RT: in 94,95 they start commercializing motorbikes with high cc, around 350, what prompted this increment
P: It was more of a commercial argument and a strategy to different from the rest rather than a thermodynamic issue. Although there were motorbikes that went really really well, they were slower to react and they had more inertia. There was a certain part of the public that really liked them. Maybe for the less daring riders.
RT: in 98 you changed brand and you go to Sherco, why the change?
P: Because I was tired and I needed a change, also Andreu Codina encouraged me. We had the first interview in the Hotel Empordà in Figures with Mark Tessier and I asked him to show me all the project. We met again a week later and he showed me all the diagrams of the motorbike. I really liked it, Mark is a man of prestige, he is serious, assertive, firm, I felt that I had to go.
P: Because I was tired and I needed a change, also Andreu Codina encouraged me. We had the first interview in the Hotel Empordà in Figures with Mark Tessier and I asked him to show me all the project. We met again a week later and he showed me all the diagrams of the motorbike. I really liked it, Mark is a man of prestige, he is serious, assertive, firm, I felt that I had to go.
Josep Paxau with Marc Tessier who was at this time the main shareholder of Sherco.
Before accepting the Sherco project I talked to Pibernat and Casas and they offered me a much better financial deal than what I already had. I told them that I would think about it but the following morning I handed in my notice. I was not comfortable with the things that were not fixed.
The original GasGas team - minus Dani Font . Josep Paxau , Albert Callis, Gabino Renales, Josep Maria Pibernat and Narcis Casas. Andreu Codina joined the team in 1987 as a voluntary rider who took no income from the factory. It was only after this year proving himself that he gained employment with GasGas.
In the following meetings that we had to establish Sherco.Before we established the partnership we had another meeting and I disclosed that I didn’t want to be a partner. I didn’t want to be worried about things that didn’t concern me and I didn’t feel comfortable with it. We then decided that I would have a percentage of the number of motorbikes sold.
Josep Paxau's office with technical drawings.
RT: When you came to Sherco, what had been done already?
P: The engine had been drawn by Jacques Coll all by hand, now it seems incredible. A few parts were in production but I changed all the thermo dynamical parts, the crank, cylinder, exhaust, I made them. I also designed the frame with the geometry that I considered best for that motorbike. All made in Torelló.
P: The engine had been drawn by Jacques Coll all by hand, now it seems incredible. A few parts were in production but I changed all the thermo dynamical parts, the crank, cylinder, exhaust, I made them. I also designed the frame with the geometry that I considered best for that motorbike. All made in Torelló.