The club of BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (MOA) has confirmed that its 2021 National Rally is being held June 24-27 at the Montana ExpoPark in Great Falls, Montana.
The MIC is opposing proposed changes by the U.S. EPA to modify and remove E15 fuel labeling requirements at gas pumps. This fuel includes high levels of ethanol, between 10.5 and 15 percent, "which can harm powersports engines, degrade performance, increase emissions, cause fuel leaks and even engine failures - as well as voiding manufacturer warranties. The proposed labeling changes will make it more difficult for consumers to distinguish the difference between E15 and the less harmful E10 fuel and will fail to communicate the risks of improper E15 use."
Having secured prominent sponsorships in AFT and motorcycle drag racing for 2021, Mission Foods - the American Tortilla chips, wraps, dips and salsa manufacturer - has signed on with MotoAmerica as naming rights sponsor for the 2021 King of the Baggers V-twin motorcycle road racing series; www.MotoAmerica.com
BMW has recorded deliveries of 42,592 motorcycles and scooters in Q1, up by 22.5% from 34,774 units in Q1 last year. Revenues from motorcycles are put at € 753m, up by 35.7% from € 557m for the year-ago quarter. The profit on motorcycle operations is put at € 135m, up by 72% on the year- ago period (€ 87.5m).
Michael Veracka has acquired 76-year-old Volcano H-D of Vancouver, Washington (formerly Columbia H-D, owned by Jennifer Rodgers), saying he plans to hire 50 additional staff at the location. The addition takes his MOD Enterprises network to seven Harley stores - Rawhide H-D in Kansas, Avalanche H-D in Colorado, Riverside and Huntington Beach in California, Desert Wind H-D at Meza, Arizona and Jet City at Renton in Washington state; www.mod-enterprises.com
NHRA and Virginia Motorsports Park have announced the postponement of the Virginia NHRA Nationals (the event had been slated for June 4-6 at Petersburg, Va.) and the addition of the Thunder Valley Nationals at the Bristol Dragway in Tennessee, October 15-17.
The Rider Pass, described as the largest motorcycle sharing marketplace, has announced that bikers can now pay a monthly subscription for discounted rides across the motorcycle rental marketplace. A subscription pricing plan from Austin, Texas based Riders Share is said to be an industry-first service for peer-to-peer rentals. Launched in 2018, Riders Share is said to have over 100,000 registered total users and says that over 15,000 people have shared their motorcycles on the platform. The base monthly subscription price is $24 with a 12-month term, or $22 per month if prepaid in advance.
Only a year since announcing its plans, BMW is starting battery component production in Germany at Leipzig and Regensburg and expanding its e-drive production network. The BMW Group is investing a total of around € 790m in expanding production capacity for drivetrain components for electrified vehicles at its Dingolfing, Leipzig, Regensburg and Steyr locations between 2020 and 2022.
Anyone who thought that the MV 'Ever Given' Suez Canal drama was over has underestimated the long-term implications. While the blockage may have been resolved in a week in March, the ship itself is still parked in a lake on the Canal in Egypt and has become the center of a huge international game of legal jeopardy. As ever, the attorneys will be the only winners - Yamaha and Ducati certainly won't be. They have complete bikes (in the case of Yamaha) and components trapped there among the 18,000 containers that are now being held hostage.
Internationally respected vehicle and performance engineer Ricardo has opened an Electrified Propulsion Research Centre (EPRC) as a global center of excellence for electrified transport engineering. "It is enabling the research and development of the next generation of electrified vehicles, from component level subsystems to fully integrated powertrain." It is servicing vehicles across all platforms including automotive, commercial vehicle, defence, industrial and off-highway, high-performance and motorsport, and motorcycle.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com
