As I reported in October in my article “Ridley Motorcycle Company At Idle Speed” The Ridley Motorcycle Company confirmed that it will not manufacture any 2010 models, and instead is launching a Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) program via “2 Wheel Ventures” (Jay Ridley President), the parent company of Ridley Genuine Parts. Ridley’s production is stopped waiting for the economic conditions to improve. Ridley began building motorcycles in 1999 with its most popular model family, the Auto-Glide introduced in 2003. The Ridley CPO program will start nationwide in January 2010 through several participating Ridley Dealers and Service Centers. You can get more info by going to Ridley Certified Pre-Owned Motorcycles.
Ridley Will Not Manufacture 2010 Models But Launches Certified Pre-Owned Motorcycles Program
Published by December 7th, 2009 in Builders, Customs, Editorial and Events.62 Responses to “Ridley Will Not Manufacture 2010 Models But Launches Certified Pre-Owned Motorcycles Program”
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This preowned thing for Ridleys has been going on longer or started way before the date in the article. My wife and I bought an 2006 pre-owned ridley in early november from them. It was a little more expensive than what you can find on ebay but comes with a warranty and has new tires, brake pads, and the trans was overhalled. Be as we recently moved to south florida, we can ride all the time with this great weather. So far Tammy already has put 2500 miles on it. Time to change the oil. If you ask us our experience was good. We couldn’t afford a brand new one so them not building new ones now didnt bother us. Its just you cant wait forever to get the woman what she wants. Merry christmas, happy new year, happy valentines day, happy easter, happy mothers day, happy birthday and so on until the payments are all done to you hunny.
Arvin you can afford more than you think after what those Ridler’s Cost! If I am feeling spiritual, I realize that they are in the Buisness and they do employ People, and they are fullfilling a need. I know that any Lady that can ride a Riddler, can ride a Lowered Sportster and do it for about $8,000 less! My Non Spiritual Being, says that Riddler is not making new Bikes cause there are plenty of Unsold and leftovers around. In the time of “Leaness and Waistelessness”, is when you stop and @#$%^???? WTF did I buy? Where am I going to get $5 G’s for this “Mini-Bike” ! That’s why I call it a Riddler ! THANKS BATMAN!
bgalyts- I beg your pardon. I bought a sportster because someone told me the same nonsense you wrote in your post. I hated every minute of it. It was just a cheap version of a harley or as my dealer put it, “the entry level bike”. Well, just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I have to ride the ugliest looking harley ever made. I wanted a bike that was low and long. The only harley that I liked the looks of is the softail deluxe. The only problem was it was just a little too high for me and the option of lowering the bike would have only taken away from the suspension making the ride not as pleasant. Next to the local harley dealer is was a Ridley dealer who had a couple Ridley’s sitting outside that I noticed as I was leaving the harley store. I went in and was immediately treated better than at the harley store. It was as if I had known the dealer for a very long time. She knew exactly what I was looking for in a bike. All I can say is, so long harley. The Ridley was for me. Ever sense then I’ve been riding a lot more and enjoying motorcycling. Finally. I ride with dozens of riders who felt the same way you do about Ridley until they rode with me. I’ve let several of my friends ride it and have never heard a negative comment. Money well spent, for me at least. But then again, I don’t have harley tatoo’d on my arm as you do I suppose. Mrs. Swiger.
Have done some business with these guys. They are a good group to deal with and have like most of us come on tough times. I wish them all the luck in the world and hope they are one of the survivors from this mess of an economy.
