International Dealer News IDN 138 August/September 2017 | Page 23

ROAD TRIP

TEST , TEST AND TEST

AGAIN

The Greater Barcelona and wider Catalonia region of north east Spain is well known as a hot bed of motorcycle industry manufacturing – bikes , parts and accessories of all kinds . Robin Bradley recently visited one such business , one with an international reputation and footprint – J . Juan , brake components manufacturer to more than 70 original equipment manufacturers
Words by Robin Bradley robin @ dealer-world . com

Afew months ago we reported that daily management of the Gava , Barcelona based J . Juan group was being passed to Jose Luis Juan as CEO . The 45-year old represented management staying within the second generation of family ownership of a business that can trace its origins back to 1947 . That start was the opening of a motorcycle workshop by founder Jose J . Juan , with the incorporation of the J . Juan SA company we know today as a motorcycle control cable manufacturer in 1965 . By the 1970s the business had become the market leader for control cables in Spain , and in response to the difficulties in the Spanish motorcycle sector at that time , J . Juan started to export , with its first customers being Honda and Yamaha in Europe . The decade from 1990 saw rapid expansion , establishing themselves as Europe ’ s Number One

‘ we are in the safety business ’

INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2017 23