At last weekend 2011 Indianapolis Dealer Expo, Erik Buell had a booth to introduce his new Sportbike prototype model to US dealers.
Erik was not handing out any documentation or tech sheet about it, probably because several changes will be made before production, especially regarding engine. Asked about horsepower, he simply replied…that it will be adequate.
At least, you can see a first picture of the motorcycle marking the return of Buell to the retail market after the split from Harley-Davidson
A very sick bike that required a major surgery done by Kevin Boyle owner of Massachusetts based The V-Twin Motorcycle Medic. This one was started after the 25th anniversary bagger Kevin built for Sumax, the powdercoating expert. Seduced by the advantages of powdercoat over paint and not inclined to have a lot or even a little bit of chrome to clean after each ride, Kevin Boyle decided to have Sumax powdercoat everything possible. And almost everything can be powdercoated on a motorcycle…Result? No paint (except the pinstriping) and no chromed parts on this project. Continue reading ‘It’s A Buell. Kind Of…’
The Ratty Rag was first published for the 1974 Daytona Bike Week. Ted Smith, owner of the Rat’s hole Show, states that it is the oldest free motorcycle newspaper in the country and that more than one million copies of the Ratty Rag have been distributed at major bike show events all over the world since its inception, He says “I still have six light tables at my house that were used to lay it out by hand. here were no other motorcycle newspapers.”
20,000 copies of the Daytona Beach Ratty Rag will be printed for the 2011 Daytona Bike Week rally (March 4-13). Get it at the Rat’s Hole World Bike Showdown on Saturday, March 12th during the 70th Daytona Bike Week, March 4 – 13, 2011. 20,000 more copies will be printed for the Leesburg Bikefest in April; Thunder in the Valley in June; Sturgis – Buffalo Chip in August; Daytona Biketoberfest; and the Lone Star Rally in November. There will be interviews with the best of show bike builders and of course, photographs of the Miss Rat Mate contests. For further details regarding advertising rates, vendor spots and sponsorship opportunities, contact Ted Smith – info@ratshole.com or call 386-454-349
1- Big Bear Choppers Open New Shop. Big Bear Choppers open a new shop in the Los Angeles area in Perris between Riverside and Temecula. The company is keeping the company’s headquarters in Big Bear Lake, California. It is a repair shop not exclusive to Big Bear Choppers. It will serve other motorcycle brands, from Harley-Davidson to production custom motorcycles like Bourget and Big Dog Motorcycles, and I guess one-off custom motorcycles. Big Bear Choppers was created in 1998 by Kevin and wife Mona Alsop.
2-Victory Motorcycles In India. Polaris announcing it would sell some of its Victory line in the country as of next year. Victory Motorcycles is close to completing the market analysis needed to make the decision about which models would best suit the country. Rumor is that the company would like to be able to launch during the 1st quarter of 2012. Will Polaris ship its Victory Motorcycles already assembled with the consequence of paying very high tariffs, or like Harley-Davidson, assemble its models locally to lower costs? Continue reading ‘Fast Motorcycle Industry News’
Confirming an information I got one month ago, Las Vegas Bikefest Vice President Mindi Cherry confirmed to me that the Golden Nugget Hotel, located in downtown Las Vegas on the world-famous Fremont Street Experience, will be the 2011 Headquarter hotel for Las Vegas BikeFest®. The hotel will host registration, a motorcycle give-away and many other special activities. This year the event will be held September 29 – October 2, 2011 at the Cashman Center, which is close to the Golden Nugget and world-famous Fremont Street. Continue reading ‘2011 Las Vegas Bikefest Returning To Fremont Street’
A new design to broaden your choice while choosing your new rims. Pickard USA just introduced the “Thriller” wheel featuring 12 directional spokes surfaced in 3D and joining seamlessly towards the hub.
The “Thriller” was designed to add movement and direction to your bike, even when sitting still. Versus a 2D design, a 3D surfacing technology throws off an abundance of light.
Pickard Wheel sizes range from 16-30 inches for all 2000 and up Harley-Davidson models. For easy installation, all their wheels are designed to use stock wheel spacers. Made in the USA. More information: at 972-231-1298 or visit Pickard USA.