Building Mini-Bikes and havinging for $15,000 should put many a Day of Survival on their Low Budget Builds! It surely Helps having a No Taste, Senior Citizens, like Betty S (Boop) buying those Riddlers (Riddley), helps them continue promoting Women into believing that if not for our Mini-Bikes you might have to stay Home, while yor Man is out doing the dirty deed with a Younger Boopster….! THe No Taste is liking the Looks of a Riddler over all of the Harley Line except the Softail Deluxe ! No Duece, no Softail Springer, no Wide Glide, and you choose a Riddler ! You know there are a easy fix to get the seat height down to 24″. No Harley Tatoo’s and I love Women out there Riding. It is what it is all about getting People out there on 2 Wheels, even if they are on Riddlers ! You know Betty, it still could go worse than a Riddler, you could be a Vespa Senior !>?:”
Sounds like a scheme to get money while Ridley went BK and left many vendors unpaid. Shame on ridley
what does get money mean?
the company I work for has done $100’s of thousands in business with the ridley’s over the past 10 years. don’t think they owe us more than $5k right now. even if we did have to write it off, the business was good and would hate to lose them. business is definitely tough. more than unpaid vendors, i would worry about ridley owners. what would happen to them if ridley were gone?
The Ridley’s are offering to buy Dealers bikes at half the cost they sold them to them for.. And not only Is Ridley Now selling Directly to people, they are selling bikes for less than what the dealers owe on their floor plan with any of their flooring Companies such as Textron and GE on their existing inventory that dealers currently have on their floor. A manufacturer, should never sell directly to the public and start cutting out the Dealers who helped them establish their name. Ridley will deny that Two wheel ventures has anything to do with the production end of Ridley, but the truth of the matter is, Jay and Clay still work together, since they are a father and son team. They also have not complied with all the dealers buy back laws in the states where there are buy back laws. They are selective as to who they buy the bikes back from, and have put the hands (dealers) that fed them from 99 to now in harms way. Not all, But Many. The fact that they are not producing any new bikes for 2010 is no surprise. Don’t expect them to make any new bikes period. With Hondas new Automatic Motorcycle coming on to the scene, better engineered and less than close to half the price of even a RE-FURBISHED RIDLEY, Ridley will not begin producing any bikes at all. The reason Jay Ridley is now president of Two Wheel Ventures, is because Ridley had to and HAS to seperate its entities for fear of lawsuits. They currently will not honor any warranty on any motorcycle even if it’s never been sold or titled. If a Motorcycle is a 2006, 2007, 2008, and has never been sold, they will expire the warranty befopre the bike ever gets sold if a dealer doesn’t hurry up to sell them. The bikes have always been over priced, and these bikes sold well during the time Choppers and Customs were the craze, but they have now priced themselves out of the market, and will never make a full recovery. They also claimed they were making their own parts, which was not true for the most part. Their Chopper tanks were ordered from Custom Chrome. Their engines were made by Briggs and Straton. Tearing one down, there were Briggs and Straton symbols all over the interior of the Engine. When asked at a show or event if it was a briggs engine, they would flat out lie. The bike does have a bit of Power, but never even achieved the 39 Horsepower they claimed. Beware of the Jack Shaft. It’s a very expensive part, and the bikes had SEVERAL issues with them just sheering off in the middle of a ride after a year or two. This not even beating on the motorcycle. Great Concept. American made? No way. American assembled? Sure. Call it what it is, the bike had more chinese parts than american. The engineering was great, the bike had a good low seat height, but their biggest mistake was trying to market to men. Sure, there are some men that ride Ridley’s out there, but their marketing was never handled well, and slowly creeping up from a $13,999 bike to a $24,000 bike, there was no justification for it. Not in only 5 years when the only thing that changed were options and color schemes and nothing else mechanical. The bike had very MINOR improvements in the mechanical aspect, and never increased beyond a 738 cc in power. The NEw Honda automatic will be a true 800 with better engineering. Even their Re-Furbished Ridley’s starting at $10,000 is way over priced. That and the fact that its used. “Nobody” I agree.. Shame on Ridley for getting GREEDY, and now even more so, trying to SUPER lowball their current and previous dealers. Shame on them is right. The cost of building a Ridley in their hay day was $9000-$11,000. How in the world would $24,000 be fair to the public?
Dealer,
We aren’t bitter or vengeful are we? Really sucks doesn’t it when a manufacturer tells the dealer “We really don’t need you anymore”? Sure puts an end to the bogus warranty claims to the manufacturer that helps support your bottom line doesn’t it? Suck it up and take it like a man and quit bitchin !
