What’s it all about? Part I

What is KOTI Autotalli? Who are we? Where are we?

Let’s start at the beginning (where else would you start?) and cover off the WHAT, so here we are, to an extent... We became an official entity on the 8th September 2020 (what a year hey!) and started our launch program two months later in November. Realistically we couldn't have acted any quicker in a year like the one we've all just been impacted by.

As the restrictions were lifted bit by bit in July, it was go time for us. Getting out into the real world and searching high and low for our soon to be home, a place which could serve as a workshop, a hang out, a collaborative and creative space, a cafe and a purposeful retail environment, this was the number one priority. After all, we set out from the start to create a home and garage for the moto culture within the UK and for it to be housed in the Cotswolds AONB, surrounded by beautiful places and epic roads. With such an extensive list of requirements, it's been quite the task to secure somewhere that fits the dream. But we have found that home and as we type, it's under construction.

On the subject of homes and garages, it feels like the right time to talk about our name, KOTI Autotalli. So, what does it mean and where does it come from? In short, it's taken from the Finnish language, Koti meaning Home and Autotalli translating to Garage in English. Now if you were interested enough or you're actually Finnish and threw "home garage" into google translate asking for the Finnish translation, you'd see "kodin autotalli". Now this is because you're looking at the translation for a garage at a home and that's not what we are. We aren't just converting the garage joined to our house and trying to encourage people to our website. We are creating a home for the motor (mainly with 2 wheels attached but not exclusively) and with a garage at the heart of that home. Some where you all feel comfortable to rock up and chill out in.

Well, why don't we just call it The Home - Garage? Truthfully, we had considered this, but we just didn't want to be a hidden addition to culture, buried within all the noise of locations with moto, motorcycle, bike, motor etc. in the naming or branding and we needed a starting point to talk about our uniqueness.

What is it then, what’s different, how are we unique? Where most places give back to the community of motor heads by providing a place to relax, eat, drink, browse gear, checkout projects in the metal and engage with like-minded enthusiasts, very few combine more than a couple of these elements. Now we aren't saying we're reinventing the wheel here or providing everything to everyone, but we are dropping ourselves into a stunning, well traveled, desirable area of the country which has a definite hole for bikers needs with a difference and a change from the normal.

Let’s talk about garages (Autotalli) and workshops! Typically, you'd find a workshop with a waiting room and a front desk, where the purpose is to take in broken or unfettled bikes that are needed back on the road or you have a run of the mill service centre where volume is the game and a need to turnover the bikes in a manner that supports a profitable business. Is that what we are? Nope! Then you have either your own or a mates garage, where you house projects and gather together and chat about motors, life and passions. This is what we are more closely aligned with. We have a workshop on view to all that visit us, to be enjoyed, to be engaged with and everyone should feel welcome. Our workshop only has a couple of simple objectives.

One being the preparation of our new MUTT Motorcycles for their lucky owners to hit the road on, along with ongoing care for of these epic machines.

The other being to create and reborn our KOTI Customs, bikes which haven't seen anywhere near enough of the road or travelled the miles they were made to. We have a small collection to start with, all of which you can find out about in the other articles in our news section, but simply all of them have come from homes that have left them locked up, on the side lines, unloved and in a level of disrepair. We'll be taking these bikes apart, down to the nuts and bolts, then rejuvenating the worn mechanical parts back up to spec and building them back up with either some nostalgic or contemporary style embedded. Some will see a complete purpose change, like our BMW K100, which finished it usable life as a touring bike a while ago, but will be rolling back out onto the road in 2021 as a scrambler built by us.

Exciting? Don't feel like you could spend all your time chilling out on our sofas sipping at our ace coffee, talking with the workshop, trying on the latest rider gear, as your boss might start to ask where you are? Well then, let’s bring in our home (KOTI) element to the conversation... We have an absolutely outstanding space and mega fibre connection at our place. One that'll allow you to bring your laptop and work along with you for the day, use our space as your own, meet with others, use our facilities and in the summer sit out looking over our neighbour’s vin yard in the sun along side some cool machines. 

For now, we think this might be enough for you to have taken in all-in-one go, but this certainly isn't even scratching the surface of KOTI Autotalli. The only thing we can really add to the story at this stage is that we launched our online store on the 18th December 2020, and it was a little bit close to Christmas, right? Yes, it was! Royal Mail wasn't doing well in the news.

Our launch collection has been personally curated, tried, tested and we are only offering the items that we believe in. Which is why our launch collection is slightly limited in size, it's just going to take some time to get through more products while we still have a level of restrictions around us and we are finalising our home. But now we are in the new and wonderful (fingers crossed) year of 2021, we are ready to fulfil your moto lifestyle requirements from apparel to artwork and on to care products for you motor.

Feel free to reach out to us with any ideas, collaborations or feel like part of the journey by taking a look at our KOTI Originals range. For now take care, but check back in with us here to discover how the story evolves and when our awesome space will be open for you.