18/02/2011 by info.

Victory has been drawn towards India following the vibrant success of its competitor, Harley Davidson, which has sold an average of more than two units from its line-up of 12 models every three days this calendar year.

Market sources said Victory is close to completing its market analysis in India and will introduce models that would best suit the country. The company is keen to participate in next year’s biennial Auto Expo held in New Delhi to showcase its products.

A formal launch by the company will be announced by the second half of next year. To test market response, the company will start importing the bikes initially before setting up an assembly plant to cut costs.

Harley Davidson has managed to bring down its entry point price to Rs 5.5 lakh from more than Rs 7.5 lakh after it built an assembly plant in Bawal, Haryana — the third plant in the world after the US and Brazil. It has also started accepting bookings for the SuperLow and Iron 883, produced from the plant in Haryana.

To discourage imports and encourage local manufacturing activity, the Indian government has kept the import duties high, which effectively doubles the price of a model when it lands in showrooms.

A local assembly operation will bring down costs by a minimum of 30 per cent and can go up on the basis of the level of localisation or components which are sourced locally. A completely knocked down operation means parts will be brought to India and assembled here.

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15/02/2011 by info.

The past two weekends saw Minneapolis and Chicago host the latest of the World Championship program Ultimate Builder affiliate events at the Progressive Insurance sponsored IMS series.

The same two bikes took first and second places at both events, Dana Hallberg’s World Championship bike ‘Redonkulous’ winning in Minneapolis, with Troy Kyne’s ‘Predasaurus’ taking the top prize in Chicago. Third place in Minneapolis went to Outlaw Customs for their Outlaw Prostreet, and Dave Dupor of DD Custom Cycle took third in Chicago with his entry based on a 2009 Harley Road Glide.

In the Harley-Davidson sponsored Modified Harley class, the Chicago win was again taken by Jason Bochniak’s Freedom Cycle customized 2006 Deluxe. Runner-up was Dana Hallberg (Deadline Customs) with a 2010 Road Glide and Red Customs was third with a 2000 Fat Boy.

Bob McAreavey, a previous Modified Harley class winner in Cleveland, won again in Chicago with his daily rider, a customized 2001 Fat Boy, with 2009 World Champion Dave Cook finishing as runner-up with a 1953 Panhead. Third place was taken by Dell Battle of One Off, Inc. with a 2003 Fat Boy.

In the Performance Custom Class, the Minneapolis win went to Holden On Racing with a 2009 Hayabusa; second and third were taken by JDA Customs with a 2007 Suzuki GSX-R and Yamaha RG. In Chicago, Josh Lee of JDA Customs went one better and won the class with his GSX-R, with Ricky Ray of Redefined Cycles second (2009 Hayabusa) and Matt Girlamo (Hard Luck Cycles/XC Performance) third with a 1993 Suzuki GSX-R racebike.

The ‘Ultimate Builder’ series now moves on to Greenville, Sc. (February 25-27) before the American Championship final at Daytona Bike Week, March 9-12

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10/02/2011 by info.

Just going out on a double date……

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09/02/2011 by info.

Following on from our earlier post about the troubled times some H-D dealers are having……  The decline in large-capacity motorcycle sales on both sides of the Atlantic is putting an increasing number of Harley-Davidson franchised dealers out of business.

In the US, 36 Harley dealerships closed their doors last year, and Harley-Davidson chief financial officer John Olin say that he doesn’t expect the trend to abate this year. Here in the UK, three Harley outlets folded in the final two months of 2010 and more are reportedly struggling.

Commenting to analysts on the situation in America, Olin recently said: “This contraction was expected and in line with our desire to modestly consolidate our dealer network in response to lower overall volume since the economic downturn took hold.”

But Olin also claimed that dealers have been coping with lower inventory of new machines by selling more pre-owned stock. “Used bike sales in the dealer network were up double digits through November,” he added. “Despite dealers’ efforts to improve revenue and manage cost, their profitability has been impacted in the downturn. But we believe the US dealer network in aggregate remains profitable.”

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02/02/2011 by info.

California based specialist wheel manufacturer Ride Wright Wheels is to unveil a massive new program of billet wheel designs at their V-Twin Expo booth #831 at 11:00 am, Saturday February 5th.

