I am not big on hocking holiday gift ideas as much as other publications seem to be (they gotta earn that affiliate money, I suppose), but I will give a shout out to my fellow moto-journalist and Pikes Peak record-holder Rennie Scaysbrook, who just wrote his first book: The Big Book of Motorbikes.
We are super proud of what he created, and what he is trying to do in terms of getting kids to ride motorcycles. Nice one, Rennie – you magnificent bastard, you.
The Permanent Bureau, the joint body comprising the FIM and Dorna, who run short circuit motorcycle racing, have announced major steps to improve rider safety in all championships run or backed by Dorna.
Ages are to be raised, grid sizes are to be limited, and work will continue to improve rider safety equipment and rider communication.
That Harley-Davidson has an age problem is no secret in the motorcycle community. The Bar & Shield brand is suffering heavily from the decline of baby boomers in the two-wheeled lifestyle, and now it must reinvent itself for a new generation of rider.
In that effort, no stone has been left unturned. Harley-Davidson was the first major motorcycle manufacturer to create a full-sized electric motorcycle, and it is about to debut its first true adventure bike (don’t believe the marketing hype to contrary).
Harley-Davidson has even made an effort to engage with millennials and younger generations in meaningful ways, which has meant deviating from more traditional market-outreach efforts.
Today’s news pounds that point home further, as the Bar & Shield brand has launched a presence on the OnlyFans social media platform.
Dorna Motor Sports has announced a new race series aimed promoting young racers and helping them start their racing careers.
The new race league is called the FIM MiniGP World Series, and it is a novel approach to finding young racing talent, ages 10 to 14, around the globe.
The concept is simple: Dorna and the FIM have created a standardized racing format that clubs at the national, regional, and continental levels can adopt, which creates a level playing field for young racers to make their mark.
For the 2020 racing year, MotoAmerica has announced that it will run a three-round Mini Cup, in an effort to bridge the gap for young racers into professional racing.
The new series, which will race at Road America, The Ridge Motorsports Park, and PittRace, will have four spec-classes, all of which will use Ohvale motorcycles.
The class breakdown is as follow: 110cc (four-speed); 160cc; 190cc (racers aged up to 14 years); and 190 Adult (racers over the age of 15), with all of the races set to take place on karting tracks at the aforementioned race courses.
“Make Motorcycles Great Again” – that should be the battle cry for the American motorcycle industry for 2019 and onward.
We have talked at great length about the various ways that the motorcycle industry in the United States can revamp itself for life in the 21st century, and while there isn’t a single silver bullet to fix motorcycling in the USA, there are several pillars that such a plan can rest upon.
One of those pillars is getting young riders involved on two-wheels, and on the race track there is no better way to do that than with mini-moto racing. It is cheap and approachable…and most importantly, it is fun.
Getting onto a local cart track with a motorcycle can be done for a fraction of the cost of big bikes on proper road race circuits, and your budget is really only constrained by how good you are at hunting for deals on Craigslist.
Though if you really want to go all out, we present to you the Ohvale GP-0. The pinnacle of the sport, the Daytona 190 model from Ohvale will set you back a solid $6,900 MSRP. Other models from Ohvale are also available, with the 110cc version starting at $4,500 MSRP.
An interesting news item for you today, as Honda has teamed up with Forever 21 to bring young adults a unique motorcycle-branded line of clothing. The apparel line is inspired by Honda liveries from the 1980’s and 1990’s, though with a healthy dose of on-trend fashion, for both men and women.
“Honda’s motorcycle racing success in the ’80s and ’90s was legendary, with our riders earning many championships in domestic and international series,” said Mike Snyder, Senior Manager of Honda Powersports Marketing. “While we’re focused on winning with our current teams, it’s fun to see our racing heritage honored by Forever 21 with a completely new audience.”
“We are so excited to announce our partnership with Honda for this ’80s and ’90s inspired collection,” said Linda Chang, VP of Marketing for Forever 21. “We are always looking for new and unexpected partnerships, and this collaboration with Honda is especially relevant now with the popularity of racing and strong ties between fashion and motorsport. We hope that both fans of Honda and our customers will celebrate with us through this collection.”
Of course, the launch of this line is being promoted by a contest on Instagram, where the winner gets a brand new Honda CRF250L dirt bike, once they take a photo of themselves in their F21xHonda gear and tag it on the photo-sharing service, of course.
Get them while they’re young. It worked for the tobacco industry, it worked for Michael Jackson, and it is the new mantra for Aprilia Motorcycles, as the Italian marque is getting aggressive with its offerings for young and future motorcyclists.
Regular Asphalt & Rubber readers will know that we have talked at length about the motorcycle industry’s aging demographic, and that the younger generations are not filling in sales that are being left behind by Baby Boomer motorcyclists.
Getting Gen-X and Millennials on motorcycles has been a key part to every motorcycle brand’s marketing strategy, and now Aprilia is taking that move to its next logical level, and focusing on getting kids on bikes at as early of an age as possible.
So you made it into Moto3. Well done. That feat alone makes you one of the most talented motorcycle racers on the planet. You may think that the hardest part of the battle is behind you. You would be wrong.
You have your foot on the bottom rung of the ladder to MotoGP stardom. It is a rickety old thing, slick with grease, littered with broken rungs, and what look like short cuts and easier routes.
Before you embark on your Grand Prix adventure -and what an adventure it is! – some words of advice from someone who has been in the paddock long enough to have his illusions shattered.
Icon might not be the first brand you think of when you talk about road racing apparel, but the Oregonian company is certainly trying to evolve from its Stunt Life roots, into other aspects of two-wheeled culture.
Pushing into the more lifestyle, adventure, and sport segments of the industry, we have already seen Icon’s penchant for concept bikes, which I can atest haven’t really resonated with our sport-bike focused readers. I think today will be a little different though.
Teaming up with Kawasaki, Icon has built what it calls the Kawasaki ZX3-RR concept. Based off the Kawasaki Ninja 300, the Kawasaki ZX3-RR sees new bodywork and a slew of performance parts added to make a spec-series cup bike for young riders. It looks the business.
There has been so much smoke lately about Dorna doing something in the American market for road racing, that surely there must be some fire. Our sources, and the consensus in the MotoGP paddock is that Carmelo Ezpeleta has his eyes on a North American Championship, of sorts — a move designed to side-step issues with DMG and AMA Pro Road Racing.
With the France family perhaps responsible single-handedly destroying American interest in motorcycle racing, it should not be too surprising that the often unliked entity that is Dorna Sport, is being hailed as a possible savior of the sport in the United States. Whatever you think about those two entities, it is clear that something has to give.
Talking to Fox Sports 1, Ezpeleta tipped his hand on what he envisioned for the US market, saying that he has been talking to “relevant people” to create a program that will develop American riders for the Grand Prix Championship. Helping him spearhead that plan is none other than a certain Mr. Wayne Rainey.