After more than four decades, J&P Cycles has announced the closure of its first ever and original hometown store at Anamosa, Iowa. Now owned (since 2020) by the Philadelphia-based Comoto family of brands, which also operates RevZilla and Cycle Gear, J&P Cycles was founded in Anamosa by John and Jill Parham in 1979.
Progressive American Flat Track has confirmed that this year's Mission Texas Half-Mile will run in conjunction with the Goodguys 14th LMC Truck Spring Lone Star Nationals at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas (April 26-28, 2024).
The Keynote at the February 2024 AIMExpo in Las Vegas will be given by David Savlowitz and Michael Ponton of Competitive Analytics - "Navigating New Horizons: Unleashing Success with Blue Ocean Strategy," on Tuesday, February 6.
In Germany, Bike & Business reports that CECRA, the voice of European car dealers and repair shops, welcomes the decision of the European Court of Justice that manufacturer-specific restrictions on access to vehicle on-board diagnostic systems (OBD) are unlawful. This decision by the Court reinforces the association's view that security gateways introduced under the pretext of cybersecurity are unfair and contrary to [existing] EU law.
Citing unfavorable economic conditions in Europe, PIERER Mobility, the Austrian KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas and, nowadays, MV Agusta parent company, has announced a partial relocation of production and R&D activities to China (CFMOTO) and India (Bajaj Auto). Affecting individual mid-range models and defined R&D activities, the company says this is intended to exploit cost advantages in these regions and accelerate development and industrialization processes. There will be a reduction of some 300 employees at the Austrian locations in 2024.
2024 will see a new team land in MotoGP - the independent Trackhouse Racing team. Partnering with Aprilia to run its RS-GP MotoGP prototypes (with Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira and Peruvian Raul Fernandez), Trackhouse will be the first American team to line-up on the MotoGP grid since Kenny Roberts' Team Roberts in 2007. No American has raced in MotoGP since Nicky Hayden left the series in 2015.
Former Dakar Rally racer Joan Pedrero Garcia is to challenge the Africa Eco Race (run roughly parallel to the original Dakkar desert race route) on an H-D Pan America. Working with Harley's Spanish subsidiary, he has already been running a 1250 Pan America against the lighter and more agile middleweights of the 'rally raid-style' event scene for the past year. In 2021, he finished the 1000 Dunas Rally on a largely bone stock RA1250. The Africa Eco allows machines outside the rigid FIM classes; the race starts on December 30, 2023.
For the first six months of its 23/24 financial year (April-September) Honda posted Group Powered Two-Wheeler (PTW) global unit sales of 9,266 (+0.7%). Some 255,000 were sold in North America, 229,000 in Europe, the bulk being in Asia, where Indonesia (2.3m units), India (2.2m) and Vietnam (approx. 1m) are its largest markets. Honda sold 122,000 units in its home market.
BMW posted retail unit sales of +3.5% (164,908 motorcycles and maxi scooters delivered to customers worldwide) for the first nine months of the 2023 financial year, however, citing a change in its model launch calendar (in advance of the new R1300GS in the fourth quarter), revenue arising in the third quarter (July-September) was -20.9% at approx. $705m.
Italian giant Piaggio (Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Vespa etc.) posted sales data for the first nine months of its 2023 financial year down by -3.4% (at approx. $1.25bn), but with net profit at a none-month all-time record (+20.9%) and worldwide scooter and motorcycle sales +11% at 364,999 units.
Launch of its Desert Rally X and MX market entry were the big news with Ducati at around the time of EICMA, however, for the first nine months of it 2023 financial year overall, production (-18.2%, 45,987 units) and sales (-4%, 47,867 units) were down. Scrambler sub-brand production was -21.5%. Sales in Europe were up at 59% of total sales, with the USA up by 1% to 14%, with China and other markets down.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com