Harley-Davidson has announced that CEO Jim Ziemer will retire next year. The Board of Directors has formed a search committee to find Harley’s new leadership, both from internal hires to external prospects. Until a replacement is found, Ziemer will remain at his post.
The 58 year-old’s 40 year career at Harley-Davidson is truly an embodiment of the American dream, starting out as a freight elevator operator and working his way all the way to the top.
The World Superbike Championship series has launched an online store where you can now buy SBK branded t-shirts ($27), short-sleeved collared shirts ($61), long-sleeved collared shirts($123), hats ($20), and dreadfully horrible looking backpacks ($89-$130). The site looks good enough, but the sticker shock might leave you throwing up in your mouth a bit. $10 for a neck lanyard? Really SBK? Really?
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More rumors abound about Ducati’s replacement bike for the Multistrada. We can stop calling is the”R1200GS killer”, as it seems the first iteration will not include a 19″ front wheel. That’s not to say higher-ups in the Ducati management aren’t considering the possibility of a line extension or optional dirt-ready package.
Additionally, the Stradaperta 1200 (no definite news if that is to be the production name) will showcase a 1200cc air-cooled motor that is the latest revision on Ducati’s air-cooled and currently Monster based power plant. Output is said to exceed the 100HP mark, while maintaining strong low and midrange torque.
We’re still sometime away from any sort of official launch or reliable leaked specs and pictures, so take what is here as perhaps “educated” day dreaming.
Last week we speculated , Honda has now announced that it will be withdrawing from all of the AMA’s road racing series.
This news really only affects Neil Hodgson, who is currently the only factory signed onto the 2009 season. HRC’s move will not affect Jake Zemke, who won last year’s AMA Formula Xtreme Championship, because all signs point to him riding for the Erion Honda team, which Honda will still be offering support to, as well as the Corona Honda team.
Honda again cites the current economic situation as the reason behind their announcement. We’ll let you discuss if you think factors like Suzuki’s dominance in AMA Superbike, or the new ownership by the Daytona Motorsports Group could be aggravating circumstances.
The winter weather must be affecting A&R headquarters because today’s articles are all revolving around us day-dreaming of bikes we can’t afford and bikes that will never be produced. This post is an exercise in the latter category. Dario Caroselli has taken pen to paper and inked a few concept sketches for Triumph and Kawasaki street bikes. In them we can see inspirations from KTM, Buell, Yamaha, and few other brands, but its done in a subtle and tasteful way. Unless you had to state at motorcycle pictures all day, you might not even notice. We still think its a great showing by the Italian designer, who doesn’t over Italianize (yes, that’s a word, and yes we just made it up) the styling of the bikes and keeps them in-line with what those companies have put forth as being quintessential Triumph and Kawasaki (respectively).
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With the pressure to buy a KTM RC8 up’d by , it got us thinking what else we’ll need to ask Santa to get us for Christmas, a brand new 2009 Yamaha R1 wouldn’t be half bad, especially after watching this new video the tuning-fork brand released. Continue reading to watch the video, and see great wallpaper fodder of the R1
News has just broken that the 2009 KTM 1190cc RC8 will only be sold via KTM’s Priority Delivery Deposit Program, which ends on New Year’s Eve.
Editor’s note: F@#!!!
Which means you have less than 19 days (and counting) until it will be too late to get your hands on Austria’s first purpose-built sportbike. Nothing has been mentioned about the race-inspired RC8R, but we expect a similar arrangement. Oh, and did we mention production numbers will be limited.
has managed to get ahold of photos showing Aprilia’s weapon of choice for Hypermoto racing. The Dorsoduro RR race bike will be piloted by Alessandro Tognaccini in the 2009 Hypermoto Series. Weighing just over 300lbs and putting out over 100hp, the RR is a substantial improvement over the stock Dorsoduro. Add-on goodies include Shiver forks, Öhlins rear shock, STM slipper clutch, and a Silmotor exhaust. The wheels are Marchesinis with Galfer Tsunami pads and calipers. Watch out Ducati Hypermotard, we just found something to replace you with in our dreams.
Source: X Offroad
With the Senate squashing the Detroit bailout loan last night, tougher economic times are surely ahead for us, not only in the States, but also abroad. Last week Honda announced that it was pulling out of Formula1 racing because of the extraordinary costs and tight fiscal situations. Could the same happen in MotoGP? Find out after the jump.
J.D. Power and Associates has just released a report that details some of the major reasons why motorcycle buyers purchase one bike over another. After talking to over 3000 customers in September and October, the report outlines four major factors for purchasing desiions, namely: why a buyer bought from one brand rather than another. The short answer is: The Dealer, the long answer is after the jump.
If proposed legislation goes through, European motorcycles are about to double in price because of increased tariffs. The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) is already fighting the proposed tariff by writing to the Office of the U.S. trade Representative.
The proposed tariff would place a 100% duty on more than 100 European goods, including smaller capacity motorcycles with an engine size in the 51cc-250cc and 251cc-500cc range. This act comes in response to the European Union’s ban on American beef treated with growth hormones.
While this won’t affect larger displacement bikes like the Ducati Monster 1100, KTM RC8, or Aprilia RSV4, it will adversely affect almost all European dirt bikes and scooters. Like Vespas weren’t overpriced already.