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Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Roger Daltrey may have sung, “I hope I die before I get old.” But Harley-Davidson riders seem to think otherwise.
For many years the Motor Company’s main customers have been the baby boomer generation, a generation of riders who are now, shall we say, considering retirement?
Now, due to the ravages of time, those riders are having to deal with issues that can affect their riding. We all know how heavy a Harley is, but if you have to deal with arthritis or perhaps a hip replacement then that weight can become a real concern when it comes to keep the bike upright when you stop. The answer to this problem would appear to be the addition of extra wheels if the displays at the V-Twin Expo are to be believed.
Numerous exhibitors had trikes in their booths which had been accessorised with those companies’ latest and greatest products. The Iron Bagger Review display of show bikes at the rear of the Expo centre was split about 60/40 between bikes and trikes and in the main show itself there were a couple of trike manufactures and many companies offering trike conversion kits
and parts.
It doesn’t stop there either. Described by the manufacturer as, “For the guy who doesn’t want to stop riding because of health issues but who doesn’t want ride a trike or can’t afford a one.” What was being describing was the ‘Side Kicks’, basically, a set of stabiliser wheels that can be raised and lowered as and when needed, that bolt to a Touring bike’s crash bars.
That self-same company also offers a seat that has been designed to increase comfort for riders with among other health issues prostrate problems … yes proof indeed that Harley’s target market is getting older.
February in Cincinnati, Ohio can mean only one thing to those involved in the American motorcycle business – the annual V-Twin Expo.
Every year, for the past 12 years, the great and good of the V-twin industry have come together to show off the latest parts and accessories for Harleys and many other American made v-twin offerings.
A few years ago it was also the show to go to, to see new models from the small volume manufacturers, but these days the likes of Big Dog Motorcycles, Big Bear Choppers and many other have seen sales slide so badly that they are no longer in business. That downturn in trade has impacted on the rest of the H-D aftermarket trade too.
On first arriving, a quick walk around the show floor revealed that the actual take-up of booth spaces was dramatically down on previous years and many of those companies that are displaying their wares have downsized their show floor foot print.
Anyway enough with the doom and gloom, those businesses that are in attendance are bullish about the market and some are positively pushing ahead. SuperTrapp for instance is making a big deal of having purchased the custom brake and control specialist Jaybrake.
When I asked about the reasoning behind the purchase, given that it's somewhat removed from the company’s core business of exhausts I was told, ”We’ve been making bikes go faster for years so now we can stop them quicker too.”
Meanwhile over at the Performance Machine booth they’ve gone all bright and cheerful with a selection of colour anodised parts. So now if you want your wheels, sprocket and brake rotors finished in, for instance, bright orange you can, just so long as you buy them from Performance Machine.
It is also wheels that are quite literally the big thing at his year’s Expo. Having first seen one or two examples of 30-inch front wheels at last year’s show I thought they would be a passing trend, with 26-inchers being widely lampooned at the time. Oh, how I was wrong, so wrong.
Within the Expo there is a display of custom Baggers from professional custom builders and the vast majority of them are sporting 30-inch rims at the front.
If further proof is needed that the trend is here to stay, a stroll along the show aisles revealed that Performance Machine and Xtreme wheels (a business owned by Performance Machine) are the only wheel manufacturers there not retailing a big wheel.
Every year, for the past 12 years, the great and good of the V-twin industry have come together to show off the latest parts and accessories for Harleys and many other American made v-twin offerings.
A few years ago it was also the show to go to, to see new models from the small volume manufacturers, but these days the likes of Big Dog Motorcycles, Big Bear Choppers and many other have seen sales slide so badly that they are no longer in business. That downturn in trade has impacted on the rest of the H-D aftermarket trade too.
On first arriving, a quick walk around the show floor revealed that the actual take-up of booth spaces was dramatically down on previous years and many of those companies that are displaying their wares have downsized their show floor foot print.
Anyway enough with the doom and gloom, those businesses that are in attendance are bullish about the market and some are positively pushing ahead. SuperTrapp for instance is making a big deal of having purchased the custom brake and control specialist Jaybrake.
When I asked about the reasoning behind the purchase, given that it's somewhat removed from the company’s core business of exhausts I was told, ”We’ve been making bikes go faster for years so now we can stop them quicker too.”
