Harley has issued a recall for certain Sportster, Dyna and V-Rod motorcycles on the basis that headlights may fail. Potentially affecting a total of 31,346 motorcycles from 2019 and up, the issue is 796 headlight assemblies that may have been sold as replacement parts for 2005-2019 Sportster, 2005-2017 Softail, 2005-2017 Dyna and 2005-2011 V-Rods - the glass bulb within the headlight assembly may fail, causing a loss of both high and low beams.
Waukon H-D and Waukon Powersports in north eastern Iowa has now become Iron Hill H-D and Iron Hill Powersports after being purchased by John Jennerjohn and Brody Meier - two long-time employees who grew up less than an hour from the stores.
The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride celebrates 10 years of "riding dapper for men's health" this year and is calling on riders worldwide to join in fund raising efforts on Sunday, 23rd of May, 2021. This is the first year running on the new annual date in May. Since 2012, the event has connected hundreds of thousands of classic and vintage style motorcyclists from over 100 countries around the world and to-date has raised US$27.45m for men's health. They plan to organize COVID-safe events where possible, and those who can't engage physically can do so virtually at www.gentlemansride.com.
Dutch Transport Industry Association (RAI) commission consumer research found that motorcycles "appear to be the ideal means of transport to completely empty your head and relax". Almost half of respondents (46%) indicated that they "have a greater need to drive a motorbike since the corona crisis than before." To inspire (future) motorcyclists to "throw a leg," the RAI Association badged March as 'MotorMonth'.
Harley wants to make American Police Motorcycle Patrol Officers into safer riders through a partnership with TEEX - Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service - which is to provide specialist training to law enforcement officers. Initially for police motorcycle riders in Texas, the program will also be rolled out to motorcycle police all across the United States.
The Performance Racing Industry (PRI) has announced Indianapolis, December 9-11, 2021, for the return of its 'In-Person' Trade Show. A slew of additional initiatives this year will include an all-new membership drive and a version 2.0 of the renowned PRI Road Tour as it continues to pursue its mission to "build, promote and protect the racing community."
Canadian pioneer electric sport bike manufacturer Damon Motors says it has raised more than US$30m in funding and secured US$20m in preorders for its "exhilarating line of HyperSport motorcycles. The capital raised will further fuel Damon's path to market and enable demo tours, pre-production development, testing and associated hires". Founder and CEO Jay Giraud says: "On the back of this demand, Damon will produce an entire line of medium- and high-performance motorcycles over the next few years, with our proprietary HyperDrive electric powertrain serving as the core of each model."
MIC Events has announced January 19 to 21 as the dates for AIMExpo in 2022. There is no confirmation of venue yet, but the postponed January 2021 event was due to be held at Columbus, Ohio, in collaboration with Tucker Powersports. The Fort Worth, Texas based distributor had been slated to co-stage its 2021 Dealer Show with AIMExpo in January this year, but has since opted for a spring Road Show series - which itself has been postponed to the second half of 2021.
NYC H-D (located just outside Manhattan) has been acquired by Paul Veracka's PVM Enterprises (formerly High Octane H-D). This is the third acquisition by the East coast focussed Veracka brother in just six months, having additionally purchased Brian's (Langthorne, PA) and Old Glory H-D (Laurel, HD) recently. Paul now operates nine dealerships - six of them are among the Top 15 new bike volume dealerships in the world - and anticipates selling more than 12,000 Harleys in this coming year. His brother Michael (MOD Enterprises) owns six mostly West coast and south western based Harley dealerships.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com