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44 |SCOOTERING|AUGUST2019
DEALER PROFILE:
SIP
Theworld’slargest supplier of scooter parts is
celebrating its 25th anniversary but, as Stan
discovered,SIP is still abusiness run by enthusiasts.
N
ovisitor to SIP’s
headquarters in the
beautiful Bavarian town of
Landsberg am Lech can fail
to be impressed. Few
scooter shops have such an inviting retail
space and even fewer are able to welcome
riders withacafé bar and pizzeria. Behind
the scenesasmall army of staff prepare
orders foraworldwide audience of
enthusiasts, whilst elsewhere, the
technical staff work on the latest product
innovations. Looking at SIP today,it’shard
to imagine that 25 years ago its founders
Ralf Jodl and Alex Barth were selling
scooter spares out ofacar boot.
Inspiration
“Like many Germans, Alex andIhad
PK80s,” began Ralf. “Those little scooters
gave many German teenagers their first
taste of freedom, but my goodness they
were slow! Alex andIwere friends and
started to look at ways to improve their
performance. This opened our eyes to the
world of scooters. When others saw the
parts we’d found they asked us how to get
them. At the same time word got out that
two kids were interested in old scooters
and were offered old machines and spares
that people had in their garages. Of
course, this was when poor-quality parts
flooded the market so we also began to
produce our own kits and components. By
1994 we hadagood customer base and
were regular visitors to Italian parts fairs
and rallies. As we drove home fromarally
in the Italian Lakes, Alex calculated that
we’d made€1,000 in an afternoon.We
both realised that it was time to do things
properly.The whole journey home we
talked about how we could make the
dreamareality.”
The name chosen for their new venture
was Scooter Innovation Products, which
was quickly shortened to ‘SIP’. The grand
title masked the reality of parts stored
between the beehives owned by Alex’s
father and 35 square metres of retail space
