As far as PR stunts go in the motorcycle industry, this one might be the best. This is because this weekend, Harley-Davidson is going to roll into Ryder, North Dakota with the mission to teach everyone there how to ride a motorcycle.
With a population of 84 residents, making riders out of the people of Ryder – do you see what Harley-Davidson did there? – might not be as large of a task as one would think, but it is still an important start into making motorcyclists out of the general population.
If you are the owner of a 2017 touring model from Harley-Davidson, there is a good chance that your bike is in need of a safety recall, as the Bar & Shield brand is recalling 45,589 units from those its sold for this model year.
The recall includes nine 2017 models, the Electric Glide Ultra Classic (FLHTCU), Police Electra Glide (FLHTP), Police Road King (FLHP), Road King (FLHR), Road King Special (FLHRXS), Street Glide (FLHX), Street Glide Special (FLHXS), Road Glide (FLTRX), and Road Glide Special (FLTRXS).
The crux of the recall is that a clamp used to secure an engine oil cooler line may have been improperly installed.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau has released statistics on motorcycle thefts for 2016, and the results show a slight increase in the number of motorcycles that were reported stolen last year.
Accordingly, the NICB says that 46,467 motorcycles were reported stolen last year, up from the 45,555 motorcycles that were reported stolen in 2015 – an increase of 2%. This figure of course does not include motorcycles that were stolen, but not reported to police or insurance companies.
While there was an increase in motorcycle thefts last year, 2016’s figure is still well below the figure set just a decade ago in 2006, which saw 66,774 motorcycles reported as stolen – a 30% decrease.
The BMW G310R is an unassuming small-displacement machine, from little German company called BMW Motorrad.
Joking aside, the minds in Berlin might be the most successful in the motorcycle industry right now, with BMW continuing to release intriguing new bikes, and also continuing to see steady growth in its sales year after year.
Some of that success is built around BMW repurposing motorcycle platforms for different segments. The company’s boxer engine powers the entire R line, the company’s inline-four engine powers the entire S line, and so on and so forth.
For the G lineup of bikes, BMW is drawing upon its 313cc single-cylinder, for both its beginner model street bike, and an entry-level adventure-tourer. Taking a look at the rest of BMW Motorrad’s lineup though, Oberdan Bezzi has imagined some other niches that BMW could take its G line.
If you feel an unexpected breeze all of a sudden, that might be the collective sigh of relief emanating from Italy today, as Valentino Rossi was declared fit to race at this weekend’s Italian GP, at the Mugello circuit.
A&R readers will remember that Rossi injured himself while training on his motocross bike, mostly damaging his liver and kidneys during the crash (there is talk that he may have broken some ribs as well).
A very painful injury to sustain, coupled with Yamaha’s vague PR management, the situation had caused some worry that the nine-time world champion would not be at his home grand prix.
The weather strikes again for the 2017 Isle of Man TT, as Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson was forced to cancel today’s qualifying session because of a persistent low cloud layer and imminent heavy rain for the island.
With meteorologists saying that the weather would only worsen throughout the day, it was a pretty straightforward choice for Thompson, though it has been a frustrating week so far for the TT riders, with this being the third practice/qualifying day that has been scratched from the schedule.
As such, the schedule for the next five days at the Isle of Man TT has been revised, with Thursday’s sessions moved to Friday, Sunday no long a rest day, and several more qualifying sessions sprinkled throughout the calendar.
The big news though is that the race schedule for the remainder of this year’s Isle of Man TT has been modified as well, with the Junior TT now kicking off on Sunday, the Sidecar Race 1 moved to Monday, and the Superstock TT race moved to Tuesday.
BMW Motorrad continues to explore the electric scooter space, and at this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este the German company debuted a new mobility concept, which it calls the BMW Motorrad Concept Link scooter.
A zero-emission vehicle for the new era – so says BMW’s press materials – the design is perhaps the most intriguing feature, with the core of the machine looking very similar to the BMW C Evolution electric scooter.
After the debut of the GSX-R1000, there has been a bit of talk about Suzuki’s plans for the rest of its sportbike lineup, namely the GSX-R600 and GSX-R750. A story from AMCN pointed to a new GSX-R750 for the 2019 model year, but said that the GSX-R600 would be no more.
Our own sources disagree with that AMCN report though, saying that we would see both: an all new 2019 Suzuki GSX-R600 and an all-new Suzuki GSX-R750 for the 2019 model year.
We would be on the wrong side of confirmation bias if we said that today’s news supports our claim, but what we can tell you is that it doesn’t look like new GSX-R600 or GSX-R750 models will be coming for the 2018 model year, as Suzuki Motor of America just filed some interesting paperwork with the California Air Resources Board.
There has been a lot of rumor as of late, about whether Ducati is for sale, and who would be a potential buyer of the iconic motorcycle brand. We have seen just about every large motorcycle manufacturer at some point has been linked to buying Ducati Motor Holding, and now we can add another: MotoCorsa.
That’s right, the top Ducati dealer in the United States is throwing its hat into the ring, and looking to other Ducati owners to help crowdsource the $1.6 billion likely needed to wrestle away the Ducati brand from its owners at Audi AG.