THE BRADLEY REPORT
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THE BRADLEY REPORT
NEWS
BRIEFS
Central Banks around the world have warned bankers about failures to monitor private equity activity . A " creeping sense of complacency and lack of data " is said to be putting lenders at risk of exposure to " severe , unexpected losses ". They are failing to " properly measure how exposed they are " to the fund bonus and yielddriven private equity industry culture , the BoE has warned . Similar warnings are going unheeded in the United States and elsewhere . The amount of assets managed by private equity businesses globally has grown at a rate of about 13 % a year , rising from $ 2tn in 2012 to around $ 8tn in 2023 , with individual funds also growing exponentially ( Reuters ).
The Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials ( the AMA Land Speed Grand Championship and FIM Land Speed World Records ) are slated for August 24-29 , 2024 - weather permitting . They were called off in 2023 , 2022 and 2015 due to flooding and in 2020 due to Covid ; www . bonnevillemst . com
Electric snowmobile and PWC specialist Taiga Motors ( Montreal , Canada ; TSX : TAIG ) is expanding its footprint across Scandinavia with the delivery of additional Nomad snowmobiles to its key customers SkiStar and Motorbutiken Klövsjö . In addition , Taiga is continuing its expansion in the European market with snowmobile deliveries at French and Italian ski resorts and tour operators , " revolutionising the winter recreation industry with its sustainable and highperformance electric sleds ". Europe accounts for 20 % of the global snowmobile market .
Controlled by the Pennsylvania Avenue , Washington DC headquartered Carlyle Group , Italian motorcycle G & A group Dainese ( TCX Boots , AGV Helmets etc .) has opened its latest U . S . ' Brand Store ' in Atlanta , GA . The new Atlanta ' D-Store ' retail location offers an " extensive range of Dainese ' s cutting-edge motorcycle apparel , including leather suits , jackets , pants , gloves , boots and advanced protective gear . Carlyle acquired an 80 % stake in Dainese from Bahrain Sovereign Wealth Fund Investcorp in 2022 ; founder Leo Dainese still owns 20 % of the business . It was recently announced that Harley is to sell an AirBag Vest that incorporates Dainese ' s ' D-air ' safety technology .
Bimota returns to WorldSBK grid
By Ben Purvis
Bimota - now safely under the wing of Kawasaki and on firm financial footing for perhaps the first time in its long history - is to make a surprise return to top level racing in 2025 as it replaces Kawasaki ' s works outfit on the WSBK grid . To achieve that goal , the company needs to launch and start to manufacturer a brand new 1,000 cc road-going Superbike , which will be powered by Kawasaki ' s ZX- 10RR engine and launched in the second half of 2024 . Kawasaki might have enjoyed plenty of success in WSBK in recent years , but Bimota ' s ties to the series date back to the dawn of the championship in 1988 , when Davide Tardozzi came oh so close to claiming the first WSB title on his works Bimota YB4 . He won more races than any other rider that year , but was just beaten to the title by Honda-mounted Fred Merkel . Bimota continued in WSBK until
KRT Team Manager Guim Roda
1992 and returned in 2000 to gain a remarkable race win at Phillip Island with Anthony Gobert on the Suzuki-powered SB8K - a machine that was utterly outclassed by rivals in a season that , for Bimota , was cut short by bankruptcy . A revived Bimota tried again in WSBK in 2014 with the BMW-engined BB3 , but was disqualified for failing to meet minimum production requirements . They won ' t have those sorts of problems this time , with
Kawasaki providing the engines , the financial muscle and the race team itself . To comply with the rules , Bimota needs to manufacture a road-going Superbike around the ZX-10RR ' s engine , potentially to be called the KB5 , and to manufacture a minimum of 125 examples by the time of the FIM ' s homologation inspection at the start of the next race season , rising to 250 by the end of next year , with at least 250 more to be made in 2026 . Those numbers are big for Bimota , but tiny in Kawasaki ' s eyes , and perhaps reflect the direction of the market for road-going Superbikes . While European brands like Ducati and BMW are enjoying sales success with the Panigale V4 and M1000RR , Japanese companies have been struggling to find customers for their 1,000 cc Superbikes in recent years . Suzuki has already withdrawn the GSX-R1000 from European markets and is doing the same
in Japan at the end of this year , and Yamaha is believed to have decided not to upgrade the YZF- R1 to Euro 5 + emissions rules that are required in Europe from the start of 2025 . By outsourcing its Superbike responsibilities to Bimota , Kawasaki can get the cachet and exclusive appeal of a European brand to stay on the Superbike scene without having to update its own ZX-10RR . A Bimota will also be able to command higher prices than a
Bimota KB4
Kawasaki-branded Superbike , making it easier for the project to bank a profit , although it will have to abide by the € 44,000 price cap for machines homologated to run in WSBK . KRT Team Manager , Guim Roda , said : " In the past 13 years , myself and all of those at the KRT workshop in Granollers have dedicated ourselves wholeheartedly to the Kawasaki Superbike project and garnered seven WorldSBK rider titles in that time , plus numerous team and manufacturer awards . " Now - after Kawasaki competed for nearly four decades in the Superbike championship - we are proud to be part of a new era , forming the infrastructure of the new Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team . For sure we will spare some time to reflect on and celebrate the heritage of Kawasaki in Superbike racing , but we are also extremely excited to be a core component of this new Bimota and Kawasaki joint venture . " This is an evolution for Kawasaki ' s approach to the top level of production racing and we are honoured to play our role in this new project . I am confident we have the technology and human resources necessary to succeed and it will be a fresh , energising experience fielding an impressive two rider team in the 2025 Motul FIM WorldSBK Championship ."
20 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - JULY / AUGUST 2024 www . idnmag . com