Funny you would say that Anti-Dealer. You need ALL your dealers.
They are who made your manufacturing plant what it is. You obviously don’t need them now because now you’re selling directly to the public. Way to help your dealers that still have inventory.
Good way to keep them happy and keep relationships healthy in the future. If you have money to buy used and new inventory, why not pay off the money to the people you owe. Ridley won’t ever produce any #’s again. Why? Because you’ll never even buy frames again or have them produced again, and if you don’t have them produced, you can’t make new bikes, and a manufacturer should never sell directly to the public, even if you ARE hiding behind your two-wheel venture name. By the way, who is supporting the Ridley warranty these days? Two Wheel Venture? Or Ridley Motorcycles? Makes ya wonder how people are going to get their bikes fixed for free under warranty.
Dealer – if a dealer sucks, why would you need them? We have a Ridley dealer in my area that definitely gives Ridley a very bad name. I bought a Ridley from Twin City Ridley in 2005. I had to look past their location, the dealer manager (who doesn’t know anything about motorcycles) and the mechanic who couldn’t tell me how and when to service the transmission. Only because I met the Smiths from Missouri who are Ridley dealers did I buy a Ridley. Dispite knowing I should have given my business to the dealer who convinced us to buy, I went to Twin City Ridley to buy. After my first service I havent’ been back. I have an independent mechanic do all my regular service.
My bike has been out of warranty for years, but I can honestly say that in the four years I’ve ridden the bike I have only had two issues. One was a bad break pressure light that was fixed under warrranty only a few weeks after buying the bike. The other issue was an oil leak coming from the air filter that was fixed by my mechanic who worked with Ridley to fix. I love my Ridley. I hate my local dealer.
In my mind, if all Ridley dealers were like my local dealer I can see why Ridley would be having trouble. I just wish Ridley would have gotten a real dealer here in Minnesota. BTW- I think you bring up a good idea. Ridley should sell direct because I bet it would have saved me money. Doubt you were selling Ridley’s at your cost.
Mn Ridley Rider,
I also bought my Ridley from the Minnesota Dealer. He started in a small tiny shop. Went from there to a bigger place right down the road, and now is a Top Dealer for All the Brands he carries. Last time I was in his shop, he still had a few Ridley’s on his floor. Strangely enough, When I bought my wife her bike, we didn’t think he would last, but we gave it a try anyway. Since we have been his cusomters since 2004, he has always treated us with respect, and treated all the gals that went on rides with his dealership like family. We supported his rides, and still do to this day. The owners there have always been as loyal to his customers as they were to him. So if you had issues, I highly doubt they were his. His own customers would help out at his events, and I myself also helped out my wife at the dealers events when she needed a break. His charity work for children always helped out the local communities. He was always at events promoting the line, and is always a hands on owner. Good job to him. I met the Ridley’s a few times. Clay was alright, but his kid Jay was always a smug character. No one really liked him all the years he came to the shop. If there’s any reason why the Ridley’s are almost out of business, it’s because of him. I agree with Dealer, without them, you ain’t nothin. And Bogus warranty claims? If you’re referring to the MN Dealer, I’d trust him with my bike and I ride a Harley. They still have great staff over there, and the loyalty from the Ridley customers is still there. Too bad you weren’t loyal Mn Ridley Rider, maybe if you stuck around, you would have seen and been able to appreciate his hard work.
I too bought my little speedster from the dealer in MN. Had the privledge of meeting the owner from the Mn Dealer at one of the Ridley rallies a few years back. Only 26 people showed up but it was fun.
Then the Ridley’s brought some of their crew, and they were nice too. I think they felt embarassed because so few people showed up, but there were a lot of nice people from the U.S. The Mn dealer, he was nice and so was a guy he brought with him. Nothing but praise for them. They made my buying my bike easy. I still call them once in a while to see how they are doing. They always remember me by name, and by what bike I bought, and it’s still the custom color they got it painted. Love my bike. And thank you Mn Dealer.
