COM PA N Y´S HISTORY
Young, naive, but raring to go: the two founders Ralf Jodl and Alex Barth in 1994
INTRO
DEAR SCOOTERISTS! It’s a quarter of a century since we founded SIP Scootershop in a garage. We stored our first products between the beehives owned by Alex’s father. In the absence of staff, we took the parcels to the post office by Vespa ourselves. Those were the days!
A lot has happened over the past two and a half decades: We have taken plenty of right decisions, and some wrong ones. We‘ve met people who‘ve become friends. We have been able to look at the topic of „scooters“ from a variety of angles. There have been stressful times, like sitting in front of the keyboard at two o‘clock in the morning in the cold former barracks in Erpftinger Straße wearing our jackets and gloves trying to come up with descriptive texts for the next catalogue. There have been moments of considerable joy, such as the road trips with friends and employees, when we arrived at the sea after a 1,000 km journey, with dust from the road on our faces, and raised a toast over an ice-cold beer. We have laughed, mused, celebrated and mourned together. This time line tells of these stories, highlights the milestones of the SIP history and reports about the big and small things that have made us into the company we are today. In the future, we want to continue with the balancing act that has been important to us over the past 25 years: On the one hand to be an efficient, modern company and on the other, an authentic, honest family business. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our employees for their dedication and enthusiasm. We would like to thank all our customers for their trust and their loyalty to our brand over many years. Without you there would be no SIP Scootershop. We hope to welcome as many of you as possible to our events and get to know you there over the years to come. Here’s to the next 25 years! Have fun with the SIP 1994-2019 time line. We wish you an accident-free scooter season!
Video: bit.ly/sip-25
Ralf & Alex SIP Scootershop Landsberg, May 2019
LIMITED EDITIONS
25 YEARS SIP SCOOTERSHOP – ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTS For our 25th anniversary, we have reissued small series of some products that can become collector‘s items. For example, the handmade helmets which were made together with the small-scale helmet manufacturer „70s“ in Italy, the 25 years T-shirt as well as the beautiful badges and patches. The SIP Performance shock absorber has a beautiful, discreet „25 years“ laser marking and is one of our all-time favourite items. Anniversary video: bit.ly/sip-25
Poster „SIP 25 Years“ SIP Open Day 2019, 25 Years SIP, Din A1
95719975
6,72 €
95153210
0,42 €
Sticker „SIP 25 Years“ 36x31 mm, hexagon.
Badge „SIP 25 Years“
Patch „SIP 25 Years“
black/white, enamel, 60x70 mm. 95040964 12,52 €
black/white, 75x65 mm, embroidered. 70070510
Helmet „SIP 25 Years“
T-Shirt „SIP 25 Years“
70`s Helmets, size S-L, Jethelm, limited
with chest pocket, 100% cotton
black white
black white
13519 209,24 € 13520 209,24 €
4,20 €
Shock Absorber „SIP 25 Years“ 9528541 24,37 € 9528542 24,37 €
SIP Performance 2.0 front Vespa PX/T5, matt black, 25 Years SIP, limited 76000FMB 147,06 €
USELESS KNOWLEDGE FROM SIP
WHO HOW WHAT 18.488 Km
8 nationalities work at SIP
How many kilometres away from Landsberg is the farthest flung SIP customer? The farthest flung SIP customer is some 18,488 km away, in idyllic Wellington in New Zealand. Despite this distance, we were able to deliver our most recent package to him within 5 days by UPS.
How many nationalities work at SIP? Employees from 8 nations work at SIP, including staff from America, Italy, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary and Germany. Our sales team speaks 6 languages: German, English, Italian, Spanish, French and Hungarian.
1
12 football pitches How many invoices did SIP issue in 2018? If they were spread out, the invoices compiled in 2018 would cover some 12 football pitches. For this reason, in 2018, SIP switched to paperless invoicing by email. Paper invoices are only included in the package at the express request of the customer. SIP Green www.sip-scootershop.com/sipgreen
25 years
27.000 km
What is the oldest SIP item which is still in the product range? The oldest SIP item in the product range is the RZ Mark One racing exhaust for the Vespa PX 200 [art. no. 25030000]. It was added to our system on 1st September 1994 and is still popular today.
Where did we meet you? In 2018, we were on tour again. Amerivespa in Richmond, World Vespa Days in Belfast or at the trade fair in Cologne - in 2018, the SIP team covered a total of 27,000 km to be able to meet with you on location.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
125 scooters
331.000 kg
How many scooters does the SIP team own? We currently have 114 employees, who ride 107 Vespas, 13 Ciao Mofas and 5 Lambrettas.
Taken together, what do all the items in the SIP warehouse weigh? The items currently in our warehouse have a total weight of 331,000 kg (331 tons), which is equivalent to the weight of 50 adult African elephants or all the Vespa GTS models that were registered in Austria in 2018.
125
2.233.549 items How many items does SIP have in stock? 2.233,549. It would take about 78 days to count to this number.
2.500 tonnes What was the weight of all the parcels to have been shipped last year? In 2018, SIP Scootershop shipped packages with a total weight of 2,500 tonnes. This corresponds to the take-off weight of four and a half Airbus A380 passenger jets.
505 years For how long have the SIP team been riding scooters? The scooter experience of all the staff at SIP Scootershop is 505 years.
59.979 telephone calls How many phone calls did the SIP call centre receive in 2018? If all the telephone calls made in 2018 were put together, it would be equivalent to one uninterrupted call lasting from 1 January to 28 July 2018. That‘s 5,000 hours or 300,000 minutes.
THE SIP ROAD TRIPS
ON OLD VESPAS & LAMBRETTAS Here at SIP Scootershop, we’ve turned our hobby into our profession, we love what we do. Some employees ride over 10,000 km a year with their Vespas and at least once a year we embark on a road trip that extends beyond a simple day trip. This tradition started in 1997, when we closed our shop in the middle of the high season for 3 weeks and rode to Eurovespa in Thessaloniki. The year before, we rode to San Remo. An incredible adventure, with dust and dirt on our faces, and the smell of hot asphalt and the 2-stroke oil of the rider in front which we are no longer able to resist. Imitation is to be recommended to every enthusiastic scooter rider, you need far less luggage than you think on tour, and it’s a kind of travel which is impossible to compare with anything else. Whether it’s the 2-day tour in the Black Forest, the long weekend at Lake Garda or the 2-week tour of Sardinia. We wish you lots of fun. You are welcome to send your travel reports and photos to curve@sip-scootershop.de
2004 Elba, Italy 2.150km
2005 Stelvio, Italy 950km
2006 SIP TV Turin, Italy 1.700km
2007 San Marino, Italy 2.450km
2008 Treviso, Italy 1.980km
2009 Mormoiron, France 3.100km
1996 San Remo, Italy 1.750km
1997 Thessaloniki, Greece 4.210km
2001 Bassano, Italy, Raid Notturno delle Dolomiti 1.870km
2002 Viterbo/Roma, Italy 2.400km
2002 Customshow Paris with SIP Scootershop booth
2009 SIP TV Zell am See, Austria 350 km
2016 SIP TV Amalfi, Italy 1.500km
2009 Amerivespa Los Gatos, USA 1.200km
2010 Cres, Croatia 2.450km
2011 SIP TV Tuscany, Italy 2.450km
2012 SIP TV Sardinia, Italy 3.200km SIP TV
2013 SIP TV Mormoiron, France 2.750km
2014 SIP TV Opatija, Croatia CROVESPA 2.350km SIP TV
2015 SIP TV Corsica, France 3.100km
2017 SIP TV Barcelona, Spain 2.100km
2017 SIP TV Amerivespa Seattle, USA
2018 SIP TV Dolomites Alps, Italy 1.900km
2019 Champagne, France (planned)
2020 Hardmorocco (planned)
Whenever SIP TV is behind the year of the road trip, you will find a video on our SIP TV channel on YouTube. Have fun watching the videos! www.youtube.com/scootershop The play list for all the SIP road trips: bit.ly/sip-roadtrips
TIME LINE
1994-2019 Alexander Barth and Ralf Jodl have been working with Vespa scooters since 1989. Dissatisfied with the choice of tuning and custom parts available at the time, they developed their own specialist components which they distributed to friends and acquaintances in small quantities. They forge close contacts with many tuners and suppliers in the then scooter scene, such as Stefan Onken from Nordspeed Tuning, Paul Melici from PM Tuning and Jim Lomas from JL Exhausts. Good links with Italy ensure the deliveries of high-quality accessories.
