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Harley-Davidson Streetfighter Model Coming for 2020

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Harley-Davidson has ambitious plans for the 2020 model year, releasing a number of concept teasers today for new motorcycles. These plans include an adventure-touring model, some electric models including e-bikes, a new roadster “custom”, and perhaps our favorite, a streetfighter model.

Based around the same modular engine design, which will have a variety of displacements (500cc to 1,250cc), the Harley-Davidson Streetfighter will get the 975cc version of the liquid-cooled v-twin engine.

Perhaps the most lithe machine we have seen from the Bar & Shield brand, the Harley-Davidson Streetfighter looks the part, albeit in a very Harley-Davidson way.

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Bikes

Harley-Davidson Debuts ADV Concept Bike

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For as long as Asphalt & Rubber has been in business, we have never seen Harley-Davidson debut an actual new motorcycle.

Rehashing the same design ethos over and over again, Harley-Davidson’s “new” bikes each year fail to stray very far from their predecessors. This notion changes today, however.

Releasing a number of concepts for future machines, the Bar & Shield brand is showing signs of life. The concepts include electric motorcycles, e-bikes, a new roadster, a streetfighter, and even an adventure-tourer.

We will take a look at these machines in turn, but first up, let’s look at Harley-Davidson’s biggest surprise to us, its ADV bike, which is called the Harley-Davidson Pan America.

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News

Harley-Davidson Looking to Fill Jobs for Electric Bike

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A Revelation is coming…and by that, I mean Harley-Davidson’s awkwardly named electric motorcycle, which is due to debut in roughly one year’s time from now.

The Bar & Shield brand stunned the motorcycling masses when it brought out its Project Livewire demo bikes, showing that the iconic American brand was seriously considering an electric motorcycle model.

Now, Project Livewire is to become the Harley-Davidson Revelation, and the folks in Milwaukee are looking for some help in bringing that bike to market, posting a number of job opportunities online for those who want to work on the electric bike.

Along with the more typical roles that one would see at a motorcycle company — e.g. chassis engineers, infotainment designers, suspension gurus, etc — Harley-Davidson is also looking for some folks to fill its EV ranks.

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News

Harley-Davidson Sales Take Another Drop – Q2 Down 3.6%

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The American motorcycle industry continues to soften, as Harley-Davidson has reported its Q2 2018 sales were down 6.4% in the United States.

That loss translated into a noticeable drop in Harley-Davidson’s total sales, which were down 3.6% for Q2, though it should be noted that international sales were in fact up, 0.7% over the same time period.

This translates into 46,490 Harley-Davidson motorcycles sold in the USA for Q2, with 78,428 bikes sold in total around the world. For the first half of the year though, sales results for Harley-Davidson are looking even worse.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #81 – Sex Panther

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Episode 81 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and it is a marathon show – right at 2.5 hours in length. Because of that duration, we cover a huge range of topics, the first of which is a little news about Harley-Davidson, and the growing American trade war.

From there, we move to Jensen’s recent trip to Italy, where he rode the new MV Agusta Turismo Veloce 800 Lusso SCS, which features a new auto-clutch for sport bikes, made in partnership with Rekluse.

Jensen’s travels then took him to Milan, where he visited Pirelli’s world headquarters and testing facility, which was a unique experience in seeing how tires are evaluated and produced.

Lastly came a trip south to Sicily, to visit the Metzeler/Pirelli R&D testing facility, where Jensen rode the entire Metzeler tire range up a volcano…no seriously.

Back home in the USA, Quentin was doing a bit of racing, as he lined up on the grid in OMRAA’s 250 Ninja Cup. He then played on the other side of the wrench in his travels to Pikes Peak, spinning wrenches for Michael Woolaway, who raced a custom Ducati Hypermotard up the Colorado mountain.

At the same time, Jensen was in Laguna Seca for the World Superbike weekend, and the following Pirelli track day. There, Jensen got to ride two very unique motorcycles: the Kramer HKR EVO2 and the BMW HP4 Race. A short review: they did not suck.

Since Quentin recently also got a chance to ride the Kramer, the two trade notes on the show about this interesting single-cylinder motorcycle, and how much fun it is to ride smaller-displacement motorcycles on the track.

Like we said, it’s a marathon show, but we think you will find all the topics not only interesting, but the stories entertaining.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #77 – Fifty Shades of BBQ

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Episode 77 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and in it we talk about our trip to Austin, Texas for the MotoGP race, as well as some news items we’ve missed in all our travels.

Most notably, we talk about the Krämer HKR EVO2 R track/race bike from Germany, which uses a 690cc single-cylinder engine from KTM inside a bespoke steel trellis frame.

The bike makes 80hp, inside a 280 lbs package, and has been quite the talk of our local road racing club. Once the drool has been mopped up, we change gears at look at what is going on inside the motorcycle industry.

As you can expect, it is not good news. But, the landscape is rapidly changing, and our conversation turns to how manufacturing is about to change dramatically for the motorcycle industry.

