Everything is relative . Relatively speaking , Führer Putin is having his ass handed to him by Ukraine and , relatively speaking , Harley ' s Q1 Fiscals weren ' t so bad . They were relatively okay-ish , way better than they might have been , but being held back by events way above the motorcycle industry ' s pay grade . The underlying trend shows Harley with wind in its sails , and with any semblance of a global return to sanity , then relative to the ' macros ', I think it ' d be seen to actually be doing quite well . Certainly , that fickle bellwether of the stock price isn ' t showing a panic attack on Harley shares , maybe mild stress response at most . One of the few bright spots in a market in a tempestuous sea of uncertainty . Relatively speaking , it has been an interesting month for news - assuming you can look beyond the destruction of democracy and all that we hold dear . For obvious reasons , the LiveWire ' Del Mar ' soft launch got my attention . This is the first ' S2 ' Arrow platform iteration and the approach that Harley / LiveWire is taking has good thinking stamped all over it . The long gestation period between announcement and showroom ( neither the limited production Launch Edition nor the volume production model will appear until the spring of 2023 ) is proving to be a not uncommon feature of the EV industry - two and four wheels . Indeed , BRP recently confirmed the long-expected comeback to the motorcycle market for the Can Am brand with a proposed range of electrics ( see AMD May ) that won ' t be in showrooms until 2024 . However , with rumors about a delay in the LiveWire SPAC NYSE float perhaps having more horsepower than I initially thought , maybe there is an element of " jam tomorrow Dear Investor , please last the course with us " about Harley ' s play - and if so , then it is not a bad move , given that the present market instability could stretch well into the future . It certainly does look like the war between Ukraine and Russia has got a way to go yet - unless NATO does decide to pull the splinters out of its arse and get down of its fence . Well done Finland for swallowing the difficult decision to abandon its time-honored neutrality , and looks like Sweden is going to do the same . Well done Vlad , you fascist dimwit ! ' In other News ' ( as the saying goes ), the cancelation of the planned IMS series for 2022 is a disappointment . For me it smacks of a familiar syndrome in the powersports industry - a major corporation ( this time British !) having an unrealistic P / E ratio baked into its own investor expectations and , frankly , not understanding what it is they bought or how to nurture it . The loss of the series robs us all ( including the MIC and its outreach programs ) of something that - given the attendance and test ride reports from 2021 - should and could have been profitably invested in and have been built into a viable and valuable platform . From what I can gather , there was nothing wrong with the yearone IMS Outdoors experience that couldn ' t have been improved with a bit of creativity and lateral thinking . The news that Yamaha , Suzuki and , eventually , Kawasaki and Honda are to step up their collaboration in pursuit of hydrogen power for PTWs is something I ' ve been

hoping to see for a long time . Indeed , there is also an uptick of mainstream and financial media ' noise ' about the viability of pump-ready low carbon ICE synth-gas in-play . The 3D printed trellis frame from Spain is worth a read , as is the resurfacing of rumors about the H-D ' Bronx '; and there is news about new ownership for Mustang Seats in the latest stage of the great MAG ' unwind '. However , it is the news about ' Reload Land ' - a new moto-culture meets urban mobility electric PTW ( Powered Two-Wheeler ) fest planned for Berlin , Germany , this summer - that really floats my boat this month . Very sensibly , the organizers are being relatively modest in their forecasts for their event - it is always better to manage expectations and over-deliver to create momentum . ' Reload Land ' is positioned as a very different approach to future transport than that being taken at some of the major Expo Centers . It is grass roots and authentic rather than corporate big picture - and for that exact reason it , actually , ' feels ' like it could well be a very convincing ' bigger picture ' insight into how the electrification of motorcycling could ( and maybe should ) evolve . It will become evident soon enough whether or not there is room for both approaches to succeed at this still early stage - the grassroots and the corporatist approaches - but make no mistake , there certainly is a need for them both to do so , and there is a symbiotic relationship between the two approaches that requires them both to exist . Another necessary next step is a near-simultaneous need for emergence of a convincing crop of ( no doubt online ) grassroots motorcycle electrification media to complement the shows . There are some broad-based electrification outlets already , principally in America - such as Electrek - and some of the traditionally ICE based custom blogs are paying attention , but regardless of the changes at play , the fundamentals of communication have remained unchanged in 6,000 years - even if they look , feel and work differently with each passing generation . As a publishing ' lifer ', if I were 20 years younger , I ' d be all over it ! In show terms too . This is another reason why the market ( especially the OEM community ) could come to regret the passing of the IMS Outdoors concept . It is to be hoped that others who are skirting the area , such as the Comoto Get On ! Moto Fest series , and other precisely targeted streams such as the Electrify Expo series , are able to build platforms that can convincingly speak ' new gen '. Relative to other event projects we are seeing in Europe in particular at this time , this is one of several reasons why the new ' Reload Land ' project could well turn out to be informative and influencer in equal measure .

Robin Bradley

Co-owner / Editor-in-Chief robin @ dealer-world . com

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4 AFTERMARKET MOTO DESIGN - JUNE 2022 www . AMDchampionship . com