Scomadi – British by design and back flying the flag for the UK
In February 2020 I was at the opening of the new Scomadi factory in Thailand. At the time the new Covid-19 virus had just ripped through Wuhan and was beginning to cause disruption around the Far East.
It was steadily smashing its way across Europe, whilst in the UK it was still somebody else’s problem on the news… Thankfully it never amounted to anything.
Since last year most aeroplanes have become super-sized ornaments
On my way home from that trip, surrounded by masked up Chinese and Thai travellers, I remember thinking to myself ‘There’s no way the British public would ever walk around looking like surgeons.’ As we now know, the pandemic swept the world and the majority of us complied. Whole industries, livelihoods and supply chains were stopped in their tracks, fun was extinguished. Millions of people lost their lives and the death toll is still growing exponentially.
The Scomadi has plenty of accessories and extras to choose from
Heading out of the gloom
Although we’re in a far worse position now than we were back then, the world has started to adapt and in the longer-term things do at least look a bit brighter. This means factories and supply chains are back up and running and finally some of the new Scomadis (and parts) we saw and rode in Thailand are back in their native homeland. Back where they were originally created.
The TT 125 air-cooled and TT 200 LC
Back in Great Britain
Anyway, enough of the history lesson. Scomadi are back in Great Britain. The first container load of scooters arrived at its new distribution base, RetroTech Racing in Royal Leamington Spa at the beginning of January, along with plenty of parts and spares – including many of the aftermarket SSS tuning parts and accessories we saw in Thailand on the special edition cutdown.
VIDEO | Scomadi SSS preview
This first shipment is of standard spec TT 125 S models but we’re promised 200s and production versions of the cutdown we rode soon. Containers will be on the water to feed demand as the brand tries to re-establish itself.
Now living in Thailand to oversee R&D at the factory, Frank Sanderson’s Scoamdi dream is far from over
Never underestimate the underdog
Scomadis reintroduction is on a much smaller scale than it was back in 2015 when they first hit dealer’s floors and there has been plenty of water under the bridge since then.
You have to admire the sheer tenacity of one of its founding fathers, Frank Sanderson. He’s battled against all the odds (with wife, Kaye, standing firmly by his side) to make this brand a reality. Remember, Frank is ‘just’ an old-time scooter lad from Lancashire who grew up riding, racing and building scooters. Then moved on to transplanting engines into (mostly) Lambretta frames before evolving that into low volume carbon-fibre-clad scooters under the Scomadi brand name. Then he took things to the next level – full production, along with his former business partner. Things couldn’t have been rosier for Scomadi, shipments were selling out months ahead of deliveries from their Chinese manufacturer, a manufacturer who couldn’t keep up with demand. All the dealers had extensive waiting lists. Then small quality niggles and component failures became bigger issues, toys were thrown out of prams and before long a rival brand arrived from the same factory.
A decade of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, financial sacrifice and risk were pulled from under Scomadi’s feet. Fat cat lawyers got even fatter and the competition took over the market Scomadi had created. Of course, this is no one-sided story, as the ensuing high court battles revealed but you have to give Frank credit for fighting tooth and nail for the baby he created. He’s gone on to attract the financial backing of some very big hitters, has a new production facility in Thailand, along with a booming local Scomadi scene.
Although we’ve heard plenty of broken promises and various prototypes and new models have yet to materialise you should never underestimate the underdog… especially when that underdog has gone to the lengths Scomadi have done to stay in business.
Worlds apart
The Scomadis I rode in Thailand in 2020 were worlds apart from the earlier ones in terms of quality, fit and finish. The ride was also so much better thanks to improvements and evolution made over the last few years.
In February 2020 I was at the opening of the new Scomadi factory in Thailand. At the time the new Covid-19 virus had just ripped through Wuhan and was beginning to cause disruption around the Far East.
It was steadily smashing its way across Europe, whilst in the UK it was still somebody else’s problem on the news… Thankfully it never amounted to anything.
On my way home from that trip, surrounded by masked up Chinese and Thai travellers, I remember thinking to myself ‘There’s no way the British public would ever walk around looking like surgeons.’ As we now know, the pandemic swept the world and the majority of us complied. Whole industries, livelihoods and supply chains were stopped in their tracks, fun was extinguished. Millions of people lost their lives and the death toll is still growing exponentially.
Heading out of the gloom
Although we’re in a far worse position now than we were back then, the world has started to adapt and in the longer-term things do at least look a bit brighter. This means factories and supply chains are back up and running and finally some of the new Scomadis (and parts) we saw and rode in Thailand are back in their native homeland. Back where they were originally created.
Back in Great Britain
Anyway, enough of the history lesson. Scomadi are back in Great Britain. The first container load of scooters arrived at its new distribution base, RetroTech Racing in Royal Leamington Spa at the beginning of January, along with plenty of parts and spares – including many of the aftermarket SSS tuning parts and accessories we saw in Thailand on the special edition cutdown.
VIDEO | Scomadi SSS preview
This first shipment is of standard spec TT 125 S models but we’re promised 200s and production versions of the cutdown we rode soon. Containers will be on the water to feed demand as the brand tries to re-establish itself.
Never underestimate the underdog
Scomadis reintroduction is on a much smaller scale than it was back in 2015 when they first hit dealer’s floors and there has been plenty of water under the bridge since then.
You have to admire the sheer tenacity of one of its founding fathers, Frank Sanderson. He’s battled against all the odds (with wife, Kaye, standing firmly by his side) to make this brand a reality. Remember, Frank is ‘just’ an old-time scooter lad from Lancashire who grew up riding, racing and building scooters. Then moved on to transplanting engines into (mostly) Lambretta frames before evolving that into low volume carbon-fibre-clad scooters under the Scomadi brand name. Then he took things to the next level – full production, along with his former business partner. Things couldn’t have been rosier for Scomadi, shipments were selling out months ahead of deliveries from their Chinese manufacturer, a manufacturer who couldn’t keep up with demand. All the dealers had extensive waiting lists. Then small quality niggles and component failures became bigger issues, toys were thrown out of prams and before long a rival brand arrived from the same factory.
A decade of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, financial sacrifice and risk were pulled from under Scomadi’s feet. Fat cat lawyers got even fatter and the competition took over the market Scomadi had created. Of course, this is no one-sided story, as the ensuing high court battles revealed but you have to give Frank credit for fighting tooth and nail for the baby he created. He’s gone on to attract the financial backing of some very big hitters, has a new production facility in Thailand, along with a booming local Scomadi scene.
Although we’ve heard plenty of broken promises and various prototypes and new models have yet to materialise you should never underestimate the underdog… especially when that underdog has gone to the lengths Scomadi have done to stay in business.
Worlds apart
The Scomadis I rode in Thailand in 2020 were worlds apart from the earlier ones in terms of quality, fit and finish. The ride was also so much better thanks to improvements and evolution made over the last few years.