Because 1/3 of the US is enduring unusual bitter cold it’s an appropriate time to talk about making those comfortable buns of yours toasty warm. Constructed of triple layer fiberglass, the Mustang’s new heated seat installs easily and comes complete with a wire harness that hooks to the accessory port in front of the battery (no OE controllers or switches are required). It features illuminated switches on the side for convenient adjustment of the dual zone, high/low settings for the rider and passenger. Continue reading ‘New Mustang Touring Seat Turns On the Heat’
Since 1999, Robert Hitch is the owner of Symmetry Customs a business whose forte is one-off radical frame & parts fabrication for domestic and imports. As such, he is the man producing a lot of custom work for other Florida shops like Lightning Rod Motorcycles, Santiago Chopper and Gregg’s Customs. On a concept drawing provided by Rick Bonnin, he just fabricated this cool “Whiskey Bandit” bike with a strong board tracker flavor. Continue reading ‘Whiskey Bandit Board Tracker’
Add Speedster to any product name and you are pretty sure to get my attention. I am a big coffee and expresso drinker and the look of this motor-themed machine is absolutely gorgeous (see more pictures after the jump.)
Made from stainless steel, this advanced machine features a double boiler system, electronic temperature controllers, a steam boiler with heat exchanger to pre-heat the water, a commercial grade rotation pump, two water temperature settings, a four-hole steam tip. Not just another expresso machine but a great piece of conversation. $TBA. Speedster Espresso Machine
For those who don’t know, The OCC Foundation is a New York not-for-profit corporation and is the charitable arm of the custom motorcycle shop, Orange County Choppers. It seeks to both maximize its charitable efforts by giving up to 100% of the money it raises each year to qualified charities and wants to give its supporters a voice in selecting deserving charities.
The foundation is currently working with the FBI to raise money to benefit the opening of the Center Of Hope in the OCC hometown of Newburgh, NY. The Center for HOPE will be a safe alternative for at-risk youth subjected to daily violence and gang activity right outside their homes. It will be a place for youth and parents to interact and strengthen relationships. Continue reading ‘OCC Foundation. Stop The Violence Motorcycle Raffle.’
Some of motorcyclists’ rights hangs in a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York which they hope will declare New York’s motorcycle only roadway checkpoints to be unconstitutional. The motorcycle checkpoints, which target well-known motorcycle events, force motorcyclists traveling to and from those events to leave the roadway, regardless of any wrongdoing, and have their vehicles and equipment inspected for (supposedly) safety and non-safety equipment violations and stolen VIN numbers. Continue reading ‘Are Motorcycle Only Checkpoints Unconstitutional?’
A new interesting idea coming from Germany. The Pack-Pad Luggage. You know the dilemma. You ride a solo seat motorcycle, want to ride it for long distances and have no practical way, except maybe some removable saddlebags and a back pack, to carry all your overnight gear. Coming from 2 long time biker friends (Peter Holz & Michael Mager) this back pad can be used in different setups and simply holds to your rear fender via 8 strong high performance suction cups. So, use and remove in seconds depending of your needs. Continue reading ‘Smart Pack-Pad For Solo Seat Motorcycles’
Rick Barret from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel confirms what I reported on February 9th and gives a little bit more details on the new Erik Buell street bike model expected to be available this spring.
It will be a limited edition and S&S Cycles is working with Erik to develop this motorcycle. “The first round of bikes are going to be collectibles, exotic, special-edition. ” said Buell. I want to rebuild my company, which once employed about 200 people, to produce motorcycles in bigger numbers than just collectibles or track bikes. Over time, the price can come down if we get everything in place. There are a lot of sport bikes sold in the world, and we would like some of them to be American. We would not need a very large percentage of the marketplace to be pretty big again” Buell said. Erik Buell will attend the Dealer Expo in Indianapolis where he will talk about his new venture, hoping to build very fast a new dealer network. Erik Buell.
For those riding the Harley-Davidson trike models, Arlen Ness offers this curvaceous design rear fender.
Will work with the factory 15” wheels or any 18″ custom wheels if fitted with a lower profile tire.
Made out of fiberglass, pre-drilled and ready for priming and painting. Fits 2009-up Tri-GlideTM and 2010-up Street-GlideTM trikes. MSRP for pair is $749.95. Arlen Ness.
With for philosophy “to build elemental motorcycles outside of the plastic-encrusted mainstream motorcycle industry and to honor the taut lines and lean form of the past iconic motorcycles”, James Hammarhead is again imposing its own “repurposing” style, but this time starting from a brand new factory motorcycle. A 2010 Ural sT! James explains that this Hammarhead Solo X (read Cross) project began when the Ural sT was released in May 2010. When he saw it, he immediately fired off an email to Ural to see if we could get one to customize. He was attracted to it because it’s a very basic motorcycle that he felt he could turn into an even more elemental while very functional off road riding motorcycle. Continue reading ‘Hammarhead Solo Cross’
Santa Clara Convention Center, CA Sunday March 20, 2011. For the 1st time the Custom Chrome Dealer Show will be open to the public from 10 AM to 5 PM. An opportunity to see exciting new 2011 V-Twin Products from the Custom Chrome Catalog, meet their vendors and admire the custom motorcycles competing in a bike show (March 19th and 20th) for the North American Championship title. Continue reading ‘Custom Chrome 2011 North American Championship’
Harley-Davidson has a strategy in place to expand their global presence and reach new demographics in the U.S. and in international markets. Currently, a majority of their customers still reside in the U.S. However, international retail sales have been growing as a percent of total sales. In fact, Harley believes that by 2014 over 40% of their retail sales will occur outside the U.S.
