S&S Cycle has stopped production and sales of its steel lined 4” Big Bore kits in the USA due to a potential patent conflict. Their 106”, 107”, 117” and 124” big bore kits are not affected and will remain available.
The churn in Harleys dealer network continues, with Scott Fischer Enterprises reported to be selling Six Bends (Fort Myers) and Naples H-D in Florida to TMCFM Inc., (aka The Motorcycle Company) owned by David A. Veracka and his family. Now with eight dealerships, according to PSB TMCFM becomes the fifth largest dealership group in the U.S., trailing only RideNow Powersports, Freedom Powersports, Windy City Motorcycle Company and Hall's Motorsports as the largest dealership group in the U.S. They also own Palm Beach H-D, West Palm Beach, Fl.; Avalanche, Denver; High Octane at North Billerica, Mass.; Rawhide at Olathe, Kansas, and Riverside and Huntington Beach H-D (Westminster) in California. Scott Fischer is now down to just three dealerships - Blue Ridge in Hickory, NC., and Thunderbird and Duke City in Albuquerque, NM.
Rich with history, Dudley Perkins Co. Harley-Davidson of South San Francisco has been sold after 103 years of continuous operation in the same family ownership. Established in 1914 by Mr. Dudley Perkins Sr., his grandson Tom took over in 1996 until his untimely death in 2015. Tom’s wife Janet has sold the dealership to Rich Gargano and Cliff Chester. Rich and Cliff also own West Coast Harley-Davidson in Salinas and Thunder Harley-Davidson in Morgan Hill, California.
Orange County H-D at Irvine, California, has also been sold, to Mark Smith, owner of Stampede Harley at Burleson and H-D of Fort Worth, Texas.
BRP has reported revenues up by +15% and gross profit up by +7% for the first three quarters of 2017. At $1,240.5m, revenues are a new 9-month record. The company has also confirmed that a second phase of investment to increase Can Am side-by-side and powertrain production capacity will go ahead and should be completed in 2020.
Race legend Dan Gurney passed away January 14, at 86 years young. We here at AMD Magazine are proud to say that we had the pleasure of meeting Dan and his son Justin a couple of times - when they were guests of S&S Cycle at their Lacrosse, Wisconsin 50th anniversary celebrations in 2008 - they displayed their new S&S 124” engined Alligator Motorcycles prototype production cruiser; and again when they entered the bike (“Instigator”) in the Production Class of the AMD World Championship at Sturgis in 2010. RIP, Dan.
Magazine publisher Bonnier has announced it is to reduce the frequency of Cycle World to quarterly as the winds of change continue to blow for the print consumer magazine (and newspaper) industry. Founded in 1962 by Joe Parkhurst (who died in 2000) Cycle World is widely credited with having ushered in a “golden era” of quality objective, accurate and informed motorcycle journalism. It would appear that it is to be reduced to the status of being a picture book from now on, with Bonnier saying that Cycle World Cycle World is “moving to a captivating, quarterly, coffee table-sized journal focusing on the art of the motorcycle.” Hot Bike magazine will be combining with Baggers “to become the premier American custom and V-Twin touring publication”, published six times a year. Sport Rider and Dirt Rider will no longer be print publications, Motorcyclist continues to be published six times a year.