No need to respond to “Real Minnesota Ridley Ridley”. It is the dealer responding to my earlier remarks. (as if that wasn’t completely obvious) If I am right, its the manager acting like he’s the owner. Funny. The store is owned by an native-american family.
the only ridley dealer I ever saw was the one in minesota. being from wisconsin, I had heard there was one out here, but they closed. i didnt even no there was another one out there bsides them. nice folks though
No need to respond to “MN Ridley Rider”, It’s JAY RIDLEY pretending to be someone from Minnesota.
What a bunch of goofballs. The guys at the Mn dealer were always respectful. We sold our bike because corporate pissed us off by not backing up their product. End of story. Hey Ridley? Who’s backing your warranty? Jay? Pfffft!
No “Dealer” it is not. I live in Ramsey, MN. I own a 2005 Black and Grey Autoglide. Anyone that wants to know about my experience with Twin City Custom Cycles, please email me. ksinmn@google.com
Who cares? So this Ridley thread is now a topic about some Dealer? Get a life.
We were going to buy a new 2009 Ridley. couldn’t find one anywhere. Then we were going to buy one from the new york dealer. Found out Ridley bought all of theirs back. that scared us off completely. Looks like they were closing before this announcement was made. Definately scared us away. Good thing we didn’t.
Funny, that e mail just bounced back to us. FAKE E MAIL MN Ridley rider!, i mean “Jay”
What the HELL! How did this turn from Ridley going out of business to Ridley bashing dealers?
Im getting emails everyday. Not sure why it didn’t work.
Oops. My computer auto corrected it wrong. ksinmn@gmail.com
Hey MN Ridley Rider, why don’t you share your name. I will then call the dealer out in MN. Ask them if they know you or sold you the bike, and then I will personally repost what they said to me about You on here. Fair?
It’s true. The Ridley’s also did not follow the buy back laws in my state. The only ones they kiss ass to are the dealer in Missouri or some place over that way. But I highly doubt their business is picking up. If anything, they probably already closed or will be close to closing. I wonder how Ridley selling direct to the customers will affect their business now. Good luck Honda.
Did it to me too! Bastards! The only one willing to help me was the mn dealer, but he told me he didn’t like Jay either because that kid doesn’t know to keep his mouth shut. Silver spoon fed MOFO! GO HONDAMATIC!
I found the new Honda automatic on their website under crossovers. It’s not half the price. It’s $15,999.
Its still gonna be better engineered than a Ridley. It’s Honda. Plus they actually back what they say.
Can’t go wrong with a Honda.
It’s not for me. By the way. I had my brake caliper replaced last month and my Ridley warranty paid the dealer. Didn’t have to pay the dealer a dime to repair. Not sure what all the chat is about not getting warranties paid.
Did you have to call Two Wheel Ventures Or Ridley for the warranty repair?
Not sure what the dealer did. I have a faxed copy of an approval on Ridley letterhead with an approved “repair time” and parts required that my dealer gave me with my paper work.
Try working for these guys (Ridley’s) Biggest cheap xxxxx I ever met.
Why would Ridley corportate claim that their engines was not a Briggs engine? Sure they may have torqued them to get more power out of them, but that still doesn’t make it a “RIDLEY” engine.
We asked at the top 50’s park in sturgis, and one year they (Clay and Jay) said, “we make them”. REALLY? as in you guys cast the blocks and the entire aluminum casting of the entire engine? They said “yes”. The next year I asked them the same question. Their response, “We have them cast for us in Milwaukee”. Ok? So? Is the Briggs made in Milwaukee? Does anyone know the answer to this question?
We sold Ridley their engines… we started out with the small engines, and when they asked for more power, we sold them the bigger engine. Its as simple as that.
Readers beware. This thread has been over run by lies. Don’t believe half the crap on here.
I highly doubt any of the lies are coming from the people that have dealt directly with Ridley corportate. These are not things I’ve heard myself for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th time from many.
Its a good thing Cyril allows people to be heard.
