Ridley Motorcycle Company was a privately held

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

manufacturing company based in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

, US, from 1995 to 2010. Ridley introduced the first cruiser with a continuously variable transmission, the Ridley Speedster, in 1999, and positioned itself as "America's Automatic Motorcycle."

Models

* Speedster - Ridley's first production vehicle, the Speedster was a 3/4 scale 600cc "miniature cruiser" fitted with a CVT transmission and

V-twin engine A V-twin engine, also called a V2 engine, is a two-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Although widely associated with motorcycles (installed either transversely or longi ...

. * Auto-Glide Classic (formerly "Auto-Glide") * Auto-Glide Chopper * Auto-Glide Old School * Auto-Glide Sport * Auto-Glide Trike * Auto-Glide TT * X88 - Sold with a traditional manual transmission.

History

Clay Ridley began experimenting with

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

s in motorcycles in 1995, when building them for his sons as a hobby. Although the vast majority of cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. use automatic transmissions, no two-wheeled vehicles larger than a scooter did, and so to capitalize on that market, he and his son Jay founded the Ridley Motorcycle Company in 1997, which produced its first model, the Speedster, two years later. Following the success of the Speedster, the company developed a full-size cruiser, name the Auto-Glide, which began sales in 2003, and steadily expanded its line. They sustained annual growth of over 30% from 2000 to 2008, and sold nearly 4,000 units through 2009. Ridley's success was built on a focus of three unique features; low seat, light weight, and an automatic transmission. Ridley found a niche with new riders and female riders by offering the traditional styling of a big motorcycle, but with the ease of riding a scooter. By 2006, Ridley Motorcycles were sold through 55 dealers in the United States and four international dealers. The company entered the Canadian motorcycle market in 2007 with limited success in ten dealerships spread throughout the country. As Ridley saw success with its larger Auto-Glide model,

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

immediately sued Ridley over use of the name "Auto-Glide," claiming trademark infringement. The case was presented to the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (in case citations, E.D. Wis.) is a federal trial court of limited jurisdiction. The court is under the auspices of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, ...

in August 2007 in five days, but Ridley settled on December 28, 2009, after waiting three years with no verdict returned. On the following day, Ridley filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. A motion was filed just the day after on December 30, 2009, by

MidFirst Bank MidFirst Bank is a privately owned financial institution based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is the largest privately owned bank in the United States, with $34.7 billion in assets. Its primary markets include Oklahoma, Denver, Phoenix and Dallas ...

, lender to Ridley in 2005 of an amount of $1 million, for the bankruptcy court to authorize the abandonment of the collateral given by Ridley to the bank. Ridley had already voluntarily surrendered its collateral to the bank on October 1, but the bankruptcy was filed before Midfirst Bank could organize an auction, scheduled for January 2010. The assets of Ridley were sold at a public auction on February 16, 2010. Route 66 Ridley Motorcycles acquired the Ridley brand and its remaining $9 million parts inventory, manufacturing assets, and intellectual property.

References

External links

* {{USA motorcycle manufacturers Defunct motorcycle manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Oklahoma City Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in Oklahoma