The memo about there being limitations to how a brand can be convincingly purposed clearly disappeared from Harley’s institutional memory when Clyde Fessler retired. A “cross-promotional partnership with men’s grooming product range American Crew” (aka Revlon cosmetics) looks set to expose the Bar ‘n Shield to yet more ridicule and questionable value.
Mark Moses, founder and GM of Indian Motorcycle of Charlotte (“the world’s first Indian dealership”), has sold to Tim Sutherland, owner and GM of Coastal Indian Motorcycle of Myrtle Beach, SC., and Lloyd Greer, founder and owner of Victory aftermarket parts specialist Lloyd’z Motorworkz, Pine Bush, NY. The Charlotte store opened in 2008 as the first dealer for the then Stellican, Stephen Julius owned Kings Mountain, NC., based factory, for which Moses was a Customer Service and Warranty Manager after operating North Coast Motorcycle - itself a dealer for ultimately a less than successful “Gilroy Indian” operation that closed in California in 2003.
Mitchell, South Dakota based Klock Werks Cycles is in legal dispute with Dragonfly Cycle Concepts of Fullerton, California, over the design of a windshield that Brian Klock claims is a patent violation of its award-winning Flare Windshield design. The suit claims that the Dragonfly ‘Batwing’ fairing is a Flare copy.
Polaris Industries Inc. has joined the Fortune 500 list of largest companies in the United States. Not a market cap., profits or revenues listing as such, the Fortune 500 lists businesses by total revenues for their fiscal years - Polaris is in its 64th year and achieved a ranking or #496. It lists publicly held companies along with privately held companies for which revenues are publicly available.
Kenny Price’s Samson Exhaust is now under the ownership of OnCourse Capital of Fort Wayne and has been relocated from Sturgis, South Dakota, to Avilla, Indiana. Price founded his company in California in 1991, and at one stage Samson was one of the top selling exhaust brands in the custom parts market. OnCourse Capital has over 30 years of experience in metal fabrication and tube forming. It is the former owners of Global Tube Form (which did business under the names of National Tube Form and Southern Tube Form and operated facilities in Clinton, TN, and Fort Wayne, IN). It acquired Samson Exhaust in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Polaris has announced it is to open a new distribution center in Fernley, Nevada, 165 miles NE of Sacramento, California. The 475,000 sq ft facility will be a multi-brand operation on a 37-acre site, supporting Polaris’ growing aftermarket, parts, garments and accessories businesses. Its PG&A division achieved nearly $2 billion in sales in 2017. Proximity to west coast consumers and Pacific Rim facing ports are cited as factors in the choice of location.
MAG has promoted Rob Ramlose (ex of Oakley and Fox Racing) to Director of Apparel Brands (a role at one stage held by apparel industry veteran and ex Leatt man Phil Davy). His new role sees him adding to his responsibility for the RSD apparel program with control of all brands in the MAG apparel portfolio - additionally including Answer Racing, Speed and Strength, Firstgear and Black Brand - the latter formerly headed up by the now departed ex S&S and PriMedia man Howard Kelly.
According to market research published by German giant Bosch, by 2027 every other new motorcycle sold could be an E-bike. Hmmmm…
In what looks like a counter-intuitive decision by the “new look” U.S. EPA, the renewable fuel requirements for 2018 are higher than the 2017 levels and higher than the 2018 levels the agency proposed in June 2017. The EPA’s final 2018 Renewable Volume Obligations call for 19.29 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be blended into the nation’s gasoline supplies — primarily controversial corn ethanol. That figure is higher than the 19.24 billion gallons the agency had previously proposed, and slightly higher than the 19.28 billion gallons required in 2017!