American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 227 June 2018 | Page 20

NEWS
BRIEFS
Fast Bike Industries of Hendersonville,
North Carolina, U.S. importer for
Italian suspension specialist Andreani
Group, has also take on the British
made Nitron range of shock absorbers
and front suspension cartridge kits.
The company says it currently sells to
over 170 powersports industry dealers
nationally.
Although the number of overall
road deaths in Germany fell in
2017 (-0.9 percent, 3,206),
motorcyclist deaths rose by +8.6
percent over 2016 (689).
BMW has been awarded the 2018
JEC Innovation Award in the Leisure
and Sports category for the
development and manufacture of a
carbon fiber rear swingarm (as used
on its HP4 race bike). Established in
1996, the JEC Group is described as
“the world’s leading specialist
organization for the development,
manufacture and processing of
composite materials”.
Following news that it had
moved its U.S. headquarters to
Plano, Texas, Canadian BRP,
maker of Sea-Doo watercraft
and Ski-Doo snowmobiles, is
reported to be poised to spend
some $385 million on
acquisitions to expand its
product line-up. Group sales in
2017 are reported at $3.4 bn,
and CEO Jose Boisjoli is
targeting growth to $4.6 bn by
2020.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission’s (CPSC) 2016 annual
report of “ATV-Related Deaths and
Injuries” (issued January 2018) once
again affirms the decade-long
downward trend in fatalities and
injuries related to ATVs - down -29%
for the period 2007 to 2013.
BRP has garnered six prestigious
Red Dot product design awards
for its Sea-Doo Spark Trixx PWC,
Can-Am Maverick X3 and Trail
SxS vehicles, Evinrude E-TEC 150-
200hp G2 outboard engine,
Ski-Doo snowmobile REV Gen4
platform and LinQ
snowboard/ski rack for Sk