Ridley
2003X
Silver
Double
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Automatic
anyone!
Up until this
last year I was unaware of many fully automatic motorcycles. That is till
I ran into James of Twin City Ridley at the Donnie Smith Bike Show at the
Excel Energy building in St. Paul back in march. Since then I have seen
quite a few of these bikes on the road, and the popularity is growing.
Ridley Motorcycle Company is one of many motorcycle manufacturers that
arose from the motorcycle craze of the 1990's, but with one very sizable
difference. The first Ridley was 3/4's the size of a full size Harley-Davidson
motorcycle. The uniqueness of size and uncompromised quality sparked market
interest and a company that continues to innovate.
In 1997, Clay
Ridley set out to build an ultra high quality, assembly line built motorcycle.
With all the dozens of manufacturers arriving on the scene that year, Ridley
decided to build a motorcycle that would captivate the market. He did this
with the first "Compact Cruiser". Today, Ridley Motorcycle Company
is still producing the compact versions with the addition of a full size,
700cc, automatic motorcycle that is quickly gaining popularity and selling
out in dealerships.
In the first production
year, Clay decided to project a conservative production schedule of 120
units. Ridley Motorcycles managed to secure dealership locations throughout
the U.S. and has interest overseas. The Ridley Motorcycle engine was |
EPA
tested and passed with flying colors without any additional equipment.
The test also revealed the engine to be within the specs required for the
California Emissions Standards set out by the C.A.R.B. Clay exceeded the
goal and went on to manufacture and deliver 160 units by the end of the
first years production.
Now in the fourth
year of production, Ridley Motorcycle Company is growing and increasing
awareness of its products. Early this year, Ridley debuted its new BIGGER
bike with a new 700cc Ridley V-Twin engine and yes, it's still AUTOMATIC.
Quite a stir has been made and sales in his first two months have exceeded
the first five month of 2002 of the compact cruisers. Time will only tell
the future of Ridley, but thus far, business is fantastic. It's a great
time to become a member of the Ridley history by buying a Ridley today.
The future is
automatic for Ridley and with more and more innovative ideas fresh in Clay
Ridley's mind, you've only seen the beginning for the US based motorcycle
company. For more info on the Ridley Motorcycle Give a call to these two
Premiere Ridley Dealers. Twin City Ridley of Minnesota www.twincityridley.com.
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WHO IS RIDLEY?
At age twelve
(1964), an Oklahoma City born young man asked his father to borrow $50
to build a car (from scratch). Either by having an understanding father
or maybe just begging enough, Clay got his money and went to work. Less
than a year later Clay Ridley, 13 years old, had built his own chassis
and was ready for a body to put on this beast. The only body that would
fit on this custom wheelbase was an MGA body. Clay installed the body,
wired it up and was ready to roll in his very own built car that probably
only weighed 1000 pounds and was powered by the Cobra 427 Ford engine.
Needless to say, the car did wheelies in all 4 gears.
Clay Ridley graduated
from John Marshall High School in Oklahoma City in 1970 and enrolled at
Oklahoma State University. After two semesters of college, he left OSU
and joined his father and brother in the Oklahoma Livestock Commission
Company, the family's 75 year old livestock brokerage business located
at the Oklahoma City Stockyards.
Since 1978 Clay
has started and ran a successful trucking company, built his own helicpter
business "with out ever learning to fly one first," to designing a custom
machine to weld polypropylene rope together for a new method of making
a shoe sole. With that being just the tip of the iceberg for this
genius. For the rest of his acheivements check out www.ridleymotorcycles.com |