In the summer of 1994, the two decide to turn their long-standing hobby and their passion for „scooter riding“ into their job. The idea turns out to be a huge hit, and within a very short time the 35 sq. m. basement shop in Kaufering becomes too small. Practically the first product is the SIP sports seat made from GFK and carbon for the Vespa PX models.
1994
1994 Hour zero: the first sales stand at the Scooter Dive in Aachen in 1994
Personal parcel delivery by the executive team
The first ever 4-page SIP price list
The SIP shop in the basement was an impressive 35 sq. m. in size
1995 After work fun
Alex at the scooter rally in Vaterstetten in 1992
SIP catalogues on the way to San Remo in 1996
Our first „real“ catalogue
bit.ly/ersterkatalog
In 1996, larger premises are therefore rented at the former NCO club at the disbanded Ritter-vonLeeb barracks in Landsberg. Each year, the SIP Scootershop start-up compiles a German and English mail order catalogue (as demand is also increasing beyond linguistic borders) to present its range of approx. 2,000 items. The SIP Performance racing exhaust proves to be the first pure stainless steel exhaust system on the market – it is still available today. With the ET2 and ET4 models, VESPA presents the first Modern Vespa models. Landsberger Tagblatt November 1996
1996
In the early days, used Vespa scooters were available to buy at SIP Scootershop
Catalogue production ...
On 1 March 1997, together with T-Shirt producer Sgotter, SIP Scootershop organised the international Vespa & Lambretta Customshow in Landsberg am Lech, attracting some 1,500 visitors.
1997
1998
Ralf and his Vespa in the English magazine „Scootering“ in May 1997
The first website of SIP Scootershop, 1998
SIP Road Trip Thessaloniki June1997
In 1999, the company decides to include accessories for automatic vehicles in its product range. More space is required again, so SIP Scootershop rents the former crew dining room and additional rooms with approx. 1,000 sq. m. in addition to the NCO club. Thanks to an increasingly extensive product range and 15 motivated, scooter-mad employees, SIP Scootershop GmbH enters the 2000s as one of the biggest mail-order shops for motor scooter accessories. With the SIP Performer tyres, SIP launches one of the first tyres onto the market for 10“ scooters with approval for up to 120 km/h. Approval has now been granted for up to 150 km/h.
1999
Move to the old crew dining room at the former Ritter-von-Leeb barracks
2000
November 2000: the freshly painted Custom Vespas are collected at Marcus Pfeil
2001
Ut expliquaecus dolenime int aut ommolup tasped est et harchil maximint imaximet
SIP Scootershop at the Customshow in Paris, November 2002
2002 In 2002, it’s time for a new chapter in the SIP story. The premises at the former barracks are bursting at the seams. Some external warehouses are therefore rented, and an old Ape TM from the 1960s moves everything back and forth. It‘s a lot of fun and the neighbours are happy, but in the long run it quite simply costs too much time. It’s time for a new building with enough space for a large warehouse, offices and a shop. After an intensive planning phase, the company is finally able to move into its new headquarters in the Landsberg industrial park shortly before the Christmas holidays. The commercial building wins architectural awards and is presented in several magazines. SIP Scootershop exclusively sells the GRIMECA disc brake for retrofitting Vespa models.
2003
2004
SIP Road Trip to Elba, Italy, April 2004
The Stoffi‘s SIP Scootershop Racing Team in action, June 2005
The STOFFIS / SIP SCOOTERSHOP Racing Team is founded, and until 2016, successfully competes in countless classic races as part of the European Scooter Challenge. In 2005, Vespa introduces the GTS, a new large touring scooter.
2005
2006 Bavarian television screens a report about SIP Scootershop in the context of the business magazine PROFILE.
SIP Road Trip, Turin, June 2006
www.bit.ly/sip-br
As early as 2007: Notification of mail order deliveries by text message
In 2007 an extension consisting of a 600 sq. m. high rack warehouse with a height of up to 10m is added. This means that 2,500 sq. m. of storage space and more than 400 sq. m. of office and shop space are now available. At the same time, the merchandise management system is converted to a new, self-developed system. Combined with modern logistics, from spring 2007 onwards, this results in a significantly higher parcel throughput and therefore ensures short delivery times. At this time, the 50 SIP employees are shipping out up to 400 parcels per day. With Kathrin Brand, SIP Scootershop trains Bavaria‘s Best Wholesale and Foreign Trade Management Assistant in 2007. Vespa presents the Vespa S50 – 125.
2007
2008
會師
活動
a Gran d Tour ism 士騎士 跨國壯 遊200 一段 -sco
oter
shop
.com
）
報導
報導
廠商
特輯
產品
特集
車廠
專題
活動
報導
0公里
.sip
活動
廠商 活動
快樂員血、汗與 工出遊 淚交織
對大 部份 人來 的幸 說， 福， 工作 正因 注心 與興 為是 力在 趣結 投其 工作 Sour 合是 ce： 所好 上而 S.I. 奢華 ，固 不計 P. S coot 然更 其 代 ersh 價 能投 op（ 。 www
廠商
SIP Road Trip, San Marino, June 2007, with friends from the Vespa Club Vicenza
的
SIP Roadtrip Croatia, June 2010
In 2009, SIP not only celebrates its 15 year anniversary, it also looks to the future, as for the following year, a close cooperation with one of the leading suppliers of high-quality accessories and tuning is planned: SIP Scootershop is to become exclusively responsible for imports of MALOSSI in Germany. At the Scooter Cross Landsberg in the same year, things are more down home. The SIP team ventures onto the terrain for the first time and organises a Scooter Cross race in Landsberg. With the SIP Road exhaust, one of the first box exhaust systems for classic Vespas is launched onto the market with great success.
2009 SIP Scootershop as the main sponsor of the Vespa World Days, Treviso, June 2008
2010
The SIP Scootershop Team, July 2010 Ralf with Moritz at Amerivespa in Los Gatos, California, July 2009
mailorder katalog
classicvespa Zubehör, Tuning und Ersatzteile für Vespa
Catalogue of the year: the SIP catalogue for classic Vespas, with 940 pages
The next years are characterised by an increasingly international orientation. After the USA and Asia, SIP boss Ralf travels to Russia. It’s a Vespa mission, of course. Other team members are also keen to travel and ride together for a week every summer on a scooter tour. To Italy, France, Croatia, Sardinia, Spain and Austria. Switzerland ... only to come home having discovered the same thing every time: No matter where you go, love for the Vespa and Lambretta brings people together all over the world. To take this into account, the SIP webshop goes online in 10 languages in the same year.
The team worked on it for one and a half years. In 2012, the waiting is finally over: The Classic catalogue. 940 pages packed with products, technology, pictures... the “SIP Bible” is published in German and English – and because it’s such a success, an exclusive parts, Lambretta and Modern Vespa catalogue follows in the subsequent months. At NEOCOM 2016, the SIP Classic Catalogue is awarded „Catalogue of the Year“.
2011
2012
Conversion of the shop in July 2013
SIP Road trip to South France, June 2013
2013 In addition to the new customer magazine Curve, which is published for the first time in the summer of 2013, SIP Scootershop also focuses on events. While the SIP team welcomes some 1,500 international guests to the Motor Scooter Customshow in Landsberg in spring, the visit to the EICMA (as an exhibitor for the first time) successfully rounds off the year. In the summer of 2013, the SIP Shop in Landsberg gains a completely new interior, with lots of old wood and even more love. SIP presents the first digital speedometer/rev counter for the Vespa PX, several more models and functions follow. Vespa launches the 946 model onto the market in a limited edition.
1st edition of SIP exclusive parts catalogue
20 years of SIP, who would have thought that when Alex and Ralf extended the basement at Ralf‘s parents’ place, taking their first steps in sales of scooter parts there and at various scooter meetings? SIP exhibits at INTERMOT in Cologne for the first time, directly opposite the PIAGGIO booth. In the same year, SIP is verified as a manufacturer by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, which opens up the possibility of developing products with ABE or parts certificates. The new SIP tubeless rim is the first product to be awarded a general operating license.
2014
The plans have been running for 2 years, the ground-breaking ceremony takes place in May, and the topping-out ceremony for the new logistics and administration building takes place in September about 1 km away from the old location on the Graf-Zeppelin-Straße in Landsberg. The consistently increasing need for space, especially for goods but also for some 100 employees, makes the completion of the new building urgently necessary. SIP finds another competent planner for industrial and commercial construction in the shape of the architectural office Ott from Augsburg.