Best known for their universal hub 40, 60, 80, cross-laced and ‘Fat Daddy’ spoke wheel program, Ride Wright entered the billet wheel market 24 months ago, but are now stepping up their range with several new designs available in most popular front and rear sizes.

Ride Wright do all their own machining and manufacturing processes in-house from blanks, only outsourcing T6 heat treatment, polishing and chroming to local Californian vendors.

Meanwhile the company has updated the design of its universal spoke wheel hub, moving from screw hubs to a locking pins and bolt design, and added a new square-spoke to their line-up.

www.ridewrightwheels.com

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02/02/2011 by info.

Press Release for the Narva Bike Weeks

Narva Bike 2011 is still brings only the good!

International bike fest Narva Bike that is constantly held in the unique historical location of Narva Castle placed just on the Estonian-Russian border, has gained its own mark on the European, Russian and other countries’ motor clubs event calenders.
It is worth and safe to mention that this is one of the most positive and well developing bikefests in the Eastern Europe and Baltic states. For the 4th time running the festival will charge Narva residents and cross-border town guests with positive energy.

On the 15th, 16th and 17th of July Narva Bike 2011 as always will offer enriched and interesting programme to the visitors of moto-extravaganza. Agenda includes moto-parade, laser projection show, retro rally in the framework of Classic Riders, tuning show and bike presentation from Magnum Chrome, tattoo show from Dandy Tattoo Studio, Miss NB2011 contest and eye-pleasing fireworks display over the border of two states and fortresses!

The goodness of the festival will be manifested though the “Bikers Alley“ initiative - bikers will plant over 100 trees in the city centre of Narva.

Over 20 bands from different countries are included in the festival rock programme and lined-up to perform. This year legendary rock baton will be handed over from Uriah Heep to the Great rock diva - Suzi Quatro !

For the first time, Narva Bike will offer its stage to the actors of internationally well-known Royal Giraffe theatre led by stunning Stas Varkki.

All of this will happen during the hot and full of beer Estonian summer that will also feature swimming in the Narva border river practically without leaving bikefest’s site.

NARVA BIKE 2011 – The Golden Hit in the motor world!

www.narvabike.com

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02/02/2011 by info.

Last weekend saw Cleveland host the latest of the World Championship program Ultimate Builder affiliate events at the Progressive Insurance sponsored IMS series.

The Freestyle class win was taken by Jesse Bassett of The Gasbox (who collaborated with Huey Schwebs of Cleveland Motorcycle Manufacturing Co on their 2007 World Championship entry) with his 1965 BSA Lightning, with Bill Steele of Steele Kustoms second and fourth.

Bill took his second place with ‘Fascinator’, a stunning automatic transmissioned billet springer high-tech meets old-style lowrider with which he scooped fifth place in the World Championship in 2006.

Cleveland Motorcycle Manufacturing Co took third with ‘Sicpup’ their World Championship Modified Harley class fourth place bike from 2009, and were also awarded fifth place for Huey Schwebs’ board tracker.

The Harley-Davidson sponsored Modified Harley class win was taken by Bob McAreavey with his daily rider, a customized 2001 FatBoy; he denied Jason Bochniak a third successive Ultimate Builder class win for his Freedom Cycle customized 2006 H-D Deluxe ‘Phoenix’, which finished runner-up.

In the Performance Custom Class, the win went to Jamie Luczak, Luczak Enterprises and Motioncraft, with a 2006 Hayabusa; second and third were taken by Perry Paugh with a pair of Dougherty Motorcycles customised Kawasakis - a Z1 in second place, a ZX11 in third.

The ‘Ultimate Builder’ series now moves on to Minneapolis this coming weekend (February 4-6), followed by Chicago (February 11-13) and then Greenville Sc. (February 25-27) before the finals at Daytona Bike Week, March 9-12.

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01/02/2011 by info.

Motor Bike Expo
Verona, Italy,
January 21-23, 2011

Enthusiasm for motorcycling in general, the custom market in particular, is in robust shape going into the new year in Europe, if attendance at this year’s Motor Bike Expo is anything to go by.

Attendance this year is said to have been some 20 percent up on 2010, at over 120,000 visitors, reflecting the upward trend at motorcycle shows seen in Italy a couple of months earlier when the ‘Milan’ Show in November also saw its best crowds in a decade.