These two guys, father and son team, are quick to forget the favors people do for them, nor do they ever give credit where credits due. Their demise will be their own doing. They never understood the concept of being good to their dealer network. Now they have less than 10 dealers. And their #’s are only going down. This is why they have now chosen to sell directly to the public instead of trying to help any of their dealers move their current inventory.
Boy I don’t think I have ever seen such a rush to kick someone while their down.
I’ve owned a Ridley and never had an issue with them or my dealer. It was a great experience. I recommend Ridley and the products.
I think Clay Ridley has added a great deal to motorcycles with his designs. I wish him the best of luck through these hard times. Heck I just found where Big Dog is struggling. I doubt any motorcycles are selling right now.
MonkeyMan Mike
My personsal experiences with Ridley are consistent with their reputation as being a first-class operation and business. Best wishes to Mr. Ridley and the entire industry of employees, parts suppliers, dealers and customers moving forward.
They sure didn’t pay first class. They didn’t even want to re-imburse for gas money. Thats First Class? To WHO? They are gonna need all the luck moving forward, but Karma will soon tell everyone that they will never produce bikes again. Not new.
Own two, love them. Have been to the factory several times for the ROC Rally. Can’t say enough about the company, its employees, and the product. I agree that karma will come into play. Everyone at Ridley has been more than helpful even after the warranties on both bikes ran out. Even if Ridley doesn’t make it I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the Ridley’s in this industry. Im not sure what “reimburse for gas money” means. Who get “gas money” and what for?
Gas Money is just one of the things they wouldn’t re-imburse for when working for them. If we made a trip somewhere, and I had to drive seperate, they would not re-imburse. Not to mention all the extra hours put in. But you’re right, Karma will play its piece. They won’t pull out of this, but at least you’ll be able to get parts still.
I would like to know how this is supposed to help us?
Maybe Ridley should step up to the plate here and answer this question.
How many miles can you get out of a Ridley? I have 9 bikes . All different KTM, Buell, Kawasaki , Harley ect Thanks jake
I know another Ridley rider from NC that has 80k and one in KY with 50k on a Ridley. Both mine only have 21k and 9k. For fuel miles I get about 50 on both.
did I read this wrong or what? It says Ridley is doing the used bikes but the website says its not ridley but the two wheeled adventures selling the used with a warranty? Why wouldn’t any Ridley dealer do this? It says you can buy these bike from Ridley Dealers? Current Dealer with Inventory- do you have used ridleys? Or have you had luck with selling used ones? I have thought about upgrading to the later model with the nicer speedo.
BR
Browse, what speedo are you looking for? The NEWER speedo with the needles in it that looks gaudy on the tank has had a lot of issues. Were you looking for the digital speedo with the tach?
The speedometer on the tank with tach and speedo. Much easier to read than either the bicycle one or the led one and makes the tanks look smaller. Its an Autometer speedometer, at least the one I saw in Myrtle beach was. Ultimately we want to find a good deal on a 2009 Clay Ridley Special. It has the tank speedo and fuel gage. Not a fan of the brown seat or grips but thinking that could easily be changed. Do you any of those? I heard they all sold out before they were built.
BR
It saddens me to see that an American company is being bashed here over petty personality issues. Our country does not have enough manufacturing companies making products in the US; and we need to support those few companies left. I think it is sad to think that only foreign makers can make a good product. I hope that Ridley as an American company can turn itself around. I want to have the option to buy an Automatic bike made in the US.
Go Honda. can’t go wrong with a new automatic Honda plus it’s faster and better engineered and worth the money
Except Hondas are ugly. I have an all black Ridley Sport and from what I see they (Ridley) are trying to do everything they can to support current owners and hopefully get back into production. My bike runs great, sounds awesome and gets more attention then any other bike I am around. The only bikes that will draw the crowds from around mine has to be custom or a chopper and even those guys give me the thumbs up like I am one of them. I have had people crowd around my bike and give me the thumbs up at cross walks while I am stopped waiting for the lights to change. Hard core bikers give me the thumbs up and the finger to Hondas. Yes I am sorry to say but my bike gets more attention then the Harleys I have been around. I am with Jen Support American Made. Especially when they have something good. You would be obscure on a Honda.
except that you got ripped off with a Ridley, but if it floats your boat all the power to ya. If it costs the factory $9000 to build’em, how much did you pay for yours?