2015
SIP introduces the SIP PRIMO shipping option for customers in Germany and Austria: the principle is simple, pay a one-time annual fee of 20 Euros and order for twelve months free of shipping costs. Each shipment is also sent as a SIP express shipment, with 1 litre of oil as a oneoff welcome gift. In March, with plenty of night shifts and a great team, the big move to the new building goes surprisingly smoothly. SIP Scootershop now has more than four times as much space as it did at its old location and a 300 sq. m. flagship store with an Italian bar / pizzeria called SIPERIA. Modern logistics, a large warehouse and the latest light-flooded workplaces make the company fit for the future. In May, the building is inaugurated for the public at a Grand Opening, which is attended by 1,400 visitors, friends and customers. Vespa celebrates its 70th anniversary!
2016
mailorder katalog
lambretta Zubehör, Ersatzteile & Tuning für Lambretta
1st catalogue for “fender light” models, June 2018
2017
2018 For all those who visit us personally by scooter, the SIP pass sticker, in the style of an Alpine pass badge, is available. Take your helmet in hand and ask at the counter! In addition to the Open Day, there is also a Retailer’s Day for selected specialist retail customers for the first time. A full SIP collection of clothing for scooter drivers is launched, with T-shirts, hoodies and socks. The first After Work Aperitivo takes place at the SIPERIA, from now on it is held once a month on Thursdays from 5 pm. With the name TACHO KARACHO, the first DBM drag race takes place directly in front of our building. In the Italian Scooter Championship TROFEO MALOSSI, SIP is the first foreign racing team ever to win the Northern Championship. With the SIP Performance Ignition, SIP launches a high performance ignition for old Vespa models on the market. Vespa presents the new Vespa GTS HPE.
TACHO KARACHO in front of the SIP headquarter, July 2018
SIP Road Trip Dolomites Alps, June 2018
2019 2019
SIP Scootershop becomes a quarter of a century old. The business that started in a garage in 1994 is now celebrating its 25th anniversary! In addition to this chronicle, there’s an Open Day celebrating the anniversary, a second edition of the TACHO KARACHO drag race, a joyride around Lake Ammersee in July and a scooter pilgrimage in September to look forward to. Anniversary video: bit.ly/sip-25
IN ONE WORD
VOICES FROM THE SIP TEAM
ROBERT KERNER (40)
MORITZ KOHRS (37)
Product development
Purchasing Manager
I have been riding scooters since 1994, I first heard about the guys from SIP in 1997. In 1999 I bought my Vespa VBB, known as „the Ottel“ and got to know Moritz. One thing eventually led to another and I started working for SIP in 2001. As a trained wholesale and foreign trade merchant, I started off in the shop; my next step was the incoming goods inspection with three other employees. Processing returned goods was then quickly added. By then, SIP had already grown to 15 to 20 employees. After our move to Graf-Zeppelin-Straße in 2003, eight people were working in my department alone.
„During my school days, from about 1997 onwards, I worked as a temporary employee at SIP on weekends and in the holidays to fund my hobby of riding a Vespa. I packed parcels, at that time they still didn’t have barcodes, so we used handwritten dispatch lists. I have particularly strong memories of our weekly waste disposal rounds from that time. With a completely overloaded Ape dating from the 1950s, I would go to all the recyclable containers in the area, and to the delight of the residents, fill them with waste packaging.
In 2005, I continued my personal education and graduated as a commercial specialist. I then joined Alex in the purchasing department. By 2008, the product development had grown so rapidly that a separate department was established. Personally, this was my next step at SIP. There are now five employees in the team. We currently have about 140 projects on the go so there is always a lot to do. We have been in the completely new SIP building for three years; in addition to the cool building, everything is up to date, we have great jobs and a great team. Privately, several guys in the team have started a family, I myself have three children and unfortunately I frequently lack the necessary time for Vespa trips in my spare time. I like to remember the trips and scooter rallies from old times when we were on tour from Friday to Sunday, whether to Pfarrkirchen, Vicenza, Elba or even Viterbo (Rome). These days the trips that are planned are bigger, with some of them by air, and are joined by customers and friends from all over the world. I have made my dream come true and turned my hobby into my profession, but I‘m also happy that I don‘t have to have “petrol talks” at the weekend. I‘ve experienced a lot at SIP over the last few years, it‘s fun to work here every day and I don‘t want to do anything else.“
When I began my apprenticeship as an office executive at SIP in 1999, I was the company’s very first apprentice. At the time, my parents signed my apprenticeship contract on packed parcels. No desks were free at the time ;-). Fortunately, a few AOK gym balls were rolling around, otherwise they wouldn‘t even have been able to sit down. About 15 years ago I visited Thailand for the first time. When I saw the first SIP stickers there, I was totally flashed because I realised the reach that we have as a brand. Since then I have been abroad with my Vespa at least once a year, especially in Asia: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia …. SIP is a real door opener in the worldwide Vespa community. This year is my 20th anniversary at SIP. It’s a really a long time, over half of my life. Of course, a lot has changed in recent years, fortunately for me, always in the right direction. And that‘s exactly why I love my job.“
STEPHAN HUFSCHMID (36)
MARGA STEFFE (64)
Sales Manager
Shipping employee
„Looking back on almost 20 years of service at SIP, I have certainly experienced quite a few things: The beginnings with our first online shops, several moves, the expansion of our range with our own SIP products, the establishment of the SIP Scootershop as a wholesaler, the opening up of international markets and the development from a small business to a company. I was also actively involved in milestones such as the 2012 classic catalogue with almost 1,000 pages, the takeover of Malossi Imports, our verification as an official manufacturer at the German Federal Motor Transport Authority and the introduction of a quality management system. It is with pleasure that I remember many summer parties, Christmas parties, open days and other social highlights in the company.
„I started at SIP in 2001 and just wanted to stay for a year. It’s turned into a few more years than that. At that time, in the former barracks, there was a great family-like atmosphere in the company.
In recent years I have seen many employees, customers, suppliers, products, scenes and trends come and go. But two things have always remained the same for me: On the one hand, the ability of our two managing directors to always make the right decisions at the right time and, on the other hand, that every year, from the first hot weekend of the year, the peak season begins! I congratulate Alex and Ralf on 25 years of SIP and look forward to several more peak seasons with the two of them and the rest of the SIP team“
A lot has changed since then, and the company has become much bigger. There is more work, there is more stress, but that isn’t a problem. I like it better when there‘s a lot to do than when there isn’t. I start at a quarter to six in the morning and make all the necessary preparations. I did my apprenticeship in retail, but that has nothing to do with what I actually do today. All of the work that we do with computers didn‘t exist before, so I taught myself. We who work down in the warehouse are just as important as the guys up there in the sales department. Because without us in the shipping department, nothing would work. I take my work very seriously and have a lot of things to do: Invoicing, customs, the size of the packages, their weight and so on. Everyone has their own remit and things simply have to run smoothly. And I have to say, the company has always been there for me and has always stood behind me. Always. Even with my serious illness, I’ve never been abandoned, which isn’t the case in every company. It’s like one big family here and I can talk to anyone. Everyone gets older, and it’ll be very difficult for me when I have to stop next year. I‘m really afraid of not being needed any more. If I had my time again, I would still have chosen to work at SIP, and I think it has been the best time of my life. I haven’t regretted working here for a minute.”
SIP- AID
SCOOTERISTS HELP! Dr. Soeren Gatz
Why are things so bad for some but so good for us? We don‘t know either. We know, however, that while others struggle with hunger, homelessness or floods, we lack nothing. At SIP Scootershop we have a job that we enjoy, we have enough free time to tinker with our scooters and always a few Euros left over for a pizza and a beer. We found the photos of the 2005 flood disaster in Asia moving, which is why we decided to make a spontaneous donation. It was then that the idea of SIP Aid was born.
What’s behind it? We would like to make some of our earnings available for charitable purposes. We regularly donate a considerable amount to the SOS Kinderdorf e.V., to ARCHE Germany or the Red Cross, Humedica and Mary‘s Meals to name but a few. www.sip-scootershop.com/sipaid
Why SOS Children´s Why L´Arche InterVillage? national?
Why Humedica?
Why Mary’s Meals?
The clue is in the name SOS Children’s Village: It’s a place where girls and boys who can’t grow up in their own parental home find a new home. Children live there with their “Kinderdorf” mother and siblings in one house – all the time and around the clock. They play, laugh, argue and celebrate just like people do in a real family. This is very important for the children who often come to an SOS Kinderdorf with painful experiences. Here, they get to find people with whom they can build up long-term trust and who are reliably there for them.
There are Arche centres in many countries all over the world. Arche has the goal of creating communities that welcome people who are mentally handicapped. Non-disabled and mentally handicapped people live together in one house and create their everyday life together. Each member of the house community has their own room. They cook and eat together, and managing the household is also a joint task. Landsberg has been home to an Arche House with 12 inhabitants since 2001. The residents visit us each year on Open Day in May.
