The motorcycle industry continues to make steady progress on recovering from the recession, with the overall US two-wheeled market up 1.4% over last year’s sales figures. Taking scooters out of the equation, which were down a staggering 15.5% last year, proper motorcycles were up 3% overall in the United States. Breaking that number down further, dual-sport machines were up 7.8%, off-highway bikes were up 5.7%, and on-highway motorcycles were up a modest 2%. The Motorcycle Industry Council says that 465,783 units were sold in 2013, up from the 459,298 sold last year. The spur in sales was certainly helped by Harley-Davidson’s 4.4% increase last year, which likely is what helped buoy the on-highway sales figures into the black.
It has been a fascinating first day of testing at Sepang. And like all fascinating days, it has been long,…
Oregon based electric motorcycle company Brammo has announced the release of updated Empulse and Empulse R models for 2014. The…
Big news dropped today in the world of automobiles and motorcycles. The US Department of Transportation (DOT), along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has announced that the vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V) is a step closer to becoming a reality in the United States. The DOT has decided to move forward with plans to mandate V2V systems for light on-road vehicles, i.e. cars and presumably motorcycles as well. The technology is complex to implement, but the concept is fairly simple: vehicles broadcast their direction, speed, and relative speed to one another — 10 times every second — in an effort to avoid collisions.
If you don’t make it a point to watch the Moto2 races during the racing season, you are missing out.…
The MotoGP Championship is in Sepang this week, for the first of its pre-season tests ahead of the 2014 season. Making an announcement at the site where Marco Simoncelli tragically lost his life during the Malaysian Grand Prix back in 2011, MotoGP has come up with a fitting way to tribute the popular Italian rider. Simoncelli will thus join Grand Prix racing’s hall of fame, and officially become a “MotoGP Legend” — the 21st rider to receive the sport’s high honor — with a ceremony that will be held at the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello. Marco Simoncelli’s introduction as a MotoGP Legend means he will join the ranks of Giacomo Agostini, Mick Doohan, Geoff Duke, Wayne Gardner, Mike Hailwood, and other great riders from our sport.