News Briefs

Hamsters USA, the international motorcycle group, raised $161,833 for children's special needs charity LifeScape in Rapid City, South Dakota, during this year's Sturgis Rally. This year’s event brings the cumulative total for 15 years of fundraising to almost $3.5m in total. These gifts help provide services to children in their Black Hills area homes and communities.

A recently published Indian Motorcycle Patent filing from 2017 suggests it is set to take the Challenger, or at least its water cooled DOFC Powerplus engine and alloy frame, a stage further, with a Roadmaster-esque water cooled Bagger sporting a Chieftain style front end. The "semi-monocoque frame incorporates the airbox and air cleaner with intakes under the steering head to pull air into the chassis."

The AMA Hillclimb Grand Championship has been rescheduled for September 19-20 and moved from Wisconsin to Washington County, Ohio, at the Pioneer Motorcycle Club, Waterford. The event, originally planned for Aug. 7-9 in Wisconsin's Pierce County, was canceled in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Dealer registration is now open for AIMExpo, January 21 - 23, 2021, at Columbus, Ohio. Now reduced to three days and converted into a dealer attendance only motorcycle industry event, rather than the European style combined public and trade expo that it was originally conceived as when it launched in Orlando, Florida, in 2013, registration also includes access to Tucker Powersports' co-located annual Dealer Show.

 

Contrary to rumors, speculation and expectations, it looks like the creditors left holding the baby when Norton Motorcycle (UK) Limited filed for bankruptcy in the UK in January this year may well get their money back after all - including several hundred people who invested some of their pension pots into one or more of the pension plans that ex CEO Stuart Garner appeared to have used/misused to prop the business up. According to the statutory 'Statement of Affairs' prepared by the bankruptcy managers, if the assets remaining to be sold realize anything close to market value, then there should be enough left to pay off all creditors, with a surplus.

BRP has launched a new pilot project - Uncharted Society - to offer "experiences to explore epic playgrounds" on Sea-Doo, Can-Am or Ski-Doo vehicles. More than 40 "expertly curated experiences" are on offer in USA "from the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and the Gulf of Mexico to the Rockies, Joshua Tree, and many more bucket-list destinations."

This year's Las Vegas Bike Fest is cancelled. Originally planned for October 1-4, the 20th anniversary event is now slated for September 30-October 3, 2021.

 

Indian has issued a recall for certain 2019 Scout and Scout Bobber motorcycles equipped with Anti-Lock Brake Systems due to a possible reduction in brake performance. After the manufacturing process, air may remain trapped within the brake system - dealers will be asked to perform a brake fluid bleed of the front and rear ABS to evacuate the air.

Before the decision to (apparently) cancel or at least postpone entry into the streetfighter market in MY2021 (with the 'Bronx'), it would appear that Harley had planned for four sizes of its new liquid-cooled 60-degree V-twin Revolution Max to be developed, initially with the 1,250 cc powering the Pan America (as confirmed by CEO Jochen Zeitz for MY2021) and a 975 cc in the Bronx - with 500 and 750 cc iterations also at varying stages of preparation.


Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com