Having acquired Cooper Tires, the parent company of Avon Tyres - a long standing favorite of custom bike builders the world over - Goodyear has announced that Cooper Tires Europe is to close the 130-year-old Avon site at Melksham in England. The company will "gradually phase out all Melksham-based operations by the end of 2023." AMD contacted Goodyear for information as to whether or not Avon branded production will continue elsewhere, or if this is the end of the road for Avon Tyres - however, as at press-time the silence had been deafening. We are left to draw our own conclusions, I guess.
H-D is to recall 1,074 RH975 Nightster motorcycles (2022) due to a possible handlebar break arising from poor welding.
This year has seen some notable anniversaries among the Californian V-twin aftermarket community - including Progressive Suspension notching up 40 years. Now based out of the Performance Machine factory, as part of the Powerhouse Brands Group that also includes Burly Brand, PM itself was founded in 1970. It is a big landmark elsewhere in the Greater Los Angeles area, with leading seat designer Le Pera hitting the 'Big Five 0'. Founded by Bob Le Pera Sr., the north Hollywood based manufacturer is still in family ownership, operated by Bob Le Pera Jr. and sister Christine Le Pera.
Cycle Gear and J&P Cycles owner Comoto has opened a new RevZilla branded brick-and-mortar experience storefront at Newport Beach, California.
Zero Motorcycles (Scotts Valley, California) has completed a new funding round worth some $107m. The proceeds will "fund the scaling of its global operations and the introduction of new models." Investors include Polaris, Exor, Hero MotoCorp, long-time backer Invus, and others. Since its launch in a Santa Cruz garage, Zero has sold over 20,000 vehicles that have accumulated over 165,000,000 miles of on-road and off-road experience. With this round of financing, Zero Motorcycles has raised in excess of $450m of capital and will bring the cumulative capital raised to above $500m, with an anticipated additional closing by year end.
What is described as the fastest bike in the world has broken into four second territory for the quarter mile at the Santa Pod raceway in England. French motorcycle drag racing legend Eric "Rocketman" Teboul wanted to retire from the sport in style, and he set a high bar to beat. He had announced that the 2022 FIA/FIM European Drag Racing Finals at Santa Pod Raceway would be the site of his official retirement from the sport. Teboul's rocket bike hit a 220 mile-per-hour speed while accomplishing a quarter mile run in just 5.64 seconds - also at Santa Pod - back in 2019. This time he powered his hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket bike - for which he apparently mixes the fuel himself - to a quarter-mile time of 5.066 seconds, at 263.52 mph. The following day, Teboul managed to break that elusive four-second quarter-mile with a final run time of 4.976 seconds at a blisteringly ludicrous speed of 290.51 miles per hour.
Arch Motorcycles, the Hawthorne, California based joint venture between Gard Hollinger and Keanu Reeves, has released an S&S 45-degree fuel-injected 124 ci V-twin engined 1s muscle bike - essentially a performance cruiser. Sales are limited to the United States and pricing starts at around $128,000 - for which you get a claimed 115 lb-ft of torque, 17-inch carbon fiber front and rear BST wheels, a new billet aluminum single-sided swingarm, fully-adjustable Öhlins fork and shock, ISR six-piston monobloc radial mount calipers at the front (with floating dampened discs) and a six-piston monobloc radial mount caliper (with semi-floating disc) at the rear - and a fairly minimalist, stripped-down look. Undoubtedly sportier than the original KRGT-1, with mid-mount controls, the engine comes with dry clutch, and what Arch calls a "proprietary six-speed drivetrain."
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com
