Cooper (motorcycles)

Cooper was a

The Cooper motorcycle company was created in Burbank, California, in 1972 by Frank Cooper who, was the American distributor for Maico motorcycles.^[1][2] As the baby boomer generation came of age during the 1960s and 1970s, off-road motorcycling experienced a surge in popularity.^[3] Cooper sought to fill a void in the motorcycle marketplace between the less expensive, entry level Japanese motorcycles and the more expensive European motorcycles.^[1][2]

Cooper contracted with Isidro Lopez, the owner of a Mexican moped manufacturer named Moto Islo, to build

Although the motorcycles were initially well received, they soon developed a reputation for poor quality due to metallurgy failures, poor quality fiberglass parts and deficient quality control during the manufacturing process.^[2] Although Cooper addressed most of the reliability issues, the brand's poor reputation persisted.^[2] Cooper was also unable to manufacture motorcycles at prices low enough to compete against Japanese motorcycle manufacturers.^[2] The combination of a poor reputation along with a higher than anticipated price caused the company to cease operations after producing approximately 1,200 motorcycles.^[2]

The Cooper motorcycle brand was then purchased by Southern California Yamaha distributor, Don Jones who renamed the brand Ammex.^[1][4][5][6] Their intent was to achieve sales success by having Jones' son, three-time motocross national champion Gary Jones compete aboard the motorcycles.^[1] The Jones family significantly improved the Ammex over the previous Cooper model. Jones competed on an Ammex motorcycle during the 1976 250cc motocross national championship with his best result being a 10th place at the Sears Point race.^[7] However, the brand failed when the Mexican peso was devalued in 1976.^[1][4]

Moto Islo also made a

• History of Moto Islo (in Spanish)