Do you remember how you first got involved with the scootering scene?

Alex: We got hooked by a wide-spread and active Vespa scene here in our region at the end of the 1980s. You had the choice - either your Vespa was tuned or had a unique look or you could spare yourself the shame of riding to the school parking area or the ice cream parlor on an off-the-shelf original scooter. Later, we entered the on-the-run scene, showed up at the first scooter meetings in 1989 and took part in the first quartermile races.

What sped up the whole thing was a sort of arms race among the different scooter clubs here in Landsberg and the enivrons as well as the large number of scooter meetings. The scooter developed from a mere means of transportation into a lifestyle and a subculture of its own. The accompanying cultural symbols were Northern soul, Ranger boots, the typical haircut called "flat" and the club jacket covered with patches.

Have you just been in for the business from the outset or has there been any philosophy from which the whole SIP idea got started?

Alex: at this point, business was a completely marginal thing. At the beginning of the 1990s you simply had to have a 34 flat slide carburetor, a British exhaust such as the Kegra, Nordspeed or PSP, wide tires and an M handlebar mounted. These parts took months to deliver and came with a horrible price tag attached. Back then we have had some reputation as we showed up at a lot of runs and meeting with our Streetracers, e.g. at the Eurovespa San Marino, San Remo, Pordenone, Hamburg, ... People approached us asking where they could buy the SIP seat, they wanted to convert to wide tire kits and were looking for British exhausts. Well, we just started manufacturing, milling and laminating these parts for them.

Just like back then, scooter meetings are still quite expensive. Lots of gas, lots of drinks, lots of engine overhauls. At this point, SIP was basically about making money to cover these on-the-run expenses.

...and your first telephone hotline operated from your kids‘ room

Ralf: Exactly. The office hours back then are still pretty appealing to me. I went to uni in the morning and opened at 3:00pm in the afternoon - until late in the evening. If the weather was really nice or if there was a scooter meeting scheduled we just left a sign at the door saying "Sorry, we are closed".

Do you still remember which brands you first offered in your shop?

Ralf: Back then we only accepted brands in our product range that had convinced us personally and that we had mounted ourselves on our own scooters. It is interesting to see that there have not been any fundamental changes since then. MALOSSI, POLINI, MAZZUCCHELLI, GRIMECA, JL EXHAUSTS are but a few names that are still very much around. And of course our own special parts that we still offer through our brand SIP Performance.

Let us compare the situation in parts supply back then and nowadays. In the old days you took the van to Italy whereas today the freight forwarding trucks are queuing in front of your warehouse during peak season.

Alex: In the past we headed towards Italy every 6 weeks. We know every motorway restaurant there by heart. The first such restaurant beyond Bozen is still serving the best cappuccino and the macaroni dish at the old Brenner road is still legend. We now purchase the parts directly from the manufacturer and some parts arrive from other parts of the world.
Quantities have changed, too. For some Italian suppliers SIP is their personal lifeline.
For a lot of parts the manufacturer demands minimum quantities in order to restart production, e.g. disc brakes by GRIMECA, longstroke crankshafts, floor rail kits, spoiler T5.
The quantities have risen well beyond the capacity of a van.

Your first catalogue. What did the preparation work for this catalogue look like back then? Did you just pop into the next copy shop with your drafts to xerox 500 black and white versions or did you rather resort to potato printing techniques?

Ralf: The first flyer was a cut-and-paste version. We used scissors and glue and did the xeroxing in the nearest copy shop. Add a lightly dressed young lady, layout can be that easy. However, we soon produced our first 16-pages catalogue to keep up with the sharp increase in our product range. This still was a black-and-white print. Nevertheless, one thing has not changed since these early beginnings: to design a catalogue is extremely laborious, exhausting and most of all expensive.

45 hours of scooter talk per week, doesn't that eat away at your enthusiasm for scooters?

Alex: you've got to be careful. The most important thing for me is that I can get up in the morning and go to work and actually have fun doing what I do. If it's not like this anymore it's getting dangerous.
Of course you don't want to hand out jetting advice at the beer garden at 10pm in the evening but the passion for the subject is still very much there. And if I get on my SS180 in the morning to ride to work, the day has just begun in a perfect way. My little highlight is our annual SIP grand tour which takes us to a meeting, usually in Italy, for a couple of days. No service car, street cowboy-style. This year we will be heading for Southern France to visit the Scooter Club du Sud Est, they will be celebrating their 17th meeting. Voilà.

Take a look into the crystal ball: what will SIP Scootershop look like in 15 years time?

Ralf: If you would have asked us this question 15 years earlier we would certainly not have the faintest imagination of what SIP Scootershop represents today. 40 employees who take care of more than 70,000 customers, we never would have imagined that back then. It is our sincere hope that we will still do our jobs with the same amount of enthusiasm and fun in 15 years time. We would like to be a fully assorted supplier for spare parts and high-quality accessories for all established motor scooters. There will be a great challenge in keeping the supply up and running for parts that the manufacturer decides to take out of production or to reissue such parts ourselves.

What are your plans for this year?

Alex: we have been working on some new product highlights for 2 years now. CNC-machined shock absorbers, high-tech crankshafts, brake calipers, KOSO-Vespa rev counters and tubeless tires are but a few examples. Some of these parts are well on their way while others are already in the final test stage.
The product range for vintage scooters is constantly growing. Hopefully, we will manage to publish some catalogues.
Our Stoffi-SIP Racing Team is itching to have its revenge. 3 custom scoots are ready to be finished.

The Scootamatic section will witness 2 new sprint teams on extremely fast custom sprint racers. We have endowed our SIP stunt team with a custom stunt scooter, fully aware that this scoot is bound to be wrecked. Let the season come on, we are prepared.