Motorsport: Lady leader of the pack

Leigh Beckhaus has been involved with the motorcycle industry since she was a child. Picture / Garry Brandon

She's a small, blonde 30-something who rides a Vespa and is still on a learner motorbike licence - not exactly the person you'd expect to be the chairperson of the Motorcycle Group for the Motor Industry Association.

Leigh Beckhaus may not have a fleet of motorbikes in the garage of her Auckland home and she's a good two decades younger than most the men of the MIA group, but she has been involved in the motorcycle industry since she was a baby.

Her father, Ian Beckhaus, established Shaft Motorcycles in Otahuhu in the 1970s and her mum Christine Beckhaus worked full-time in the business.

"Mum would bring me into work and I'd be in a pushchair while she did the books," said Leigh.

During school holidays and weekends Leigh would work at Shaft and when she finished university it seemed natural she'd work in the motorcycle business, especially as her father was distributor for Triumph bikes in New Zealand.

But you can forget about office work. Instead Leigh covered all aspects of the industry - from retail, to grooming bikes, marketing and even bottling Bell Ray lubricant at Crosby Motorcycles.

By 2002 Leigh had worked her way up to running sales for Triumph NZ and the company was selling four brands of bikes, including the must-have scooter for any inner city Aucklander, Vespa.

And nearly 10 years later, Leigh is General Manager of Triumph NZ and the company is now distributing 14 brands from around the world, including such diverse bikes as Taiwanese Sym scooters, Spanish GasGas off-roaders and Husqvarna enduro bikes.

It has 72 dealerships it sells to nationwide and had to move to larger premises in Penrose to cope with the increase in stock.

But you still won't find Leigh sitting behind a desk full-time.

"We have 11 staff covering 14 brands so as general manager I have to be prepared to unpack a container and pick and pack parts for dealerships," she says.

"And the forklift driver here has to be able to answer the phone and take orders."

For Leigh, being a woman in a male-dominated industry hasn't fazed her.

"I've grown up in the industry so I've been a bit oblivious to it. It's not an issue for me.

"The motorcycle industry is full of personalities and you have to deal with male egos."

She realised that for some women, going to a motorcycle yard and learning to ride a bike could be scary so she established a "Ladies Only Scooter Training Day".

It was a chance for scooter owners and women interested in buying one (like I was when I attended one of her events) to go to a race track, learn to ride, try a variety of scooters, have lunch and ask questions to experts without looking like an idiot.

"But a man, a motorbike rider, complained to the Human Rights Commission about the events as they were 'ladies only' so we had to stop them," Leigh says indignantly.

"Women don't want to be around men belittling them when they are learning to ride. What makes me angry is the fact the man who complained was a motorcyclist himself."

It's her attitude, her outgoing personality and experience in many aspects of the bike industry that saw Leigh voted unanimously as chairperson of the MIA's motorcycle group last year.

She replaced former head Bill Grice who left to join Gareth Morgan at the newly established Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council.

And it was Grice, along with MIA's CEO Perry Kerr and Subaru New Zealand's GM Wally Dumper that suggested Leigh take over the role.

"My role gives our industry a point of difference because I'm a woman, but I used to represent Triumph New Zealand at the council," Leigh explained.

"I also run a medium-sized business, of course we're not as large as say Honda or Suzuki... but we have 24 Triumphs in the lineup and all of them are over 600cc."

One of her priorities with the group has been the issue of stricter import rules for mopeds - and the groups wanted them to be VIN-compliant. Mopeds (under 50cc scooters for which you don't need a bike licence to ride), don't have a unique vehicle identification number, which proves they are suitable for New Zealand conditions.

"There are a lot of Chinese mopeds out there being sold, it's a rogue industry, and the bikes don't have a VIN plate. So we want to raise the standards of the products out there," Leigh says.

The group meets quarterly and another focus is the safety of ATVs and the call for a cage to be installed on quad bikes, called Roll Over Protection Systems (ROPS), to reduce deaths on the bikes.

"It's a heated and emotional topic in Australia ... the ROPS goes against manufacturers regulation and they don't recommend them," she says.

Another issue the group faced was the increase in ACC levies and the worry that sales of bikes would decrease due to the hefty price of owning one.

But just as the levies hit, so did the recession: Leigh says it is hard to tell what affected sales the most.

"The levy increase has had a huge impact because a lot of motorcyclists have more than one bike. A lot of guys are parking the registration of the bikes," she says.

"Triumph is the flagship of the business and sales are still going well for us considering the recession."

One factor helping the company was the increased selection of accessories now available for bike owners - from riding apparel to work clothes (Vespa T-shirt anyone?) and accessories. "We are selling the lifestyle," says Leigh.

Her own lifestyle isn't riding big bikes or trying her hand (or feet) at off-roading, instead she spends time at home reading and still works with her family.

Younger brother Michael is operations manager of Triumph NZ, and dad Ian now works part-time - though her parents spend more time at the beach house than in the company's warehouse.

And it is Ian who Leigh credits with making Triumph NZ a major player in the motorbike industry here. "He's a real entrepreneur, he's taken chances. I'm not a big risk taker, he is."

Scooting Along
Leigh Beckhaus would like to see more people riding scooters for a variety of reasons - fuel efficiency, low cost (some new bikes are under $1000), ease of parking, less congestion, and the expense of public transport.

"We should be encouraging people to get into two-wheel travel," she says.