Tallahassee, Florida ("the only city in Florida with rolling hills and famous canopy roads"), is to welcome Tallahassee Bike Fest - its first annual motorcycle rally on May 13-15, 2022. "This up-and-coming motorcycle rally will be featured in the downtown Tallahassee area dubbed Railroad Square Art District." Founder Giavona "G" Williams says all riders and bike styles and brands are welcome and is targeting between 2,500-3,500 riders for the first year.
www.tallybikefest.com
The Polaris Industries Board of Directors has approved a 2% percent increase in the regular quarterly cash dividend, raising the payout to $0.64 per share. Effective with the 2022 first quarter dividend, this increase represents the 27th consecutive year of Polaris increasing its dividend. It will be payable on March 15, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 1, 2022.
AMA Hall of Famer and leading off-road and motocross racer Preston Petty has died. His career spanned the 1950s through the early 1970s and he was the owner of Petty Plastics, a ground-breaking plastic motorcycle component business that changed the face of motorcycle racing. Petty passed away on January 16. He was 81.
The iconic BSA Gold Star name is back thanks to Indian conglomerate Mahindra. Having bought the brand in 2016, at the end of 2020 it announced that it was to open a new production facility at Coventry in the English Midlands. In November last year it unveiled a new traditionally styled, Euro 5 compliant 45 hp, 652 cc water-cooled 'naked' single under the Gold Star name.
RideApart reports that Japanese domestic motorcycle sales hit a 23-year high in 2021 - with Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha reporting increased interest among young riders. JAMA data puts domestic Japanese shipments of 233,059 motorcycles (51 cc+) between January-November 2021. That number is a 20.6% uptick over the same period in 2020, and the organization forecasts that the total 2021 shipments will increase to 235,755 when December is factored into the equation.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com