Based in Kaufbeuren near Landsberg, Humedica e.V. is an international non-governmental organisation which since being founded in 1979, has provided humanitarian aid in more than 90 different countries. The goal of the work of Humedica is to help people who find themselves in need due to disasters or structural poverty – such as the victims of the tsunami in Indonesia in December 2018.
Mary’s Meals serves a hot meal to hundreds of thousands of the poorest children in the world every school day. Nutrition and being able to go to school allow children to escape the spiral of suffering and poverty. The vision of the aid organisation which was founded in 1992 is for every child to benefit from a school meal each day. At present, Mary’s Meals feeds approximately 1.3 million children in Africa.
www.humedica.org
www.marysmeals.de
www.sos-childrensvillages.org
www.larche.org
Dear Ralf, Dear SIP Scootershop team, the „Hopital Protestant de Ndounge“ is located in south-west Cameroon 120 km north of Duala, where the plane from Germany or Brussels lands after a total flight time of 8 hours. We have been there since January 2012, and are supporting the comprehensive reconstruction of the hospital, which was originally founded by Germans 100 years ago and now belongs to the Evangelical Church of Cameroon: The provision of medical technology, beds, teaching at the hospital bed, medical supplements, workshops and building services: Electricity and water, incinerator, new washing machine with dryer, autoclave for the operating theatre, etc. About 65 employees in the hospital are local people from Cameroon. 20 to 45 of the beds are occupied, depending on the presence of us Europeans. Our small association, „Humanitäre Hilfe e.V.“, has about 30 active members who fly there on a voluntary basis for four to six weeks, some of whom have already been there a dozen times. We are always on the lookout for more medical staff such as surgeons, gynaecologists, internal specialists, anaesthetists and constantly need various craftsmen and technicians. The specialist areas are surgery and general internal medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology as well as infectious diseases with tuberculosis and AIDS. All in all, it’s a typical African hospital for basic care, which we have now equipped to a somewhat higher standard with modern technology, such as ultrasound, endoscopy and X-rays, which we want to continue doing. What did we do with your donation? Our first shared project was the large sea container, which we organised and loaded together with you: it contained 40 used hospital beds, an endless amount of laundry and medical equipment. The second project was an urgently needed new ultrasound device, which we were only able to buy when you generously gave us a hand. This is where disease patterns can be identified that have been misdiagnosed for years, such as ureteral stones that cause colic for months and a complete loss of kidney function as they have been misdiagnosed as intestinal colic and can be identified immediately using the new ultrasound device, and the patients can be guided to a meaningful therapy. Scarcely believable: Kidney colics over months, often also in young patients, which significantly reduce both quality of life and life expectancy, and can be identified beyond doubt within one minute by means of ultrasound diagnostics. There can be no doubt that this donation was a good investment. Dr. Soeren Gatz, Internal Specialist, Cardiology
Why Humanitäre Hilfe e.V.? At the end of 2014, we supported Landsberg surgeon Dr. Gatz with his hospital project in Cameroon for the first time. And with something that we’re good at: Logistics. We packed his discarded hospital beds, clinic inventory, apparatus and much more into a sea container, cleared customs and shipped them to Cameroon. Total costs € 8,000. His project captivates through his personal initiative, high degree of personal commitment, a lot of passion and above all else, an immediate impact on people without the risk of the money going to places where it shouldn’t. www.humanitaere-hilfe-ev.de www.sip-scootershop.de/sipaid
SIP GREEN
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION / SUSTAINABILITY “Being a human means feeling your responsibility” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry This doesn’t just apply to each individual, but also to us as a company. Since 2005, we have therefore been working under the motto of “SIP Aid: Scooterists Help!” in the area of social welfare, and have made donations to charitable institutions. A responsible approach to the environment is also an essential part of our corporate philosophy. We know that resources aren’t just there to be used, they also require protection. Several years ago, we therefore placed great emphasis on sustainable building during the construction of the new SIP headquarters in Landsberg, and have been working in an energy-optimised building with high standards of insulation and an environmentally-friendly groundwater heat pump for heating and cooling ever since. All the lighting in the building uses the latest LED technology, with a fraction of the energy consumption of conventional lighting technology. Roof greening, triple glazing, surface water infiltration in trenches as well as a flower meadow for bees and insects are all part of the premises of our company in Landsberg.
DHL GoGreen In 1990, the European Union set itself the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020. Here at SIP Scootershop, we try to make our contribution to this. With climate-neutral parcel shipments, for example. In 2018 alone, the parcels which we sent with DHL GoGreen enabled us to offset some 40 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Electricity from 100% hydroelectric power Nuclear power had lost its clean image long before Fukushima. Electricity from fossil fuels pollutes our atmosphere with huge emissions of CO2. We have converted the electricity requirements of our company building in Landsberg to green electricity from 100% hydroelectric power. Our regional energy supplier, Lechwerke, has arranged for this electricity, which is from renewable sources, to be certified by TÜV Süd.
Bavarian Envi- SIP GREEN us, however, above all else, environmental Pact For ronmental protection starts with the The Bavarian Environmental Pact is an agreement between the Bavarian State Government and the Bavarian business community. It is based on voluntary action, personal responsibility and cooperation. In the Environmental Pact, the Bavarian State Government and the Bavarian world of industry declare their firm conviction that the natural foundations of life can be better protected on the basis of voluntary and reliable cooperation between state and industry than by laws and regulations alone. With the measures that we have implemented, we meet the requirements of, and are part of the Bavarian Environmental Pact.
small things of everyday (shipping) life. The cardboard boxes and filler material for the parcels have therefore been made of recycled paper instead of bubble wrap for a long time (overseas air freight is the only area in which these cannot be dispensed with to protect the goods and also for weight reasons). Instead of plastic, we only use shipping envelopes made from recycled paper. We only send our customers invoices by email unless they expressly request a paper invoice. It goes without saying that we separate our waste in the building into paper, plastic, glass, metal and non-recyclable waste.
INTERVIEW
THE BANKS WEREN’T IMPRESSED! What’s behind the SIP Scootershop success story? Which hurdles had to be overcome and how has the scooter scene changed over the last 25 years? The anniversary is an occasion to ask Alex Barth and Ralf Jodl, the two founders of SIP, a few business- and personal questions. They have changed the market for scooters and accessories, and not just in Germany. But has success changed them as well? Time to take stock. You founded SIP Scootershop 25 years ago. Did you ever have other plans or have you completed another course of education or training as an alternative? Alex: I wanted to build dams in Oman, so I studied civil engineering at the TU in Munich. Therefore, SIP initially financed my studies, which was more fun than working away in McDonalds or on a building site. After my studies, however, I was faced with the difficult decision of whether to work as an engineer or to use the title for my business card only and to continue building up SIP instead of building dams. Ralf: I began studying economics at the University of Augsburg in 1993. A year later, we decided to put our hobby of Vespas on a professional footing, and the macroeconomics of „playing businessman“ on a small scale soon became much more fun than studying the M3 money supply or production factors. So no, for me, there was and is no plan B, I can‘t do anything else ... What would you have done if SIP hadn‘t come into being or if the idea had failed? Ralf: I very much hope that I would have found something else that would have been as much fun and with customers and suppliers who are so pleasantly crazy. But I‘m very happy that I didn‘t have to try that out and that everything has gone just the way that it has. Alex: I didn‘t have a plan B for failure. Then, as now, it is frequently necessary for us to make clear decisions. Left or right. Nobody knows the right way in advance. Only trust in God can help, followed by confidence. How high was the financial risk that you took? Was there ever a time when a negative bank account caused you sleepless nights?
Ralf: In the first three years, everything was refinanced from the small sales, plus a few hundred marks that Alex and I had brought along as the start-up capital. When you grow, however, you reach a point where that‘s no longer enough and you need money from an external source. Of course, the banks weren’t impressed: no collateral, some old scooters, and two guys in their early 20s without any business education. After several rejections, a bank in Landsberg lent us 300,000 marks. Those proved to be our first sleepless nights. Years later, the shortfall was sometimes as much as seven figures, but by then, the banks had gained confidence in our company.
hind our idea. I think they had seen that we put a lot of enthusiasm and work into it. After all, our first storage and sales areas were in our parents‘ garage and cellar. If we got any negative feedback, it tended to be from former school or university students who felt sorry for us at class reunions because we were „still tinkering with old Vespas“.
