Alisa Clickenger and North Carolina based Women's Motorcycle Tours have partnered with Indian Motorcycle and Polaris Slingshot for the Women's Motorcycle Festival and Conference (August 19-22) - "promoting the event and supporting conference attendees for the 4-day landmark event in Arlington, VA. When Polaris asks for rider input, they do indeed listen. They are doing an outstanding job of supporting female riders. That's the reason so many women are turning to the Indian Motorcycle and Slingshot brands of motorcycles," said Alisa Clickenger, Women's Motorcycle Tours' Founder and Event Producer.
German based customizer and parts and accessory designer and manufacturer Wannabe Choppers has signed with Paughco for North American distribution of its product lines. Owned and operated by Ricki de Haas, Wannabe has been no stranger to the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building and custom bike show scene in general in Europe, but these days its focus is on P&A development with a distinctively styled and always ergonomic take on how good custom parts should work and look. In Europe its products are distributed by Motorcycle Storehouse.
Victorville H-D in California has been sold (by 28-year owners Cary and Marianne) to Rami Yanni of Wise Auto Group. Located on the southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert, it sits on the I-15, off the iconic Route 66 and opposite the Roy Rogers Museum. The sale was transacted by Performance Brokerage Services. Rami Yanni is no stranger to the Harley brand - the purchase of Victorville is his fourth H-D store. Rami currently owns H-D of Yuba City, California, Redwood H-D in Eureka, California, and Reno H-D in Nevada.
New River Gorge H-D (Hico, West Virginia) has closed. The store was a full-service shop with motorcycle sales and service, parts, apparel and merchandise sales. It was opened by Dennis Di Filippo in 2004 as a secondary location to his West Virginia H-D of South Charleston (formerly H-D of Charleston/Dennis H-D).
Through its Motorcycle Equipment Company (MEC) joint venture with Austrian custom parts specialist Kult-Werk, German sound management exhaust specialist KessTech has agreed a partnership deal with Austrian exhaust manufacturer Remus. The two companies will "work closely together on future product development and sales." From now on, the KessTech brand will be associated with non-adjustable exhaust systems without valve control, as well as its established electronically adjustable exhaust system technology - distributing adjustable and non-adjustable systems for Harley, Indian and BMW models.
April 10th and 11th saw some 25,000 bikers in France and Belgium protesting the EU decision to finally mandate standardized technical monitoring standards for motorcycles across the region. Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands have already rejected the introduction of the Periodic Technical Inspection (PTI). The present testing regime in EU nations is variable, with some countries not requiring such checks at all. The EU claims a causal link between motorcycle technical standards and accident rates - something that is hotly contested by riders and some researchers alike.
Celebrating "a decade of riding dapper", on Sunday, May 23rd, the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride (DGR) - a men's health charity motorcycling event - raised an incredible $4.1m in 2021, taking the global total of funds raised since the event began to over $31.5m. Some 65,000 classic and vintage motorcycle enthusiasts "came together" in 913 cities and 116 countries around the world. In 2021, the funds raised by the event have been donated directly to its global charity partner, Movember. Prizing for 2021 included four brand new motorcycles from Triumph Motorcycles. Additional supporting partners in 2021 included London based Hedon Helmets, Belstaff apparel and ELF (a France based brand of TOTAL - the world's 5th largest oil company). The DGR was founded in Sydney, Australia, in 2012 by Mark Hawwa. www.gentlemansride.com.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com