In particular, the custom market in Italy has grown very quickly through the past five or seven years. It is growth that has continued throughout the downturn, and that has found expression in a number of ways, not least the increasing international custom bike show success that Italian custom bike builders such as Luciano Andreoli, Marco Cinquini, Gigi Esposito, Aldo Querio Gianetto, Gerardo Chillico, Sam Reali, Marco Scaccabarozzi and others have had in recent years.

The Italian market is also proving to be home to a number of exciting volume production projects, such as Headbanger Motorcycles and Roberto Crepaldi’s CR&S programs in Milan, and the parts, accessory and performance engineering sector is also booming.

Whereas once the stylish output of OMP was the single best known such manufacturer in Italy, the market now also boasts businesses such as Kustom Tech, Rebuffini, Gray Indian’s, MCJ, Free Spirits, Double Fire and Asso Special Bike.

There were many great bikes at ‘Verona’ this year, not least the remarkable new aluminium framed ASB 199R by Carlo Colombo of Asso Special Bike, which was second in the LowRide Magazine awards, and ‘Apocalypsis’ by Emiliano Damia’s E-D Special in Rome, which won the Freeway Bike Magazine custom show.

In the AMD Official World Championship affiliate event awards, which were centered on the LowRide Magazine custom show this year, the ‘Sturgis’ prize for the best International Custom went to Kenji Nagai of Ken’s Factory/Cycle Craft for his Harley-engined 1978 Shovelhead rigid called ‘Unchangeable’.

The ‘Sturgis’ prize for the best Italian built custom bike went to Marco Cinquini’s Garage65 for the second year running with their ‘Kcosmodrive’ follow-up, the remarkable ‘Stargate’ - a high-tech, hand-crafted lowrider that everyone will be seeing much more of in the months ahead.

Both winners receive a 5.000,00 euro expenses contribution towards going forward to compete at this year’s 8th annual Official World Championship courtesy of Motor Bike Expo organizers Francesco Agnoletto and Paola Somma.

This was the sixth year that their show (formerly staged at Padua in northern Italy) has been a World Championship affiliate event, and on behalf of the program we’d like to express our thanks for their support and for the investment they continue to make into the development of the custom motorcycle industry in Italy.

www.motorbikeexpo.it

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01/02/2011 by info.

Dockgate 20 Motorcycles Ltd, the parent company of the Dockgate 20 Harley-Davidson and Thames Valley Harley-Davidson dealerships located respectively in Southampton and Slough, has definitely gone belly-up.

Richard Hawes and Julia Branson, of leading acountancy group and insolvency specialist Deloitte, were appointed as joint administrators of the company on 23 December 2010.

In addition to the above, following the recent closure of its London Harley outlet in Walthamstow, the Pendragon automotive group’s bike division is consolidating in the West Midlands.

The company is adding a Stoke-on-Trent Harley store to its pair of Stratstone Harley operations in Birmingham and Wolverhampton and Stratstone Triumph dealerships in Leicester and Wolverhampton.

Pendragon’s Walthamstow branch was folded after the opening of a Harley-Davidson franchise adjacent to the Lakeside shopping mall at Thurrock in Essex, which pinched much of its business. The Lakeside Harley dealership is owned by another competing automotive chain, the Jardine group.

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01/02/2011 by info.

US-based Victory motorcycle and Polaris ATV manufacturer Polaris Industries has plenty to boast about in its 2010 fourth-quarter and full-year financial results. Dollar-sterling forex translations were made at the rates applicable on 31 January.

In the final quarter, Polaris achieved record sales, up by 31 per cent year-on-year to £386.1m. Operating profit rose by 13 per cent to £48.8m and net profit for the quarter increased by 24 per cent to £34m - also both records.

For the full 12 months of 2010, yet another record revenue figure was up by 27 per cent on 2009, at £1.24bn. Allied to rigorous cost-cutting, this yielded a 34 per cent boost to operating profit at £137.8m and a 46 per cent increase in net profit to £91.8m.

Although by far the biggest slice of the Polaris business is side-by-side and quad-style ATVs, its Victory motorcycle arm also did well. Victory sales were up by eight per cent in the fourth quarter to £12.9m and put on 55 per cent to £50.9m over the full year - despite the US heavyweight cruiser market still being in retreat.

For 2011, Polaris is forecasting a year-on-year sales increase of up to 11 per cent, with net profit potentially up by as much as 20 per cent.

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