BRP has announced it is to build a new North American HQ at Plano, Texas. The move is designed to situate them “closer and better connected to our largest market,” according to BRP GM Sandy Scullion.
Windy City Motorcycle Company is set to open its 15th dealership – Windy City Harley-Davidson at Rosemont, Illinois.
Ducati will stage its biennial ‘World Ducati Week’ at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from July 20-22, 2018.
With it widely expected (indeed hoped) that the remaining 83 new bike models to be launched by Harley in the next nine years will include Off-Road and/or Adventure Tourer platforms, it might be timely for Harley to look again at what ATK Motorcycles, the USA’s only off-road motorcycle brand, could bring to the party?
Motorcycle Industry Council Government Relations staff met with Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service officials in November to highlight the importance of OHV recreation in national forests. The MIC says it urged department officials to prioritize recreational access, stating that OHV recreation in national forests is vital to the industry and that it is a local and national economic engine.
Metzeler has introduced a new 18″ tire for classic racers. With rim sizes of classics often outside the sizing parameters of modern stickies, they now offer the Racetec RR DOT range K1 (softest) compound in 110/80-ZR18 (58W) front, and 150/65-ZR18(69W) and 160/60-ZR18 (70W) rears.
The reported death of Bimota may have been exaggerated. Originally created by Valerio Bianchi (BI), Giuseppe Morri (MO) and Massimo Tamburini (TA), there can never have been a motorcycle brand whose potency has seen it survive so many near death experiences. The latest came in the form of an article that appeared in Cycle World in the United States that the Rimini based “boutique” high- performance marque vehemently denies. There is no secret that relocation(s) and the recent state of the market have made it tough for Bimota, but the Last Rites may still be a tad premature.
E-Briefs
Textron’s Off-Road division has introduced a new line of Electric Vehicles, the 72V battery system powered Prowler EV and Prowler EV iS - powered by 12V heavy-duty deep-cycle batteries feeding AC electric power to dual front and rear motors. Both models feature ‘Intellibrake’ - an innovative, automatic electric park brake that’s activated when the driver removes his/her foot from the accelerator pedal.
The electric versions of KTM’s Freeride 250R, the E-XC, will be available in limited quantities in North American and European KTM dealerships in 2018 and plans include a “Ready to Race” pilot program in the U.S.
Spanish manufacturer Torrot has announced the ‘Velocipedo – a three-wheeled, 100 % electric vehicle with a range of around 100 miles. It features regenerative braking, a carbon fiber structure and new e-call technology.
Californian manufacturer Zero has announced 2018 upgrades that include a 10% increase in its Z-Force battery capacity and range, and a new on-board high-speed charger option that is said to be six times faster.
BRP is introducing a first Rotax electric powerpack for the Karting market – a high performance 2.5kwh lithium-ion battery with a top performance of 20 kW and 46 Nm for a top speed of 130 km/h and 0-100 km/h of 3.5 seconds.
ACEM (the Brussels based pan-European motorcycle industry trade association) has reported that sales of electric mopeds, motorcycles, and quadricycles were up by +7.1% for the period January to September 2017 (23,695 units).The largest markets are France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy. Electric motorcycle registrations were down by -13.4%.
Yamaha has announced that it will start selling an all-new 4-model "power assist" electric bicycle line-up in the United States in 2018. Known as "PedElecs" in Europe, Yamaha launched the world's first electrically power assisted bicycle in 1993 and has sold over 2m units since then and provided drive units to other manufacturers.