Alex: We were told to leave the barracks because they had been slated for demolition. We couldn’t find anything comparable for rent. The only alternative was to build. Almost no properties were available. When we found one, we couldn‘t get any money from the bank. One wanted to demolish our building, the others wouldn’t give us any money for a new building. We started without a loan commitment and had already spent 150,000 Euros without having one. We then got a loan and were able to breathe again. A situation like that costs energy and nerves.
Alex: I rarely think “we’ve made it.” That suggests something definitive and unchangeable. I do think “things are going well” when I look at the conveyor belt with all of the order-picking boxes. That’s when I realise things are going to plan.
What did your parents and friends say about your idea? Did they support you or did they say things like: „Why don‘t you do something sensible?” Alex: I’m very appreciative to my parents for having supported us back then. Not necessarily because they liked the idea of „scooter parts instead of engineering“, but because they respected my decision for SIP and supported it with their words and deeds. Socially, on the other hand, I often say that I work as a „scooter parts salesman“ because I don‘t want to tell everyone the SIP story over and over again. Ralf: Our parents were always be-
When did you think: “We’ve made it. „Things are going well.“? Ralf: Somehow, right from the start, to the respective degree, as it were. The first time I really felt that way could well have been when we moved into our first company-owned building in Landsberg.
How has the scooter scene changed over the last 25 years? Ralf: I’m of the impression that a lot of our customers have grown older with us. In the old days, it was possible to buy a used Vespa like a PX 125 at our shop from around 700 marks. The same model would cost four times as much today, which isn’t easy for a 16-year-old. There are also 50-year-olds who had a Vespa when they were a student and now want to relive their youth by buying one again. At our Open Days or Joyrides, however there are also young people who have caught the Vespa virus from their father, or who find staring at Instagram in their bedroom to be too boring. Alex: The scene has also become more colourful. This is especially the case at our Open Days, where all of the scenes come together. Being friendly and relaxed is more important than being cool. The internatio-
nal scene is fascinating: whether it‘s in Korea, the USA, Morocco or the Fiji Islands. Vespa fans who have the same fun with their scooters as we do are everywhere to be found. And technology is playing an ever greater role in the scene. Faro Bassos with 20 PS, Smallframes with 50 PS or the SIP 25 years Sprinter with more than 70 PS. All developments that make the tuner‘s heart beat faster. What do you do when you aren‘t working at SIP? Apart from scooters, what are your other hobbies and interests? Alex: I’m married with four children, so I don’t have much time for other hobbies. In my spare time, I work as a volunteer at the church. I’ve been very lucky, and feel I can give something back. Ralf: I still love to ride scooters. We live close to the mountains with the southern Bavarian lakes on our doorstep which are within easy reach by Vespa along beautiful country roads. And I like to go sailing on the Ammersee. Do you have any decisions you regret? What to you class as difficult decisions? Ralf: Sure, a few. No path ever goes dead straight and we’ve made a few mistakes over the years. I think the art is in recognising that your mistakes aren‘t too big and that you can recognise them and rectify them again. This is an area in which family, friends and employees who say it like it is and give you their honest opinion also help. We might not have achieved certain things, however, if we hadn’t got a few things wrong. Alex: Once a decision has been taken, I can live with it, regardless of how things turn out. It’s an area in which advice from others is of little use. If things turn out well, people are often jealous, but if things turn
ALEX BARTH (45) out badly, they saw it coming. Important decisions have to be taken 100% unanimously and convincingly by both of us. If that’s the case, it’s all good. From time to time, we have to make staff redundant. Such decisions are always difficult. I noticed that there’s a chapel at your company headquarters. That‘s unusual. Where did this idea come from and how do the employees deal with it? How is the chapel used? Alex: It‘s a privilege to be able to earn your money doing something you enjoy. We work long hours and we work hard. There are lots of things that we can’t do, however. Everything is a gift that can disappear overnight. I follow Jesus Christ and try to be thankful for everything that God gives me. In Bavaria, you can find crosses and martyrs asking for God‘s blessing and thanking God on farmers’ fields and town houses. Our company chapel is an architectural monument to that. As I look from my desk at the cross in the chapel, my feet stay on the ground and I have to measure my conduct against the conduct of Jesus. Some people, even in the company, find me a bit weird because of that. But that’s something I can put up with.
RALF JODL (45) How do you share out the work? Who‘s in charge of what? Ralf: Sharing the work out is a matter of course, as we have different personal strengths. Alex is the engineer who is good with logic and numbers and therefore good with purchasing, enterprise resource planning and logistics. I’m more disorganised and anarchic by nature, and responsible for marketing, social networks, events and sales. You can‘t always agree on everything. How do you take decisions? When there’s two partners, there’s never a majority. Ralf: It goes without saying that we don’t always agree on everything, we also have a different propensity for risk, and our personalities are quite different really. The good thing, however, is that we value each other and our opinions very much, and that we take better decisions together than we would alone. We have our own area in the company, with lassitude for individual decisions, which is a great mix that has proven a success. The best thing, however, is that we aren’t only business partners, but also best friends, even after all these years. Alex: I‘ve been married to Ralf, so to speak, for longer than I have to my
wife. It only works because we trust each other completely, we aren’t jealous of each other, and we don’t put money first. We are very different which means we complement each other very well. With most things, however, one person says what the other is thinking. If our opinions differ, we can talk about it. A relationship ends when people are unable to talk with one another openly and honestly. I am therefore very grateful for the close friendship that brings us together, even though we are no longer able to maintain it in our leisure hours as much as we used to. Do you have any particularly pleasant memories of the beginnings of SIP? Ralf: Yes, there are some. Back then, every three weeks, we would set out at four in the morning with a Sprinter and a double-axle trailer to go shopping in the Italian town Vicenza. We would arrive at the wholesaler around midday, which was naturally a very special experience for us, as guys in our early 20s. We would scour the shelves, negotiate prices and discover new things. It wasn‘t just the business that we did in Vincenza, however, it was also important to get to know the Italian way of life: Culture, fantastic regional dishes, great wines and hospitality.
How to eat something and when to eat it. We still have a friendly relationship with this dealer today, and whenever I’m in the area, I call him and we meet up. We really got to learn something for life there. You made your hobby into your job. Doesn‘t that mean that you’ve lost your hobby though? Alex: When I’ve spent the week compiling spare parts and assigning them to models of scooter, I’m glad not to have to hear anything else about scooters in the evening. Those times are rare, however, thank God. My eyes still light up like a child when a new exhaust is delivered as a prototype, when the lads do test drives outside or when we find a small supplier from Italy, previously unknown to us, who supplies us with three new parts. I also enjoy the contact with the customers from all over the world who visit us in the shop and the Siperia. The best feeling, however, is riding your scooter to work in the spring or summer, smelling the rapeseed or dandelion in the air and having the wind in your face – that‘s pure freedom. You feel like you own the whole of the world. The conversation was recorded by Dietrich Limper.
SIP SCOOTERSHOP
THE TEAM
That’s the core of our team. We currently have 114 employees who together ride 107 Vespas, 13 Ciao Mofas and 5 Lambrettas – a group of petrol heads, therefore.
Alexander
Ana
Alex
Ralf
André
Andrea
Andrea
Andreas
Andreas
Angelika
Angelo
Annika
Bettina
Cansu
Christian
Christian
Christian
Cristin
Christoph
Christoph
Detlev
Erna
Ernst
Fabian
Gertraud
Harald
Jarly
Jesco
Jochen
Julia
Juliane
Katharina
Katharina
Kerstin
Luigi
Marga
Maria
Martin
Martina
Maximilian
Melanie
Michael
Michael
Moritz
Nadja
Neslihan
Oliver
Oliver
Otto
Patrick
Pascal
Robert
Sabine
Sandra
Sebastian
Sonja
Stefan
Stephan
Stefanie
Stefanie
Stephanie
Sven
Uwe
Veronika
Vimol
Zsofia
SIP SCOOTERSHOP
WAREHOUSE
Behind the scenes. At SIP Scootershop, we currently have nearly 60,000 items in our warehouse system. Find out how the incoming goods system works with the example of a SIP tubeless rim.
