AMD 252 July 2020 American Motorcycle Dealer 252 July 2020 | Page 22

NEWS
BRIEFS
Slamtail Appoints
Thunderbike and Trijya
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news
After temporarily shutting
down during the COVID-19
pandemic, GenZe - the only
domestic USA made sit-on
electric scooter maker - is
closing permanently. Owned by
Mahindra & Mahindra (of Roxor
UTV, BSA, Jawa and Peugeot
Motorcycles fame), the Indian
conglomerate is "in the process
of liquidating GenZe's assets
after deciding to close a
number of its unprofitable
subsidiaries." GenZe will
reportedly be completely
dissolved in the next six
months. The GenZe was a fullsized
seated electric scooter
with a large rear trunk.
Harley brakes maker Brembo (Italy)
has posted Q1 revenues of financial
results for the first quarter of 2020
with revenues down by -13.7% at
€575.9m (approx.. $250m), EBITDA
at 17.7% and net profit of €29.8m
($33m). The company has suspended
dividends and says it is will explore
M&As as a route to long-term
growth.
MX Sports Pro Racing has
confirmed that the opening two
rounds of the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro
Motocross Championship,
sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing,
will be permitted to allow
spectator attendance. The
season opening Circle K
Ironman National will be held in
Crawfordsville, Indiana's
Ironman Raceway on July 18,
followed by the WW Ranch
National from Jacksonville,
Florida's WW Motocross Park on
July 25.
The Juice Charger 2 is described as
the world's first wall box electric
vehicle charger with
contactless credit
card payment
capability.
Manufactured in
Switzerland by Juice
Technology AG, it is
described as an
"intelligent 22 kW
wall box, now
offering the option
of payment by credit
card, ApplePay or
GooglePay. The smart wall charging
station makes identification,
activation, control and payment
simple thanks to integral NFC and
RFID readers."
Australian suspension specialist
Slamtail has appointed distributors for
Europe and Japan for its M-8
monoshock Softail rear suspension
lowering system.
In Europe, the company will be
represented by Thunderbike in
Germany, believed to be Europe's
largest authorized Harley-Davidson
dealer by volume and one of the
European V-twin industry's most
prolific custom bike builders and parts
and accessory designers.
ST5 'Slamtail' mono shock assembly
Vice-mounted spring compressor
assembly for 'Slamtail' fitment, or
any work required on the
M-8 Softail mono shock assembly
Founded, owned and still operated by
Andreas Bergerforth, a one-time AMD
World Championship of Custom Bike
Building winner (in 2012 with
'PainTTless', a thinking man's
Ironhead Sportster), Thunderbike will
have the monoshock Slamtail
available from inventory for dealers
throughout Europe.
In Japan, the Slamtail will be available
from respected Osaka based custom
motorcycle engineer and
parts/accessory importer and
distributor Trijya Custom Motorcycles.
We first saw Slamtail in AMD in 2015
with an all-new rear suspension
lowering system for Twin Cam Softail
Harley-Davidson motorcycles from
1999. As an alternative to the
conventional "airbag" type kits in
which 'Hydraulic Rams' are used, the
Twin Cam Slamtail reused Harley's
OEM spring and shock units, rather
than scrapping them, therefore
offering better value, with the original
ride quality retained and no change to
damping and spring rates - the
brainchild of ex-Formula 1 senior
suspension design engineer Ken
Rutherford (who numbers the
Benetton F1 team among his
impressive credentials).
Last year Ken stepped it up with a new
design for the monoshock Softails -
wide and standard frames. With the
system fully raised, the ride quality and
suspension travel is the same as the
OEM original, and the system re-uses
the OEM Showa shock unit, replacing
the OEM coil spring with a bespoke
high-stress steel tapered wire coil
spring with a progressive rate.
The Slamtail-equipped bike can be
ridden at any height whilst still
retaining the stock ride comfort. The
new system lowers the ride from stock
height to an absolute minimum, with
supplied polyurethane bump-stop
installed. An additional 10 mm of
preload adjustment is available for
specific rider/pillion demands.
The ride height of the new Slamtail
monoshock Softail upgrade can be
controlled via a key fob or cylinder
head-mounted onboard toggle
switch. The standard kit includes the
hydraulic power unit, monoshock
hydraulic ram, onboard toggle switch,
two remote control key fobs, new
polyurethane bump-stop (to replace
the OEM bump-stop) and a ‘C’
spanner for manual static coil spring
preload adjustment.
A new side stand mounting clevis is
also included in the standard Slamtail
kit, for use with any aftermarket
lowered M-8 Softail (including all air
systems). It replaces the OEM side
stand clevis and allows the bike to be
safely lowered without falling over.
Optional kit extras include handlebarmounted
key fob bracket and dummy
preload adjuster knob to replace the
original preload adjuster knob, filling
the hole left in the RHS side cover.
www.slamtail.com
www.thunderbike.de
www.trijya.com
Softail shown at maximum lowered
height - the mechanical limit on the
replacement polyurethane bumpstop
'Slamtail' mono shock ram
shown at lowest height
ST5 mono shock system
handlebar-mounted key-fob
Side stand mounting clevis
for lowered suspension
Power unit installed behind
transmission
22 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JULY 2020 www.AMDchampionship.com