31/07/2009 by info.

We are sad to report that Bruce Rossmeyer, owner of Daytona Beach Harley-Davidson and many other Harley Dealerships, died just a few hours ago in a motorcycle accident in Wyoming on his way back from a Dealers meeting in Colorado enroute to Sturgis.

A family friend said Rossmeyer was riding with several motorcyclists when they pulled out to pass a recreational vehicle. Rossmeyer was the last in line and was killed when the RV strayed into his lane, hitting his motorcycle, according to the friend who didn’t want to be named.

Bruce Rossmeyer was an incon in our industry and he will be greatly missed.

Source :- Bikerhotline.com

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21/07/2009 by info.

THIS year saw in excess of 20,000 riders gather for the 28th annual Moto Clube Faro Rally on Portugal’s southern Algarve coast, and the 18th Custom Bike Show that organizers have staged.

By far the biggest motorcycle event in Portugal, the ‘Faro Rally’ is one of the largest such events in Europe as a whole and attracts riders from literally all over the continent for four days of music and riding.

This was the second time the bike show had been affiliated to the Official World Championship of Custom Bike Building, and the judging jury (custom bike journalists from around Europe) chose “The Paisa” by Team Sable of Madrid, Spain, as winner of the Radical Custom class, Best in Show, and winner of the AMD World Championship Affiliate prize.

This means that “The Paisa” will be seen competing at the 7th annual World Championship at Sturgis, Sd., in August 2010.

First seen when it scored a respectable 14th place in the 2008 European Championship, and again when it was one of the selected bikes for the ‘Mad Builders’ Show at Barcelona’s MotOH! Expo in May last year, it certainly is a “radical” approach to what can be achieved with a 1200cc Sportster engine!

www.motoclubefaro.pt
www.t-sables.es

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17/07/2009 by info.

Source :- Chris Callen.

Their entire inventory will be auctioned off on August 27th, live and online.

After 26 years operating under the name of Milwaukee Iron, world renowned builder, Randy Simpson, is closing the doors to his Lynchburg, Virginia facility. After two years of a downward trend in motorcycling that has significantly reduced the volume of his sales with stiffer and uneven competition from the overseas’ market, Randy is ready to move on to other ventures.

On top of the actual business name and entire product line of Milwaukee Iron and components needed to manufacture them, everything in their shop, all equipment and a 35 year parts inventory, will be liquidated in an auction that is open to the general public on August 27th. Some of the shop items are everything from a spinning machine for fenders, gas and oil tanks and a manufacturing robot that mig welds and plasma cuts using Lincoln equipment to several Lincoln welders (both tig and mig) and flat steel work tables. There are a large variety of hand tools, 2 press brakes (one small and one 88 ton) that will also be included in the auction. Some of the bikes Randy has become notable for during his career like Karnevil, Voodoo Child, Nuthin’ Fancy, Southern Steel and even his original Street Survivors will be up for bid.

The parts are too extensive to list in whole but there are many flathead cases and engines, a lot of new old stock frontend stuff (FLH and FLT style) pistons and rings for J models and V’s, plenty of frames from Pans, Shovels, Evos, Sportsters and even some of the MI custom frames will be included. All of this and one special item, a 40 foot shipping container that is packed to the roof with parts that will be auctioned as one lot to the highest bidder. They’re still loading parts into this thing as we speak.

In talking with Randy about this decision he seems to be in a good place with it. As he sees it, they had a good run and now he’s excited to see what comes next. “Motorcycles have always been my passion since I was seven years old when I started riding my dads 65cc Italian Harley, chasing choppers through the streets of Fairview Heights to buying his first Harley at age 17, a 1950 EL Panhead. That’s when I started working on them, buying, selling and trading out of my mom’s basement. By the time I was 21 I had bought and sold five different bikes. When I turned 26 I came up with the name Milwaukee Iron and bought a little piece of land and built the first shop on it, August 25th of 1983, that’s actually my birthday as well. At the time we did what other companies wouldn’t do like fixing frames and welding cases. As time went on, we broke into machine and fabrication work, got a lot of press for the bikes we built.  When I got to over 300 pages of features and coverage, I stopped counting. That was also when I stopped competing in shows. Our bikes had taken over 50 first place trophies by then and we just decided to continue to develop our product line. We eventually had 13 episodes of our TV show on Discovery Channel and one on Speed Vision. I’ve met some of the best people in the world and had some incredible people work with us and I thank them all for everything they have done over the years. After all the years and all the dealings we’ve had, I still can’t think of ten that were bad. I guess it’s kinda’ sad in a way but I’m also looking forward to meeting new people, seeing old friends and waiting to see what happens next. Whatever it is, I’ll be out there at all the shows with more time to ride and socialize.”

After reaching such heights in the industry, literally hundreds of pages in Easyrider as well as other magazines all over the world, Randy has the ability to look back over an illustrious career. He is keeping his factory frame table and starting over from there and you can bet that whatever he’s into, we’ll keep an eye out for it. Randy has been a good friend to a lot of us in the industry and it is with a heavy heart that we wish him good luck.

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17/07/2009 by info.

NEW YORK (AP) - Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday it is cutting 1,000 more employees and lowering its motorcycle shipment guidance as quarterly earnings continued to fall due to weaker sales.

The Milwaukee-based maker of the famous heavyweight motorcycles said it plans to cut another 700 hourly and 300 salaried employees from its ranks as it copes with falling demand for its high-end bikes.

“It is obviously a very tough environment for us right now, given the continued weak consumer spending in the overall economy for discretionary purchases,” Harley-Davidson President and CEO Keith Wandell said in a
statement.

Harley, the top seller of heavyweight motorcycles, said its second-quarter income fell 91 percent to $19.8 million, or 8 cents per share. That’s down from $222.8 million, or 95 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Revenue declined 27 percent to $1.15 billion from $1.57 billion a year ago.

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