Our purchasing team always has an overview of all items in our ERP system. The IT department helps by providing target and actual inventory levels, which are dynamically adjusted in line with sales figures and seasonal fluctuations using an algorithm. The system suggests items for the buyer to order based on historical data and these formulas, ensuring the items reach the warehouse in time. The supplier receives our order and we receive a pro forma invoice. Usually, we need to pay the supplier part of the order value up front, sometimes not until they are ready to deliver but unfortunately rarely only after we have received the goods. If everything goes well with carriers and if applicable customs, the goods arrive at our central warehouse in Landsberg by the calculated delivery date. What follows is often Christmas come early for our incoming goods team. They gather around new or especially exciting products and the news spreads through the building like wildfire. Suddenly, product development and sales staff appear in the incoming goods section as if by chance to have a look at what’s new….
item number and undergo quality control. SIP Scootershop is a verified manufacturer with the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (German Federal Motor Transport Authority), which allows us to provide parts with KBA numbers, part approvals and items with the e-mark. Verified manufacturers must comply with strict testing criteria in line with the specific item. This usually means precisely measuring and weighing samples from the delivery with calibrated measuring equipment, carrying out visual inspections and producing detailed documentation. Next, our system suggests the best storage location. The key criteria here are frequency of sale and required space. Certain items are placed in a picking store from which they can be picked, and an overflow warehouse from which the picking store is restocked. Our 60,000 items are stored chaotically, not thematically. Crankshafts are stored beside cylinders and mudguards. Only the computer knows where a product is. With a final scan, the member of staff storing the goods records their addition to the warehouse.
If we have run out of the item, the inventory display in the Web shop switches from yellow (on order) to The SIP tubeless rims always argreen (in stock) and we can start rive in 40-foot marine containers delivery. Customers who have been and need to be unloaded as fast as waiting for such an possible to avoid additional costs. We Would you like to see our wa- item are then supcheck each delivery rehouse for yourself ? We run plied immediately. against the delivery note to ensure that it is complete and look for any visible damage. The goods are then sorted by
guided tours of all areas of the SIP Headquarters at our Open Day in May each year. Our shop also always gives you a sneak peak at the packaging area of our warehouse.
However, customers are not usually aware of all these processes and the item simply remains “green”.
bit.ly/sipwarehouse
SIP SCOOTERSHOP LANDSBERG
A VISIT AT THE FLAGSHIP STORE
A short video tour of our store in Landsberg Many people think that we only sell accessories, tuning and spare parts for Vespa, Lambretta and other scooters. At our store in Landsberg, however, we also offer a wide range of helmets from BELL, BANDIT, 70s, DMD, PREMIER, gloves from TUCANO URBANO, Kevlar jeans from REVIT, jackets from TUCANO URBANO, T-shirts, sweaters, scarves, visors and motorcycle goggles and, of course, plenty of books and accessories relating to scooters. Come and visit us, allow us to advise you, and have a coffee in our Siperia!
Daniel R. Local Guide The top address for Vespa fans. Nice staff, great service, choice, quality and website. For everyone who has only gone shopping here online until now. Plan a trip to Landsberg – it’s a cool shop!! Nico Gnisci Local Guide A perfect shop, professional staff, and if you have to wait, you can fill in your time with an Italian coffee or a panini. I like to drop by when I’m in the vicinity. We look forward to receiving your praise and criticism. Feel like giving us a 5-star rating? Nobody is stopping you – and the choice is yours: bit.ly/siprezension bit.ly/sip-trustpilot facebook.com/scootershop/reviews
SIP TV Shopvideo: bit.ly/shopvideo18
SOCIAL SCOOTER WAR3Z SIP SCOOTER THE FAMILY PACT BAVARIA THE SIP COMPUTER GAME STUNT TEAM SIP Scootershop is a member of the “Family Pact Bavaria”. The challenges of reconciling family and work in our company are a matter which is close to our hearts. We want to create family-friendly conditions for our team, through individual working time arrangements according to personal needs, for example. Working parents and caring relatives can be certain that their commitment to their family will be recognised. www.familienpakt-bayern.de
In 2007, together with a software company from the Netherlands, we developed the computer game „Scooter War3z“: You’re new to the town! The SIP Street team sets the tone here! Your scooter is your only friend. Are you good enough to compete in the new town with your scooter? Lara thinks she‘s faster and challenges you to a race. Show her who rules the road! But be careful, a hot tyre alone isn’t enough to impress the guys from the SIP Street Team. You only pass all the exams if you can show all your skills. Drive the original SIP N8RO! Who knows, maybe you‘d like to join the SIP Street team? If you’re looking for something on Google, you might just find the game....
In 2006 we had our own Scooter Stunt Team which performed on the SIP Open Day and at some meetings. Tim and Rem pulled off some genuinely impressive acrobatics with their scooters.
WE HAVE BEEN A CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TRAINING COMPANY SINCE THE YEAR 2000 AN APPRENTICESHIP AT SIP SCOOTERSHOP IS ANYTHING BUT BORING Apprentices in our company are as unlikely to spend their whole day filing as they are at the fax machine or photocopier. It may be the case, however, that an apprentice has a customer from Australia on the telephone in one of their first weeks at work, who naturally only speaks English. Or a retailer from France who doesn‘t speak much English and needs passing on to our French-speaking staff. Situations of this kind can be hair raising - but it’s very satisfying to be able to work in
the beating heart of the company from day one. We are proud of our apprentices. In the past, the young people who completed their apprenticeship with us have made a name for themselves with exceptional achievements. That‘s no coincidence. We encourage thought and independent working. We support our apprentices if they experience difficulties at vocational college. Last but not least, working in a young and committed team is a source of motivation, supporting top performances at college.
Kathrin Brand
Sebastian Bauch
The best Wholesale and Export Sales Clerk in Bavaria Graduation 2007
Best apprentice of the year, Landsberg vocational college, Office Clerk, grade 1.1 year of graduation 2011
THE NEW SIP SCOOTERSHOP
WEBSITE GOES ONLINE SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE SIP WEBSHOP 3.0 We are working flat out on the new version of our online shop, www.sip-scootershop. de. We are almost finished and will be able to present impressive new features. We are really looking forward to it – you can try out the beta version in advance here:
BETA.SIP-SCOOTERSHOP.COM
SIP RACING TEAMS
AND SUCCESSES
2000 Bitburg The fastest scooter in Germany On 4.6.2000, a high-speed contest for scooters took place at Bitburg military airfield. The event was organised by SIP customer and tuning legend Andi Wrobel from Koblenz, and began the evening before with a party at the Koblenz disco “Sub Culture”. The next day, some 300 scooter riders met up to determine the fastest scooter. After some initial problems, the light barrier measuring system was up and running by noon and the threatening rain clouds disappeared, making way for bright sunshine and excellent conditions. The eager contestants took to the tarmac on their souped-up, noisy scooters, and no measurements were needed to see how fast quite a few of them were. About half of those present hit the starting line on Old School scooters, the other half were on automatic scooters. As the initial racers took to the 3km long straight, a party atmosphere took hold and the crowd eagerly followed the measured speeds. For the SIP Scootershop team, our then apprentice, Moritz, hit the starting line and set the bar high with 155.7 km/h on his first go. Oliver from the Scooter Center achieved exactly the same result, pulling off 155.7km/h on the Lambretta. After a few goes, Moritz had found the optimum sitting position and the best track on the last bump, and proved able to raise his game and achieve 159.8 km/h. In the meantime, we had made some small changes to the tuning and sealed the float chamber of the carburettor. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to surpass the symbolic 160, but the result fulfilled our expectations, with the SIP Maxiscooter project being the fastest scooter in the contest! By the way: The fastest Vespa PX was a P200 with Malossi cylinders, an MBD intake manifold, a custom crankshaft and a SIP Performance stainless steel exhaust. The speed: a very proud 148 km/h!
GSF / SIP Scootershop Racing team A second racing team in the European Scooter Challenge is the GSF / SIP team with Mike Betz, the operator of the German Scooter Forum. In 2016, the team won in Class 5 at the opening race in Mirecourt, France. Mike‘s K5 scooter only contains SIP products and in-house SIP developments in particular. For the brakes, Mike relies on the SIP brake calliper with KBA approval, and even the supplied brake pads offer race-ready deceleration. Mike also uses shock absorbers from SIP for the suspension, which deliver a top performance even under the most adverse conditions, such as undulating roads and hard braking before entering curves. The engine, K5 compliant and equipped with Polini cylinders, exhaust and air intake, was built with SIP tools such as the crankshaft retractor. The SIP Performance ignition provides power up to the highest of speeds. youtu.be/PVCxD1pQmc4
Since 2004, the STOFFIS / SIP SCOOTERSHOP Racing Team has started with up to four riders as part of the European Scooter Challenge, a circuit racing series for classic scooters. Over the course of 12 years, legendary races and fabulous victories have been claimed by this team, at the 24 hours Le Mans Start Race at Mirecourt in France, at the Spring Race in Austria, but also in Italy, Spain, Hungary and Northern Germany. The team has covered thousands of kilometres on the racetrack (and even more in the sprinter on public roads) and several product ideas have come about and been achieved from this form of racing. In this YouTube video from 2012, racing icon Christof Meier tells our Lukas how one can optimise one’s cornering technique with the use of simple methods: Of course, the European Scooter Challenge racing series will also be taking place in 2019, with everything from an Everyman Class to a Professional Class. The one design classes are worthy of particular mention, in which genuinely top-class motor sports can be realized with low maintenance and expenditure. For further information, visit www.eurochallenge.de.
