NEWS
BRIEFS
BRP has announced it is to build a new North American HQ at Plano, Texas. The move is designed to situate them“ closer and better connected to our largest market,” according to BRP GM Sandy Scullion.
Windy City Motorcycle Company is set to open its 15th dealership – Windy City Harley-Davidson at Rosemont, Illinois.
Ducati will stage its biennial‘ World Ducati Week’ at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from July 20-22, 2018.
With it widely expected( indeed hoped) that the remaining 83 new bike models to be launched by Harley in the next nine years will include Off- Road and / or Adventure Tourer platforms, it might be timely for Harley to look again at what ATK Motorcycles, the USA’ s only off-road motorcycle brand, could bring to the party?
Motorcycle Industry Council Government Relations staff met with Department of Agriculture and U. S. Forest Service officials in November to highlight the importance of OHV recreation in national forests. The MIC says it urged department officials to prioritize recreational access, stating that OHV recreation in national forests is vital to the industry and that it is a local and national economic engine.
Metzeler has introduced a new 18 ″ tire for classic racers. With rim sizes of classics often outside the sizing parameters of modern stickies, they now offer the Racetec RR DOT range K1( softest) compound in 110 / 80- ZR18( 58W) front, and 150 / 65-ZR18( 69W) and 160 / 60- ZR18( 70W) rears.
The reported death of Bimota may have been exaggerated. Originally created by Valerio Bianchi( BI), Giuseppe Morri( MO) and Massimo Tamburini( TA), there can never have been a motorcycle brand whose potency has seen it survive so many near death experiences. The latest came in the form of an article that appeared in Cycle World in the United States that the Rimini based“ boutique” high- performance marque vehemently denies. There is no secret that relocation( s) and the recent state of the market have made it tough for Bimota, but the Last Rites may still be a tad premature.
Lowbrow Customs founder recaptures Land Speed Record
Tyler Malinky, founder and CEO of Lowbrow Customs, has successfully reclaimed a land speed record on his 1955 Triumph motorcycle. Starting his land speed racing career in 2010, he has set record speeds in five different classes, including the A-VG 750 record back in 2011.“ It feels great to set a goal and then accomplish it, especially when that goal is difficult to achieve, such as a land speed record,” said Malinky. The new record is 124.593 mph on his 1955 Triumph, which was originally only 33 horsepower at the crankshaft. Malinky’ s custom-built race bike‘ Poison Ivy’ touts almost double the power and torque of the original.“ Going fast is fun no matter what, but taking something slow and making it go faster than it should is what I enjoy,” said Malinky,“ especially when I built it in my home garage out of swap meet junk, tubing and sheet metal.” The prior record, just over 1 mph slower, was set at Bonneville Speed Week in 2016 by the Cheetah race team out of Switzerland on a 1950s Triumph motorcycle with a speed of 123.534 mph. They had increased the record from the 117.108 mph speed set on‘ Poison Ivy’ by Malinky back in 2011.“ We’ ll be back on the Salt in 2018 with‘ Poison Ivy’ to bump up the speeds on this new gas record and try and take the fuel record as well,” said Malinky, not missing a beat,“ the real competition is between myself, my bike and the salt flats. The trouble with speed is that once you get going, you always want more.”
www. lowbrowcustoms. com
W & W:“ Go Fast, Go West” for 2018
The W & W Cycles catalog is always a highlight from the Würzburg, Germany based distributor, and never short of adventurous spirit and creativity, this year said that“ our 2018 motto is‘ Go West!’ Our constant urge to go riding and explore new roads saw Paul and our 1915 Model 11F undertaking an epic jaunt across the USA with the Motorcycle Cannonball.“ We shipped two specially built bikes, a Pan and a Knucklehead, to the States, to follow in the tracks of steam trains, wagon trails and wild horses in the wide-open spaces of North America.“ Wrenching on your Harley is the last frontier of motorcycle tuning and customizing, and our all-new 2018 catalog shows the trail to endless horizons of boss hardware to turn your hoss into
the best Harley the world has ever seen.“ With more than 1,100 pages, featuring over 20,000 broncin’ parts, we rounded up herds of pictures from the old times and everything but the beans for maintenance, restoration,
customizing, tuning and hopping up your ride, plus some stylish apparel for when yer riding to town.” www. wwag. com
14 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER- DECEMBER 2017 www. AMDchampionship. com