Somewhere along the way too, we talk about Erik Buell’s latest project. Overall though, the show is quite interesting and we think you will enjoy it.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

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News

Harley-Davidson Sales Free Fall in Q1 2018

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After a dismal 2017, there was some hope at the start of 2018 that the US motorcycle industry would begin an upward climb. The industry seemed enthused and optimistic, though no one could pinpoint why they felt that way during our talks with executives and insiders.

Now, it seems that positive energy was simply that…nothing tangible, as the first results from Q1 2018 are beginning to trickle out of OEM headquarters. First up, Harley-Davidson.

Releasing its Q1 2018 report, Harley-Davidson is reporting a global decrease in sales to the tune of a 7.2% drop compared to its 2017 figures, which breaks down into a 12% drop for the US market, with the international market flat at 0.2% in positive growth.

Net income is down too for the Bar & Shield brand, with net income recorded at $174.8 million (on a revenue of $1.54 billion), which is down 6.2% when you compare it to the $186.4 million in net income from Q1 2017 (made from $1.50 billion in revenue).

The only silver lining for Harley-Davidson in this news is that the American brand isn’t doing as poorly as the US motorcycle market overall, which was down 11.1% in Q1 2018, for the over 600cc segments.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #74 – Triumphant

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Episode 74 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and it covers a busy schedule at the 2EP HQ. 

First off, we talk about Harley-Davidson’s investment in Alta Motors, and discuss what the future holds for these two American brands. The conversation shifts from the future, to the past, and also examines Harley-Davidson’s management of Buell and MV Agusta, which makes for an interesting contrast.

The conversation then turns to two pieces of equipment that we see shaking up the motorcycle apparel space: the Dainese D-Air Misano jacket and the Sena Momentum helmet. Both of these pieces are bringing new technology to the industry, and we’ve had a chance to spend some miles on both of them.

The show then covers what it’s like to ride the Triumph Speed Triple RS and Triumph Tiger 800 XCA, as Jensen was in Spain and Moab (respectively) riding these two British bikes.

We finish too with another quasi-review, as Carlin Dunne was down at the Alta Motors Redshift MXR launch, riding Alta’s new electric dirt bike and relaying his thoughts back to Asphalt & Rubber.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

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Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast #73 – Prince Albert

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Episode 73 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and it was worth the wait, as it’s a good one.

An omnibus of topics, we start out with some racing items from the MotoGP and Isle of Man TT paddocks, with a focus on newly crowned “MotoGP Legend” Randy Mamola, and a surprise announcement from John McGuinness.

We the turn our attention to Harley-Davidson’s bizarre brake fluid recall, and speculate what the Bar & Shield brand is up to. The iconic American brand was also present in Portland’s One Moto Show, which we discuss as well.

The conversation then shifts to the continually changes in the motorcycle media landscape, which has seen no shortage of movements in recent months.

The show concludes with a deep-dive into the issue of umbrella girls in racing, as the Formula One series has banned the practice from the 2018 season onward. We’re sure the conversation will stir some debate amongst the two-wheeled community.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. 

We hope you will join the conversation, and leave us some audio comments at our new email address: twoenthusiasts@gmail.com.

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News

Harley-Davidson Speaks Out About Tariff Plan

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If you haven’t heard of the Trump administration’s plan to impose sizable tariffs on steel and aluminum (25% and 10%, respectively), then you have done a remarkably good job of ignoring current political events.

Trump’s plan caught many by surprise, and the details of the tariffs are still forming, but one thing is clear: it doesn’t bode well for Harley-Davidson.

Like most manufacturers, an increase on raw steel and aluminum will mean an increase in costs, but Harley-Davidson also has the dubious honor of being part of the European Union’s focus for retaliation.

This is because the EU says it will tax motorcycle imports from the United States, in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Surprisingly, Harley-Davidson has been quiet about all these maneuvers in the political space…until now, that is.

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What A Trade War Means for Motorcycles

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Strangely enough, we have talked about trade wars several times before, here on Asphalt & Rubber, as the Trump administration has been keen to use this tool in its toolbox, often with effects that reach into the motorcycle industry.

The first time around, we talked about how the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) affected the motorcycle industry, namely Harley-Davidson, and how the United States' withdrawal from the agreement would likely be a negative effect for US motorcyclists.

We have also had to talk about how fighting over beef imports could lead to possible tariffs on small-displacement European motorcycles in the United States, a tariff that would seriously hurt Piaggio/Vespa scooter sales and KTM dirt bike sales.

This week a new specter is on the horizon, as the Trump administration is eyeing tariffs on both steel and aluminum, at 25% and 10% a pop - respectively.

Naturally, the increase in the cost on importing raw metals into the USA is going to have an adverse effect on manufacturing-based businesses, but not all of these companies are affected equally when tariffs are imposed.

So, let's take a look at what this really means for the American motorcycle industry.

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