The SIP racing team wins at Trofeo Malossi 2018 In 2018, the SIP Scootershop racing team took to the starting line in 3 classes with our drivers Andreas Lukas and Joe Schack at the legendary Trofei Malossi: Our racing scooters: 70cc 2T Piaggio ZIP SP1 100cc 2T Piaggio ZIP SP1
Joe Schack Andreas Lukas
The Trofei Malossi in Italy is the only racing series for scooters which takes place on racing tracks for motorcycles only, i.e. on much larger tracks and at much higher speeds than people are used to from the world of scooter racing. With a 100cc ZIP (65 kg empty weight) and approx. 33 HP at the rear wheel, speeds that exceed 170Km/h are reached on the straights. With a total of 68 contestants, the 70cc class has the highest number of participants in the Trofei Malossi. It is divided into 3 regional championships, North, South and Sicily, each of which has 6 races. In this competition, with our team driver Joe Schack, we were proved to be the first non-Italian team to win a regional championship since the founding of the racing series some 31 years ago. This was followed by two national finals with all starters in which Joe secured a very good 3rd place. youtu.be/Zub0UWOTxWM
PERFORMANCE & STYLE
SIP CUSTOMSCOOTER ESC Butchers bit.ly/butcher-en 2017
N8RO Scooter
Glorious Basterd
www.fb.com/sipn8ro 2005
www.fb.com/gloriousbasterd 2010
PX Alex www.fb.com/ vesparacer 2001
PX Ralf www.fb.com/ vespacutdown 2001
VESPA
SERIES PORDOI www.fb.com/seriespordoi
PERFORMANCE & STYLE
THE 71HP VESPA
“Performance and Style” are two terms of significance. Especially when they have been the firms motto for twenty-five years. When this firm is also celebrating its silver jubilee, then it becomes more than a duty, but also a pleasure to bring this motto to life! To truly walk (or in this case ride) what we‘re talking!
In our encapsulated world of Vespa (and Lambretta) scooters there is only one effective method of realising this, with a really mind-blowing custom built vintage scooter! The initial idea was to unite custom and race scooter themes in one project. A scooter that not only gets noticed due to an extraordinary styling, but can also deliver an impressive performance on a race circuit. Whether the result of our efforts will satisfy the high standards and expectations of this challenge remains to be seen. We have given it our best shot, to translate our ambitions into actual reality with a completely fresh approach to such a project. The chassis has been extended to equal the wheelbase of a Lambretta. We have shortened the steering column by 10cm and lowered the rear of the frame by 8cm. The legshields have also been lowered and moved forward. The intention was to not only provide the frame with a unique and unusual look, but to also improve the overall stiffness. This modification made an extended Vespa frame possible, without the need for an extra central frame spar between the headset and the seat. To underline this newfound rigidity, we also welded steel-tubing within the chassis, which was also ideal for the routing of both the electrical and control cables through the frame. The fuel tank, relocated to the central footboard tunnel, has been permanently welded to the frame of the scooter at this point to provide additional stability. Only one power-plant could be considered for the provision of adequate propulsion – our very own SIP-BFA 306 engine! This high-end miracle of vehicle engineering provides around 50PS straight out of the box. We left no stone unturned in our quest to create something just a little bit special and fully explore its explosive potential. It is currently pushing out 71PS, measured at the rear wheel! This power is transmitted to the riding surface with the assistance of an electrically operated sequential gear selector mechanism. The push of a button on the steering assembly is all that is required for rapid gear selection. To set the scene surrounding this engineering wizardry a special paint job was also essential. The paintwork should not only reflect a show boat or race machine, but also represent its eye-catching old school influence and inspiration. In our collective opinion this can only be achieved with metal-flake, lots of metal-flake! The result of our efforts can be appraised on the left. Even better, it can be enjoyed in the flesh at our open day on the fourth of May or also at the ‚Tacho Karacho‘ event on the twenty-seventh of July at our shop – or even at the DBM races! www.fb.com/sip25yearsvespa
CURVE
THE SIP CUSTOMER MAGAZINE The customer magazine CURVE has been published in German and English since 2013. We would like to present you with our highlights from the past months which have impressed us, whether it is rallies, excursions, people or scooters. We finally have a medium apart from our online blogs to tell you about the things that we have found impressive and interesting. Whether it is a glimpse behind the scenes or a report about our team tours, read about it in the latest edition of CURVE. Minor innovations and improvements are also available such as a new method of payment (Hello, Amazon Payment!), or a practical function in our webshop which some of you are yet to have discovered – we finally have a place at which we can tell you about it. CURVE is enclosed free of charge in your next order – or at www.issuu.com/sip-scootershop.com
curve 1|13 AUSGABE 0
AZIN DAS KUNDENMAG
P VON SIP SCOOTERSHO
NEU
GESTERN ORIGAMI WAR
CHRIS GILMOUR
A-RALLYE DIEHÄRTESTEVESP
GIRO VESPISTICO TREFFEN, RENN
EN, MESSEN
SCOOTER-NEWS
curve 2|13 AUSGABE 0
AZIN DAS KUNDENMAG
P VON SIP SCOOTERSHO
ITALIEN 2013 VESPA RALLY,
TRE MARI VESPA RIDE OUT A BOHEMIAN
VESPA ROAD TRIP TREFFEN, RENN
EN, MESSEN
SCOOTER-NEWS
curve 3|14 AUSGABE 0
GAZIN DAS KUNDENMA
EIN SPANNENDE
P VON SIP SCOOTERSHO
S JAHR 2014
20 JAH RE SIP RIED, MÄRZ 2014
CUS TOM SHO W TREFFEN, RENN
EN, MESSEN
SCOOTER-NEWS
4|14 AUSGABE 0
MAI 2014 SIP OPEN DAY,
20 JAH RE SIP TOUR SIP TEAM ON
KRO ATIE N 201 4 TREFFEN, RENN
EN, MESSEN
SCOOTER-NEWS
5|15 AUSGABE 0
AMMERSEE
JOY RIDE 2015 TOUR SIP TEAM ON
HAR DKO RSIK A TREFFEN, RENN
EN, MESSEN
SCOOTER-NEWS
6|16 AUSGABE 0
OP SIP SCOOTERSH
GRA ND OPE NIN G DAYS VESPA WORLD
SAI NT TRO PEZ
ESIEN IWAN/INDON 7|17 SÜDKOREA/TA AUSGABE 0
VES PA ASIA TRIP
LE SIP TEAM IN SEATT
7 AM ERIV ESPA 201 CORE TUNING JESCO´S HARD
TUNING OVER THE
TOP
VESPA REISE
8|19 AUSGABE 0
SINGAPUR / EUROPA
1994-2019
25 JAH RE SIP BLECHROLLERMEIS
TERSCHAFT
O TAC HO KAR ACH TRIP VESPA ROAD
DOL OMI TEN 201 8
DIE KULISSEN BLICK HINTER
WA REN EING ANG
www.issuu.com/ sip-scootershop.com
SIP OPEN DAY MAY 2018
THE SIP SCOOTERSHOP
OPEN DAYS IN LANDSBERG
The SIP Scootershop Open Day takes place each year at the beginning of May – for many, it is a kind of starting signal for the new scooter season. The programme is as entertaining as it is straightforward, with pizza from the Ape, with its wood-fired oven. Food and drink from our Italian SIPERIA café-bar, a parts and used scooter market to browse through, performance measurements on a calibrated P4 Amerschläger test bench in return for a € 10 voluntary donation, a Vespa Acrobatics Shop in the anniversary year
of 2019, DJ Leo Ernst (Atomic Café Munich) plays Soul & R&B on real vinyl. It goes without saying that the proprietary products from SIP are examined at its own stand, and our staff will be pleased to answer any of your questions. Guided tours of our warehouse and logistics department are available, as well as the administration building and the workshop, including the performance test bench. bit.ly/sipopenday19
bit.ly/openday18-de
JOYRIDE
A SCOOTER TOUR FOR EVERYONE
We have now been holding a day tour around Lake Ammersee with Vespas and Lambrettas for you each year for several years. We always meet at the SIP Scootershop from 9:30 am; cappuccinos & croissants fresh from the oven are on offer at the Siperia. We depart at 10.45 am. The route leads the group through the beautiful old town of Landsberg along small streets and through dreamy villages to St. Alban am Ammersee and the St. Alban lakeside restaurant, and you can park the scooters right on the lake. Former SIP employee Simon has been running this beautiful restaurant for several years, and provides us with roast pork bread rolls and drinks. After approx. 45 minutes we continue our tour around the lake to Greifenberg and Armin’s gas station, where we enjoy drinks, a barbecue and scooter talk. bit.ly/joyride18-en
bit.ly/joyride18-en
SIP TACHO KARACHO JULY 2018
TACHO KARACHO
