Bugger, i have spent many hours drooling over their site. Always meant to go and see them and never did.
yup, very local for me. in there couple of months back and he said it was "slow" Shame some lovely stuff in there. locally we've lost two BMW main dealers, Colchester Kawasaki/Aprilia and a couple of others recently
Yes a great shame when part of our classic Italian motorcycle landscape disappears like this. The Made in Italy website was always worth a visit and acted as an international barometer of where the marketplace was at any given time. John Fallon bought a couple of bikes from me some years ago, in my experience, a very straight dealer, no quibbling, he sent a courier with the cash who then collected the bikes. Mine was an effortless deal and he was always helpful and a pleasure to speak with. I hope the closure is due to retirement, but fear that the uncertainty in the classic bike market, that has for so long driven speculative prices for those looking for investment returns, may have put paid to the business. I wish him well.
^ yes, John is / was a decent sort, sold him my 888 a few years back, all stress free, think he'd taken a back seat in more recent times but, like you say a great shame indeed, was always worth a ride out to see how the other half lives.
…. John bought my SL MK1 years ago and kept it himself and my 916 Strada. Very helpful and knowledgeable and from my experience just an honest guy. They had a fully restored 750 GT couple of years ago, always wish I’d gone to have a look, bet it was a beauty. Great shame..
Bought my Laverda Jota from him 4 years ago, both John and Neil are very straight and honest to deal with , wonder what's happened to his stock?, there were some nice Machines there, i thought something was going on cos their website's been down for a few days...very sad to lose another good dealer.
When John Fallon was a schoolboy in Wimbledon, he used to see (and hear) me blasting up Wimbledon Hill on my 750SS greenframe. It was partly that that which turned him on to bikes, and Ducatis, in the first place. Or so he kept telling every time we met. Sorry about his Stowmarket shop closing.
The last few years I’d noticed a lack of Ducati stock, more Guzzi or Bimota.. Perhaps stock harder to source or other dealers jumping on the band wagon and inflating prices, couple of dealers have 750GT’s for £30 - £35k which seems ludicrous compared to only a few years ago, and the not shifting.
Not sure if this is/was the Bury St. Edmunds based company. If so, I do know of one customer who purchased a bike from them that on inspection by a well respected Ducati specialist, discovered the reason the new owner was unhappy with the handling was due to a bent frame. Whether or not he returned it for a refund I never found out, but I do know he paid a princely sum for it.
Looked on the site last week and apparently the technician is still available to work on your bikes if that helps anyone out there.
Also heard that Moto Di Marino in Sussex is closing down due to retirement, haven’t been for years but always an interesting place to visit, his bikes for sale will go through auction in the next few months.
Looks like the same will be happening to those from 'made in Italy', most are currently on Ebay tagged with 'to be auctioned'...some bargains to be had me thinks.
