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After ADV events in Norway ( 2017 ) and South Africa ( 2019 ), Honda Motor Europe has postponed the 2021 edition of the Honda Adventure Roads experience that was slated for 30 CRF1100L Africa Twin riders for Iceland this year - new dates for 2022 are June 24 to July 4 . With BMW hoping to take GS Adventure riders to Albania this summer , and KTM planning to tear up Western Greece , it will be interesting to see if Harley plays the " us too " game for such an undertaking in the future now that it hopes to be a player in the ADV space .
Daytona was Green this year as the Monster Energy Kawasaki team took a third consecutive sweep in round 9 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross , an FIM World Championship . Staged at the Daytona International Speedway , Kawasaki riders took the sweep in both classes - with Eli Tomac capturing a record-tying fifth victory at Daytona Supercross .
Last year saw Airoh helmet equipped riders win eight world titles , taking the Italian brand past the century of World Titles mark to 103 championships in just 23 years - its first coming in 2005 when the then emerging talent of Antonio Cairoli won the MX2 title . Airoh still makes it a company policy to seek out and back younger , promising talent as well as established champions .
The advantages of hydrogen as an alternate fuel have been well understood for decades . The prohibitive issues have remained the expensive , energy intensive production at anything short of huge scale and its subsequent storage under very , very high pressure . Now a German research team at the Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials ( IFAM ) in Dresden has come up with a product it is calling ' PowerPaste ' that acts as a hydrogen storage medium - it sounds like a paste , it looks like a paste , it is a paste ! The researchers claim that it would be an excellent emissions elimination solution for motorcycles and scooters .
Valencia , Spain headquartered Spanish parts , accessory , gear and apparel chain store operator Máximo-Moto is to open its first outlet in the United Kingdom .
' High-End ' redefined ?
In the hands of Frenchman Thierry Henriette since 2014 , the legendary Brough Superior brand has been lovingly and expensively curated to reinvent the concept of exclusive ' high-end ' motorcycles for the 21st century with a series of handcrafted models as an homage to the original Brough Superiors - the first motorcycles capable of over 100 mph . After relaunching Lawrence of Arabia ' s legendary S . S . 100 and collaborating with Aston Martin to create the only existing bike to carry the luxury car maker ' s brand , Brough Superior decided to take it up a level with the ' Lawrence '. Handbuilt with the best available materials - titanium , carbon fibre , aluminium - the ' Lawrence ' leveraged the strong local aerospace industry supply chain the company has nurtured near its Toulouse , France headquarters . The ' Lawrence ' would have made its debut at EICMA in November 2020 if the show had been able to go ahead , but is now ready to be released to the public this month . Forever associated with the original Brough Superior brand , Lawrence of Arabia - aka Thomas Edward Lawrence or T . E . Shaw when he enrolled in the British Royal Air Force - famously owned seven Brough Superiors - indeed he lost his life on one in 1935 in the country lanes near his home in rural Dorset , England . " This new model represents a milestone for Brough Superior . Inspired by the mechanical architecture of the S . S . 100 , the ' Lawrence ' has unique curves that were only possible by using carbon fibre . The frame is in titanium , and its fork is a ' Fior ' type - an aluminium casting fork with twinarticulated triangular titanium links and preload and rebound adjustable monoshock . There is 24.6 degrees of head angle / trail with 108.3 mm trail via 37.1 mm of fork offset . The gearbox is 6-speed with a hydraulic multiplate oil-bath clutch . The 997 cc water-cooled 102 bhp / 87 Nm ( 64 ft-lb ) torque Euro 4 engine has been entirely developed in-house at Brough Superior - it is a DOHC 88 ° four-stroke V-twin with four valves per cylinder and a composite chain / gear cam drive ; the compression ratio is 11:1 ; it has electronic fuel injection with Synerject ECU and 2 x 50 mm Synerject throttle bodies , each with a single injector . The rear suspension features a cast aluminium swingarm pivoting from the engine crankcases , with a monoshock adjustable for preload and rebound with a progressive rate link that gives 130 mm travel . The brakes are made in France by Beringer ; it has 7-spoke machined aluminium 19 " front and 17 " rear wheels and weighs in at 200 kg ( 410 lbs ). Only 188 of these special editions will be produced - the number recalling 1888 , the year of Lawrence ' s birth . The price ? Well , actually , as handcrafted limited edition luxury top-end specials go , it isn ' t the six figures plus one might have expected at a mere € 66,000 .
Honda - Q3 and nine months to December 2020
For the third quarter and first nine months of its current financial year ( the period to December 31st , 2020 ), Honda has reported motorcycle sales revenue down by 39.3bn yen at 490.8bn for the period . " Although sales are recovering in many countries , sales revenue experienced a year-on-year decrease due primarily to decreased sales , mainly in Asia ." However , its segment operating profit was only down by 1.8bn yen at 72.7bn as a result of " cost reduction efforts and control of SG & A expenses ( Sales and General Administration ) - this was despite a decrease in profit related to changes in sales volume and model mix ". Total Honda Group motorcycle unit sales were 4.269 million units for Q3 ( from 5.019 million in the year-ago quarter ); consolidated total unit sales were 3.019 million ( down modestly from 3.190 million units in Q3 2019 ). For the ninemonth period , Honda Group motorcycle unit sales were 10.591 million units ( -29.6 % from 15.038 million units for the year-ago period ), with Asia responsible for around a third of that decline . Group motorcycle unit sales in Europe were 159,000 units for the nine-month period , down by some 27,000 units from the 186,000 sold in the first nine months of 2019 . North American sales were 240,000 units ( up from 221,000 in 2019 ); domestic Japanese unit sales were also up by 1,000 units at 155,000 for the nine-month period . Honda ' s largest market in Asia remains India , where sales were 2,643,000 units , some two thirds of the 2019 period . Total global consolidated unit sales were 7.263 million for the
32-year-old Argentinian Kevin Benavides claimed his first Dakar Rally win in January on his CRF450 RALLY factory bike , with 2020 winner Ricky Brabec ( USA ) second - giving Honda its first 1-2 victory since 1987 , and its second successive win in the deserts of Saudi Arabia . 2021 marked the 43rd edition of the Dakar Rally , which was first held in 1979 ( then known as the Paris-Dakar Rally ). Honda first competed in the Dakar in 1981 , scoring its first win in 1986 ( the first of four consecutive wins ) with the NXR750 . The company left Dakar competition in 1990 and returned in 2013 ( when the Dakar was held in South America ) with the CRF450 RALLY . * Benavides did not compete in 2017 due to injury . He was second overall in 2018 , fifth in 2019 and 19th in 2020 .
nine-month period ( from 9.732 million for the year-ago period ). For the nine-month period , motorcycle segment sales revenue was 1,258,173m yen for a segment profit of 152,379m yen .
20 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - APRIL / MAY 2021 www . idnmag . com