THE VESPA & LAMBRETTA DRAG RACE 2018 was the première of our TACHO KARACHO drag race as part of the „Deutsche Blechrollermeisterschaft”. We are happy for this exciting race series to include a race on our doorstep – for the second time in 2019! www.deutscheblechrollermeisterschaft.de www.bit.ly/tachokaracho19
Reports, Pictures and SIP TV Video: bit.ly/tachokaracho18-en
SIP AFTER WORK + SIP OPEN DYNO
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS FOR After Work Aperitivo at the Siperia and the SIP Scootershop in Landsberg. On Thursdays once a month, you can enjoy some sunshine and sounds from the DJ on our patio. See out the day with a cool Peroni, a Spritz, or a glass of our own „Chiaro di Luna” white wine. A large antipasti buffet is also available. All drinks cost just € 4.50 and include the buffet. bit.ly/sipapero
EVERYONE & APERITIF Performance measuremen t for calibrated Am erschläger P4 all scooters up to 100 HP on our dyno. Once a the same tim month on Th e as our Afte ursday at r Work Aperiti vide you with vo at the SIPE useful inform RIA. We proation and tips and you can for tuning yo experience th ur engine e change dire means that ou ctly on site. Th r test bench e calibration is highly accu the GTÜ as an rate and appr offi oved by be used for tu cial test laboratory. The m easured valu ning or for en es can try in the vehi wheel power cle documen (absolute po ts. The rear wer) or the en according to gine power is DIN / EG (req measured uired construction of 1997 / from for TÜV registration up to year of 19 97). Simply reques t the registra tion form by a time slot fo email and we r you on Thur will reserve sday afternoo visitors can n/evening. U be taken into nr egistered ac co unt dependin Register at: g on the situ dyno@sip-sc ation. ootershop.de
youtube.com/scootershop
QUALITY CONTROL
AT SIP SCOOTERSHOP Nothing annoys our customers and the team here at SIP more than miserable quality, vague dimensioning and disappointing construction materials with a minority of the parts we have available at the shop. Due to the fact that high quality standards do not fall from the sky we undertake a number of precautionary measures with our own products during production, which are also meticulously applied to goods that are delivered to the shop. We test on several levels, a) at the manufacturers, b) in our delivery hall, c) in our workshop.
High precision measurements are conducted by external experts. In this particular case the technical department carried out a spot-check dry-build on a consignment of SIPBFA engine casings in combination with its peripheral components, such as the kickstarter shaft, clutch cover, gear selector shaft, etc. to ensure exact fit and function. We also check and measure, amongst many other crucial points, the distances between the engine shafts, the position and size of the woodruff-key slots, the levelness of the gasket surface areas, and so on...All threaded openings are checked and ran-
domly tested for full functionality. The climax of this intensive test procedure is represented by the measurement of the engine casings with a 3-D plotting machine with a digital protocol and/or the complete build and endurance testing of the assembled engine. All engine casings that have successfully passed this examination in either our delivery hall or workshop then receive our ‚SIP Quality Control‘ sticker and we retain examples of each tested component for future reference in our archive. Dipl.-Ing. (FH) André Jueterbock Research and development.
SIP SCOOTERSHOP IS A VERIFIED DIN EN ISO 9001 MANUFACTURER Verifizierung gemäß Anlage XIX StVZO
CERTIFICATION
Following the introduction of a QM system in accordance with DIN EN ISO 9001, since 27.05.2014, SIP Scootershop GmbH has been verified by GTÜ Zertifizierungsstelle GmbH as a developer and manufacturer of replacement and accessory parts for motorcycles according to the specifications of the German Federal Motor Transport Authority. As a licence holder at the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, we are able to distribute products with General Certification for Vehicles (ABE) that are legally permitted for road traffic use in Germany. Verification according to Art 19 StVZO (German Road Traffic Regulations) according to Annex XIX of the StVZO, EG and ECE regulations.
25TH ANNIVERSARY REGARDS
AND CONGRATULATIONS We have been happy to receive congratulations from all over the world. Here is small excerpt from good customers, suppliers and friends...
Marcus Pfeil
PFEIL DESIGN
Josh Rogers, Präsident
VESPA CLUB OF AMERICA
Joachim Müller
JOCKEY´S BOXENSTOP
Dear Ralf, dear Alex, dear SIP Scootershop team, all the best for the 25th anniversary of SIP Scooter Innovation Parts! It’s crazy what’s become of you and how big you’ve become in your new building. 120% respect, all the best and see you soon. Regards from Austria!
I want to thank Ralf and his team for supporting the scooter community over the last 25 years. You have given huge support to the scene here in America and kept our vehicles on the road. Thank you for your support to the Amerivespa and the Vespa Club of America!
You guys from SIP have created something really big, 25 years, respect! I‘ve been in the same line of business almost as long, so I know what I‘m talking about. It takes stamina, which is something you’ve got! Everything is always available from you guys and it’s there the next day. All I can say is keep it up!
Uwe Bödicker, Präsident
Robin Davy
Michael Betz
VESPA CLUB OF GERMANY As President of the Vespa Club of Germany, please allow me to send you my personal congratulations on your anniversary. Who would have thought in 1994 that you would become a global business? You supply the Vespa scene with accessories of all kinds, whether modern automatic scooters or classics from the past. If a part isn’t available on the market any more, you simply have it reproduced. Or if you don’t consider the original parts to be good enough, you redevelop them. I hope that you maintain your enthusiasm for the scooters and that you stay with us for a long time!
VESPA COLLECTOR 25 years, unbelievable. You started out in a little garage, I remember it well. Almost nobody could have foreseen how the whole thing would develop, but you have always believed in yourselves. Today you’re the biggest retailer of scooter accessories in the world. I can hardly believe what you’ve achieved in a quarter of a century! We’ve already experienced so much together, I’m looking forward to the next 25 years with you!
GERMAN SCOOTER FORUM (GSF) Dear SIP Team, happy anniversary! 25 years is a milestone, I wish you all the best. I am of the opinion that GSF and SIP have a lot in common. The GSF contributes to preventing scooter driving from dying out as a hobby, and the same applies naturally to SIP: you’ve reproduced parts that are no longer available, considered new developments, brought a new SIP performance ignition on the market which is a top product – many thanks!
Marcus Broix
SCOOTERIST MELTDOWN KAKAR
Cristian Mazelli
CRIMAZ
Alessandra und Andrea Malossi
MALOSSI
All the best for your 25th anniversary! You have the right to feel proud of yourselves – have a party!
Hi guys, happy 25th anniversary! What an incredible success, all the best!
Hi Alex, hi Ralf, these 25 years have gone by so fast, congratulations on your anniversary! Keep it up!
Christof Meier
Andreas Kaliwoda
Markus Wessner
STOFFIS GARAGE
KALLE BERLIN
JOCKEY´S BOXENSTOP
25 years of the SIP Scootershop – 25 years and you’re the market leader worldwide! We’ve always worked together very well, your products are top and the service is good! Thanks!
25 years ago I was 25. And now you’re 25. I see stickers or parts from your company whenever I go travelling and see a scooter. All the best for your anniversary!
I was part of the SIP team for many years and have now been on the customer side for more than 15 years - you were a great team back then and still are today!
Saimon Polini
Dean Orton
Wolle
POLINI I am very happy today to celebrate the 25th anniversary of SIP Scootershop. For over 20 Years POLINI MOTORI has relied on your professionalism for the distribution of it´s products in Germany.
CASA PERFORMANCE Rimini Lambretta Center would like to wish SIP a happy 25th anniversary! It has been phantastic work with you guys and we look forward to the next 25 years.
SCOOTER & SERVICE We’ve been working together with SIP Scootershop for 19 years and are happy about the professional support and rapid delivery of parts. Regards to Alex and Ralf!
SIP ROAD TRIP DOLOMITES ALPS 2018
WWW.SIP-SCOOTERSHOP.COM/25JAHRE