minimal inventory on the floor. They would always "order one for you." At msrp of course. The other dealers thought that this guy was nuts. His plan worked up until the 2009-2010 seasons, and then he tried to sell out. Honda would not grandfather in his crummy showroom and service space to a new franchise owner, and so the deal fell through and he just closed. No bankruptcy, but no significant money at the end either.

I'm sad to hear that the efforts to bring back Norton are dead. Their reincarnation in this most recent round was a very beautiful bike. Not even the Barber museum has one.

 

[Niehart]

None of these modern incarnations end up having anything to do with the originals. That's probably a good thing. The originals are mighty pretty to look at, and for their day, they were a lot of fun to ride, but they don't hold up for touring, or even for daily riding, compared to modern bikes. One can only wonder what sort of bike they'll bring out with a new Matchless badge.

Hudon's Matchless almost completed a Vashion Is TT ...

... if you own a old Marchless it's nice to have a friend with a trailer.

 

[El Toro]

I'm sure everyone on the Norton e-mail list got Dan Van Epps note in November about successfully jumping through some of the government hoops for importation and sale of motorcycles. I had the impression from that note, sent less than two months ago, that they were close to being able to bring bikes into the US for sale.

Meanwhile, back at the Matchless G80 / G12 corral, its a shame to use these up ... and that's what we're doing when we turn these old bikes into AHRMA rides or similar.

I don't mind seeing all the CB350s get used up, but its depressing to think of vintage Brit bikes getting ground to dust. I was irked at Barber a few years ago when they took a couple of rare bikes and cobbled them together to make a third bastard bike that was no known model because they wanted to race it around on the track for fun. I guess they paid their money and they can make their choice, but it just seems sad to me. Maybe he had some others, and by killing two he was raising the value of the ones being stored. I dunno....

No one with less deep pockets than John Bloor is likely to be able to bring back Matchless in a credible way, and his hands are full with Triumph.