Leo's South

The year was 1961... Ray and Phalista Bedeaux, along with 4 of the 5 Bedeaux brothers, "Dale, Jerry, Mike and Oscar", had moved from their hometown of Hazen, Pennsylvania... Alvin joined them here several years later.

In 1970, Dale and the other Bedeaux Brothers had become friends with a man by the name of Leo Hauck, "the original Leo". Dale was working for Leo and had owned a Pirrella, Matchless and '67' Royal Enfield Motorcycle... "Dale enjoyed cycling"... Leo was preparing to retire, so he asked Dale if he had interest in purchasing his shop, from that point on, the Bedeaux Brothers would be in the motorcycle business! The two men agreed on a price and the paper work was signed for Dale to purchase the Leo's motorcycle dealership... Leo later moved and retired in Arizona. As part of the original purchase agreement, the dealership was given a 1938 Indian and "Leo" was allowed to pick out a new motorcycle each year if he chose to… the Indian was sold to meet payroll a couple of years later. Oscar started working with Dale in 1970, followed by Mike in 1971 and Jerry in 1972.

The original Leo's Dealership carried Royal Enfield's, Norton's, Moto Guzzi's, & Ducati motorcycles, but you would also see Triumph's, Harley Davidson's, Indian's and several other makes from England, Italy and Spain at their shop! As a Norton dealer, the Brothers were offered a deal... if they could sell over a hundred Norton's in a year, they would win a trip to England to meet the Norton girls... they sold over 100 bikes, but never got the trip! With-in 3 years though, and a lot of hard work, Leo's became the world's largest Norton Motorcycle Dealership!

Consumer demand led Leo's to open a second store in 1977, "Leo's South", in Lakeville MN. Jerry and Oscar took out a second mortgage on their homes and opened as partners at the Lakeville BMW/Kawasaki Shop. They opened the doors with 4 new BMW Motorcycles, 2 used and a couple of thousand dollars worth of BMW parts... they also introduced the Kawasaki product line at that time. The Bloomington store added Suzuki to it’s line of products too.

In 1977, Jerry and Oscar began to sell some products from Larson & Olson Distributing... "Polaris Snowmobiles"! The brothers were again presented a challenge... sell 50 Polaris snowmobiles, and they would win a trip to France... they sold 60! This time the manufacture came through and awarded the prize!

The Bedeaux Brothers enjoyed challenges and proved to be good at meeting them... in 1978, Kawasaki presented yet another... if they could sell 100 dirt bikes and enduro's, Kawasaki would send them on a paid trip to the South Pacific! They enjoyed that trip... of course!

One of the funniest stories from the early days at Leo's South, was when Norton factory reps came from England, to call on their shop... The Bedeaux Brothers offered their kind hospitality by asking them, and then taking them for a snowmobile ride! They went south for a couple of hour ride; crossing Lake Marion along the way. When they returned, the reps enthusiastically recounted their experience... they enjoyed the ride and commented about the funny, odd little village they had past during the journey... having little experience with northern winters, they didn't know that what they had passed was a group of ice fishing houses, and that they were riding on a frozen lake with up to 40 ft. of water under them and the ice... they listened with unnerving disbelief as they found out where they had been and what they had actually seen... they laughed... but probably not as much as the Bedeaux Brothers though!

The Bloomington store remained open till 1982, when Dale and Mike sold that facility. Alvin and Mike would join Jerry at Leo's South in 1994.

Leo's South has entered this century with a 2nd and now 3rd generation of Bedeaux Family members in the Motor Sports business, along with some adopted members too... there are still many great short stories to tell, so stay tuned!

More history to come...




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