Meanwhile over at the Performance Machine booth they’ve gone all bright and cheerful with a selection of colour anodised parts. So now if you want your wheels, sprocket and brake rotors finished in, for instance, bright orange you can, just so long as you buy them from Performance Machine.
It is also wheels that are quite literally the big thing at his year’s Expo. Having first seen one or two examples of 30-inch front wheels at last year’s show I thought they would be a passing trend, with 26-inchers being widely lampooned at the time. Oh, how I was wrong, so wrong.
Within the Expo there is a display of custom Baggers from professional custom builders and the vast majority of them are sporting 30-inch rims at the front.
If further proof is needed that the trend is here to stay, a stroll along the show aisles revealed that Performance Machine and Xtreme wheels (a business owned by Performance Machine) are the only wheel manufacturers there not retailing a big wheel.
Riding back from Ludlow on Thursday up the A49, approaching Wem, there was a bloke changing a car tyre on a fast blind bend. He was wearing a Hi-Viz vest, and as a result I saw him clearly and was alerted to the potential hazard.
And it made me realise something VERY important: something that I've always known but have never been able to voice coherently.
If every motorcyclist were forced to wear a Hi-Viz jacket, I wouldn't have paid that poor sod as much attention, and nor would the heavy wagons using that route. A flash of Hi-Viz over the hedgerow wouldn't have said 'warning', but would have said motorcyclist, and I might not have been alerted to the danger he was in, or that he represented to me as an obstacle.
The message of 'Hands off our personal freedom' is a good vote winner among motorcyclists, preaching to the converted, but it will cut no ice with a safety lobby who is determined to protect us from ourselves. They couldn't give a toss about us except as accident statistics and would legislate us off the road for their personal convenience if they could, so we need to point out the perils that compulsion would represent to others.
The message we need to get to the debate is that compulsory Hi-Viz jackets on motorcycles compromises the safety of EVERY pedestrian or stranded motorist - in fact it undermines the advantage of Hi-Viz jackets for anyone who is outside their vehicle on the road network (and is increasingly required to wear a hi-viz jacket in EU countries to alert others to the danger they present), because:
"A HI-VIZ JACKET NEEDS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH A STATIONARY OR SLOW MOVING OBJECT, FOR IT TO FULFIL IT'S DUAL PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF PROTECTING THE WEARER AND ALERTING OTHER ROAD USERS TO THEIR PRESENCE."
and
"AS SOON AS HI-VIZ IS ASSOCIATED WITH MOTORCYCLES TRAVELLING AT THE LEGAL SPEED LIMIT, ANYTHING THAT IS STATIONARY OR SLOW MOVING IS NO LONGER PROTECTED BY THEIR CONSPICUITY AID"
Simple messages that play to the legislators. The downside of taking that course of action will be that cars and motorcycles will need to carry hi-viz jackets for drivers, riders and passengers to wear when they are stationery, but that is an idea that has some merit, and having been at the side of the road with a dead bike in the dark I personally wouldn't object to: such a jacket could be very lightweight because it wouldn't need to be robust enough to stand-up to 70mph winds, so could fit in a tiny compression bag.
It's also worth mentioning that hi-viz jackets flap about, adversely affect fuel economy and can actually represent a threat to the motorcyclist.
More positive, pro-active and constructive that a dozen or more bloody stupid piecemeal go-slows on the motorway network wearing "Hand Off Bikes" t-shirts, which will say nothing to anyone unless MAG has got something spectacular up their sleeve that will glue them all together in the mind of the public.
And it made me realise something VERY important: something that I've always known but have never been able to voice coherently.
If every motorcyclist were forced to wear a Hi-Viz jacket, I wouldn't have paid that poor sod as much attention, and nor would the heavy wagons using that route. A flash of Hi-Viz over the hedgerow wouldn't have said 'warning', but would have said motorcyclist, and I might not have been alerted to the danger he was in, or that he represented to me as an obstacle.
The message of 'Hands off our personal freedom' is a good vote winner among motorcyclists, preaching to the converted, but it will cut no ice with a safety lobby who is determined to protect us from ourselves. They couldn't give a toss about us except as accident statistics and would legislate us off the road for their personal convenience if they could, so we need to point out the perils that compulsion would represent to others.