I was at the Harley shop the other day and I cost 1/4 to 1/3 less then an all black Harley Cross Bones. The Frame on the Ridley looked Rolls Royce campared to the Harley, even the Harley dealer noticed this as well as a machinist that looked at my bike. The whole front end on my bike is Harley or the got the parts from the same supplier. The wheels even the belt final drive and rear sprocket were the same parts as on the Harley except the wheels were all black on the Ridley while the Cross Bones still had silver hubs. The Lights and and lenses I can get at the Harley shop. Its built by hand and not by robots. Do you really think the retail a Harley is not at least 100% more then it cost the factory to build. I would bet more. An a Honda is probably Much more then 100% more as most Items from south east asia. This information is highly guarded by manufacturers not even the dealers know this. I can tell you from having dealt with some manufactured products that 100% mark up from factory cost is low and when they come from South East asia it is more like 400% or more. I know Items that are marked up by 300% by retailers and thats after the factory mark up. Even when they have clearence sales at 50% they are still making money compared to factory price let alone manufactuers cost. But are they, there are cost to sales based on volumns a salaries and competion keeps this in line. American made competes with much lower wages from their over seas competition and the mark up is usually less. If you only knew.
I’d go with the new Aprilia 850cc Automatic bike. You can paddle-shift, foot shift or lock it into throttle auto. Plus the gastank is in the rear tail and the “fake gastank hold your helmet (and locks!)
Yamaha has a High powerd scooter too except they forgot to put a fake gas tank up front and it still looks like a scooter instead of like a Honda or Aprilia. Plastic seats too.
Ridley and H-D Settle 7-Year Legal Battle
Ridley Motorcycle Company has agreed to discontinue use of the trade name “Auto-Glide” in any future models as part of a settlement it has reached with manufacturing giant Harley-Davidson; the suit was brought against Ridley in 2003.
The full terms of the settlement have not been disclosed as part of the settlement agreement.
The case was tried in the Eastern District of Wisconsin Federal Court in August 2007, but a verdict had not been announced before the suit was settled. Ridley introduced its automatic transmission Auto-Glide models in 2003 and remains the only U.S. motorcycle manufacturer to offer a fully automatic transmission. Ridley and Ridley Dealers will continue to refer to previous year model Auto-Glides as Auto-Glides.
why keep fighting this one when its draining you of all your money…
They don’t have any money. They owe SEVERAL of us a lot of money. Clay’s a liar, Jay’s a prick. Simple as that. You get what you deserve. Sucker punch somebody, they’re gonna come back at you with twice the force…that’s karma.
You can all piss, moan and whine about how great they are, or their bikes are, but their business practices are what are truly in question, and obviously their pricing.
Good bye Ridley. I’ll take my lumps in the pocket, just to see you fold. Come back with some integrity next time.
Just my opinion, what did you supply to Ridley? I am part of a company looking to purchase the assets of the business and am interested in knowing some background. My offer to Ridley would mean that all vendor debt would be settled.
Ridley owes me money too. Except, I’m not bitter. In 8 years of business, we sold them $1.4mm in parts. Are currently owed $21,000 and if we had to write it off I’m more upset about loosing the sales than the $21k. We cashed a lot of checks from them over the years and wish they were still buying as stong as they use to. But then again, nearly every account we have these days is going through the same thing. Clay has always been good about calling with the latest news about a potential buyer or refinancing. I can’t blame him if the market conditions have fallen apart around us all. I guess if you thought he was just trying to get you off the phone with a made up story about some new business buyer you would think he was lying, but he called me nearly every week. I felt sorry for him and decided to leave him alone.
If you are a vendor, your missing the sales more than the balance due. I hate to see anyone have to fold up because Obamanomics.