Harley-Davidson is currently executing a multi-generational and multi-cultural marketing strategy in the U.S. The success of this strategy is measured by internally monitoring market shares within targeted customer segments of Core (Caucasian men 35+), young adults (men and women 18-34), women (Caucasian women 35+) and diverse men and women (African-American and Hispanic 35+). Continue reading ‘Harley-Davidson Demographics. Update.’
This is the Handicap Trike that Dennis Goodson (from Goodson Air Cleaners) built for a buddy who was hit and paralyzed, restricted to a wheelchair. Unfortunately, his friend passed away and Dennis now has the bike back – and it’s for sale. A video to help sell it to someone who could use it. Dennis Goodson’s contact info is at the end of the video.
Truly a one of a kind ad and motorcycle! The seller explains on eBay that this motorcycle was parked by a wall 40 years ago, and that since then a tree grew up around the motorcycle to the point of encasing it (?). And if you win the bid you are warned to come to pick it up armed with a chain saw. Saving a tree and kill the bike or saving a bike and killing the tree…Rush, less than one day left for your bid. See the eBay Ad.
To go from chrome to black is always a dramatic change for the look of your bike. To go from incandescent to LED lights will dramatically increase your night vision…and visibility from others. So, Harley-Davidson launches these new gloss black background LED headlamps and auxiliary Lamps to look and see better.
LED lights are brighter and whiter in color and provide a superior light pattern over standard incandescent lamps. Compared to the yellow light of a traditional halogen bulb, the LED lamp produces a “daylight color impression” that appears more natural to the eye. The light is focused with D-shaped lenses so the background of the head lamp does not act as a reflector, and can be coated gloss black. The solid-state LEDs are designed for long life, and the shock- and vibration-resistant lamp assembly mounts into existing light housings. Installation is quick and easy, using the factory headlamp wiring. Continue reading ‘New Harley-Davidson Black LED Headlamp And Auxiliary Lamps’
Fans of the hit series Sons Of Anarchy will be happy to learn that Charlie Hunnam “Jax” will be featured for the entire 2011 Easyriders Rodeo Tour & Rally. Charlie will be meeting, signing autographs, and taking pictures with guests on July 8th-10th in Wilson, NC, July 15th-17th in Columbus, TX, August 20th-22nd in Fowlerville, MI, and September 1st-5th in Chillicothe, OH.
“We had Charlie for the 2011 Bike Show Tour in both LA and Sacramento and he was both a tremendous fit and a crowd favorite” said Easyriders Events Marketing & Entertainment Director Tucker Kroll. “Guests waited in line for up to six hours to meet him and get a picture with him. In over a decade of celebrity related events I had never seen anything like it. Most importantly Charlie stayed hours later than what was originally scheduled to make sure he took care of everyone in line which was really something else.” Continue reading ‘Sons Of Sons Of Anarchy Star Charlie Hunnam “Jax” Joins The 2011 Easyriders Rodeo Tour & Rally’
It’s now 25 years that Peder ”The Wizard” Johansson is manufacturing from his Hogtech shop in Eskilstuna, Sweden pure Scandinavian style chopper frames for enthusiasts all over the world. Precision handcrafted to tight tolerance frames, built following the old fashion blacksmith tradition of the Vikings, using only high quality Swedish steel, welding, heat treating and cooling in the fixture. All chassis approved by the high standard German TUV organism, meaning a frame quality and integrity well above what is required outside Europe.
Because a few years back some of his potential clients around the world started to express their concerns about the legality in their local country of chopper rake and and of very long forks, Peder decided to build complete Hogtech full blown choppers with for objective to demonstrate that they could be street legal in Europe, the toughest continent for motorcycle legislation. The chopper you are looking at, called “Absolut Chopper” (in 2 versions, TheBlack Ice and The Icelander) got its European Union Certificate Of Conformity, and being road legal for all Europe it is also in most countries around the world, including the USA. The chopper gets its emission legal motor from S&S Cycle, its transmission from Baker Drivetrain and belt drive from BDL , its electronics from Germany. Continue reading ‘Street Legal Production Chopper From Sweden’
At last weekend 2011 Indianapolis Dealer Expo, Erik Buell had a booth to introduce his new Sportbike prototype model to US dealers.