The message we need to get to the debate is that compulsory Hi-Viz jackets on motorcycles compromises the safety of EVERY pedestrian or stranded motorist - in fact it undermines the advantage of Hi-Viz jackets for anyone who is outside their vehicle on the road network (and is increasingly required to wear a hi-viz jacket in EU countries to alert others to the danger they present), because:
"A HI-VIZ JACKET NEEDS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH A STATIONARY OR SLOW MOVING OBJECT, FOR IT TO FULFIL IT'S DUAL PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF PROTECTING THE WEARER AND ALERTING OTHER ROAD USERS TO THEIR PRESENCE."
and
"AS SOON AS HI-VIZ IS ASSOCIATED WITH MOTORCYCLES TRAVELLING AT THE LEGAL SPEED LIMIT, ANYTHING THAT IS STATIONARY OR SLOW MOVING IS NO LONGER PROTECTED BY THEIR CONSPICUITY AID"
Simple messages that play to the legislators. The downside of taking that course of action will be that cars and motorcycles will need to carry hi-viz jackets for drivers, riders and passengers to wear when they are stationery, but that is an idea that has some merit, and having been at the side of the road with a dead bike in the dark I personally wouldn't object to: such a jacket could be very lightweight because it wouldn't need to be robust enough to stand-up to 70mph winds, so could fit in a tiny compression bag.
It's also worth mentioning that hi-viz jackets flap about, adversely affect fuel economy and can actually represent a threat to the motorcyclist.
More positive, pro-active and constructive that a dozen or more bloody stupid piecemeal go-slows on the motorway network wearing "Hand Off Bikes" t-shirts, which will say nothing to anyone unless MAG has got something spectacular up their sleeve that will glue them all together in the mind of the public.
I'm up to my neck in deadlines, and the release from Polaris speaks for itself, but I can't see this being anything but good news for both Indian and Victory, and all of us who enjoy American motorcycles.
Both companies will presumably maintain their current course - Indian couldn't build the Vision any more than Victory could build a Chief - and it will force Harley to raise their game, because this is amounts to serious competition, especially if they sell Indians in Victory dealerships and vice versa.
It will be interesting to see what happens to their respective manufacturing bases.
If you're up to speed with the blogosphere, you will undoubtedly have heard that Big Dog Motorcycles - the world's biggest producer of factory custom motorcycles - had closed their doors for good.
That's not actually the full story.
We've got a statement from Jos Dewit - the CEO of Big Dog Motorcycles Europe - pictured centre on the K9 Chopper a fortnight ago in Belgium, flanked by UK Distributor, Yeti Edwards of The Hogfather Motorcycles on a PitBull, and Ivan Dewit of BDME on his own Coyote: full story in AmV46 - who are closer to the source than the bar-room experts.
It reads ...
FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE BY LEGEND MOTORCYCLE GROUP
dba BIG DOG MOTORCYCLES EUROPE
We would like to inform you regarding the latest news on BDM USA.
You may all seen blogs on the internet with rather less than accurate information in them – or at least not the full story, it is not our normal policy to react on this, but we feel obliged to our appreciated dealers and customers to give some more information.
Weeks ago BDM announced to its worldwide network of dealers that there was to be a restructuring in many departments within BDM due to the changed market circumstances.
The plan was to restructure till the end of 2011, and to enter 2012 with the new structure in place. However BDM have seen an opportunity to bring this forward and most leaks have not caught the facts. The main company has closed their activities for several reasons but created at the same time more responsibilities for the company subsidiaries.
Big Dog Motorcycles Performance Products will be the subsidiary first to be re-engineered to start manufacturing new and more parts and accessories, which is good news for all Big Dog riders who want to continue to enjoy their bikes. A core of Big Dog Motorcycles LLC remaining employees will be probably be re-hired for the new parts business. Also there is still a stock of BDM motorcycles for immediate availability. When receiving future orders Big Dog Motorcycles will restart production at the appropriate time.
It is the absolute intention that BDM will not only continue to be the manufacturers of the world's best selling production custom motorcycles, but will be able to produce more efficiently and better able to expand its horizons.
J. Dewit
CEO Big Dog Motorcycles Europe
Having been in Belgium a week before the story broke, as guests of The Hogfather Motorcycles and BDME, there was talk of that restructuring and the availability of 'off the peg' motorcycles rather than the usual full bespoke package, and there was much discussion on how that news should be phrased to avoid the negative speculation that would greet the news of discounted bikes if not handled carefully. That is why we have waited until now to make comment, checking the story against the situation as we were aware of it.
As soon as we get an official statement from Big Dog Motorcycles in the US, we'll update you.
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