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Yamaha MT-09 SP Brings Some European Bling

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The Yamaha FZ-09…pardon us…the Yamaha MT-09 is a top-seller for the Japanese brand, mixing a solid motorcycle, with decent features, all for a reasonable price.

Hoping to appeal to riders more “up-market” though, Yamaha has a conundrum, and the hope is that the Yamaha MT-09 SP is the solution.

Taking its potent three-cylinder street bike, Yamaha has taken the MT-09 and added an Öhlins rear shock and fully adjustable front forks to the package – which are not from Öhlins, I might add.

If this sounds familiar, it should. The Yamaha MT-09 SP follows in the same vein as the Yamaha MT-10 SP.

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News

California Considers Killing Internal Combustion

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Bloomberg is reporting that California Governor Jerry Brown is considering ways to ban the sale of vehicles that use internal combustion engines – a move that could have massive implications not only for vehicle sales, the environment, but potentially the motorcycle industry as well.

Still in the early days of consideration, the news comes from remarks made by Mary Nichols, who is the Chairman of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and her remarks and relaying of thought from Gov. Brown don’t make it clear if the ban would apply only to passenger vehicles, or if it would include modes of transportation like trucks, commercial vehicles, and motorcycles.

However, the move mimics similar bans that we have already seen in places like China, and follows a trend that is catching on in European countries too, with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and The Netherlands all recently announcing similar efforts and goals to block the sale of internal combustion vehicles in the coming decades.

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Bikes

A2 License Compliant Kawasaki Z900 Released in Europe

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The popular Kawasaki Z900 continues to get the attention of the folks at Team Green, first with the teasing of the Kawasaki Z900RS vintage street bike model, and now for our European readers, an A2 version of the Z900 is available for beginning riders.

This means that for the 2018 model year, a 70kW (93hp) version of the Kawasaki Z900 will be available to A2 license holders, and Kawasaki has gone to great lengths to make sure it keeps the looks and character of its full-power sibling.

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News

Verdict Reached in Alpinestars/Dainese Airbag Patent Case

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A verdict has finally been reach in the German patent law dispute between Alpinestars and Dainese, concerning their respective airbag suit technologies.

In the ruling, the “Landgericht” court in Munich found that Alpinestars violated two Dainese patents concerning its D-Air technology, and thus issued a verdict that sees Alpinestars forbidden from selling its Tech-Air products in Germany.

Alpinestars will also have to pay Dainese restitution for damages incurred from Alpinestars selling Tech-Air products in Germany. The monetary amount of the damages will depend on how much Tech-Air product the Italian firm sold in Germany, which has yet to be determined.

After the verdict, both companies issued press releases touting their side of the patent dispute story, with clearly no love lost between the two parties.

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A&R Pro

Triumph’s Bid to Take Over the World with Bajaj

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I'm not sure that the news of Triumph partnering with Bajaj quite made the impact on the motorcycle industry that it deserves.

Maybe it is because we have seen Triumph misstep with smaller displacement machines in the past (with an Indian partner, no less), or perhaps it is because the press release penned by Triumph CEO Nick Bloor was utterly incomprehensible, and devoid of any concrete facts.

Either way, the news is worth spilling some more pixels over, because there is a bit at stake in the coming years for the motorcycle OEMs, and Triumph just made a bid for sizable land grab for it.

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News

Yamaha Motorcycle Sales Up Overall, Down in USA

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Yamaha Motor has cause for celebration…just not in the United States, as the Tuning Fork brand posted a 6.6% increase in revenue during the first six months of this year, coupled to a 86.8% increase in net income.

These strong financial figures are due to strong unit sales in emerging markets, like Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan. But, they come with the caveat that sales are flat in Europe, and down in the United States.

Yamaha has some good excuses for its performance in these developed markets: blaming environmental regulations for the lackluster sales in Europe (we assume they are referring to the Euro4 emission requirements), and a weak overall demand for motorcycles in the United States.

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News

BMW Motorrad Sales Grow 9.5% in First-Half of 2017

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The motorcycle industry is generally full of doom and gloom this year, but BMW Motorrad continues to post record sales, as it boasts of a record first-half of the year, with 9.5% growth.

In the first six months of 2017, BMW sold 88,389 units to customers, up from the 80,754 units sold in the first-half of 2016. That growth is attributed mostly to progress made on the European continent, says BMW, which is up 12.9% so far this year.

Those European numbers break down as follows: France: 9,447 units (+21%); Italy: 9,099 units (+15%); Spain 5,573 units (+8%); and UK/IE 5,410 units (+14%).

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Bikes

Suter North America Formed, To Bring Two-Stroke Hotness

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If you are a fan of two-stroke motorcycles, then the Suter MMX 500 surely ranks highly on your list of bikes to have in your dream garage.

And now for American motorcycle enthusiasts, owning a Suter MMX 500 just got easier, as the Arch Motorcycle Company has been named the exclusive importer for Suter’s motorcycle business.

Establishing Suter North America in the process, Arch will begin selling these 195 horsepower / 280 lbs (wet) machines to the American public…assuming you can afford the 120,000 CHF (~$125,000 USD) price tag.

Similarly, Suter will begin selling Arch Motorcycle’s power cruiser in Europe, which means the two brands are joining forces to expand their relevant markets.

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News

How Chinese Chicken Could Save European Motorcycles

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The motorcycle industry is still deep in the throes of trying to prevent the United States Trade Representative (USTR) from taxing small-displacement motorcycles from Europe with a 100% tariff.

The proposed tariff would double the cost of any two-wheeled vehicle manufactured in Europe, with displacements between 51cc and 500cc , but the real kicker is that the proposed tariff isn’t really about motorcycles…it’s about beef.

For roughly 30 years now, the United States (one of the largest producers of beef) has been trying to gain access to the European market, but the EU bans beef that has been grown with hormones, because of health concerns (the ban also has the nice side-effect of protecting European beef growers).

To put pressure on the European Union, the beef industry (through lobbying the USTR) has proposed a number of retaliatory tariffs on European imports in the USA, motorcycles being one of them. Welcome to International Trade 101.

However, a major breakthrough happened last week, one that could affect this bovine standoff, and it has to with Chinese chicken.

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Opinion/Editorial

Why the USA Might Tax European Motorcycles Over Beef

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What do chickens have to do with potatoes? For that matter, what do chickens have to do with steel? And what do both of those things have to do with tires?

The answer isn’t as obvious as you may think, and this week everyone in the motorcycle industry is asking themselves what European motorcycles have to do with beef exports.

The answer to all these questions is the same though, and it involves the rather unsophisticated motorcycle industry being dragged into the rather complex world of international trade negotiation. Let me explain.

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News

BMW Makes It Six Record Sales Years in a Row

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2016 was another record sales year for BMW Motorrad, the sixth in a row for the German motorcycle maker. BMW Motorrad sold 145,032 units to customers in 2016, a 5.9% gain over 2015’s sales figure.

Because of this result, BMW says it is well on its way to its goal of selling 200,000 units in the 2020 model year. As lofty (and arbitrary) as that goal is, what is more impressive is the fact that BMW Motorrad has been able to increase its sales volume by nearly 50% since 2010 (98,047 units).

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