PSB reports that "motorcycle industry stalwarts Lloyd Greer and Tim Sutherland have acquired Bison Thunder Motorcycle in St. Paul and will offer their exclusive performance work, accessories and customizing skills at the dealership now operating as Indian Motorcycle St. Paul." The service center will be expanded with a second Lloydz Garage custom and performance hub - Greer and Sutherland have owned and operated Indian Motorcycle Charlotte in North Carolina since 2018, and last summer they opened Lloydz Garage on the grounds of the Sturgis Buffalo Chip.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd has announced a one million euro donation to the Japanese Red Cross Society to support humanitarian aid for those affected in Ukraine and neighboring countries. The donations will be used to support the crisis response in Ukraine and the relief efforts in nearby countries hosting refugees.
The Board of Directors of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) announced its condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its decision to suspend the Motorcycle Federation of Russia (MFR) and the Belarusian Federation of Motorcycle Sport (BFMS) as a result. The Board of Directors of FIM North America unanimously concurred with the FIM Board's action and will honor its request by prohibiting riders from the Russian and Belarusian motorcycle federations from participating in FIM North America activities.
Though already much recognized and honored for their career contributions and passion for motorsports, Vance & Hines life-long petrol head performance obsessives Terry Vance and Byron Hines received another accolade at Daytona Bike Week this year - both were inducted into the Daytona-based Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Provisional figures for Piaggio, the Italian parent company of brands such as Vespa, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi, announced consolidated net sales of approx. € 1.668m for the 12 months to December 31, 2021. That's an improvement of +27% from € 1,313.7m in 2020.
For its 2021 full financial year (to December 2021), Yamaha has posted net sales for its Land Mobility Division (principally, its motorcycle division) of 1,179.7bn yen (+24.6%/233.3bn yen over 2020) with operating income of 68.6bn yen (up by 272.4%/50.3bn yen from 2020). Although they don't release unit sales information, Yamaha says that sales were up "in all regions" but that inventory shortage and supply chain issues held back what could have been an even better pandemic bounce over 2020. Yamaha was not yet back in profit, but the losses have been massively reduced. Wolverine RMAX UTV sales were up in USA.
Rumors abound that the new LiveWire model due for unveiling at some stage in the next few weeks or months will be badged as the 'Del Mar'. A new S2 middleweight, based on Harley's scalable and modular proprietary Arrow driveline architecture discussed in the LiveWire SPAC NYSE flotation prospectus late last year, it is being touted as likely to be less expensive than the LiveWire - maintaining the more realistic price-point direction of travel.
Sydney, Australia based Blow Performance Exhausts has signed an exclusive distribution deal for China with Mark Wang, one of the co-founders of MOBAG CHINA. "We are very excited about the deal. Mobag has been a good customer of ours in the past and approached us with an opportunity that we gladly accepted." Beijing based Mobag Trading is said to be the largest distributor of aftermarket accessories in the motorcycle industry in China and the leader in V-twin aftermarket products there. Mobag sells to over 600 dealerships in China.
In support of the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride, Triumph has announced an upcoming partnership with American guitar brand Gibson. The collaboration will be based on the legendary 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar and the 1959 Triumph Bonneville T120 motorcycle.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com