SHOW ZONE
Ohlins: Having bought back 95 percent of the ownership share from Yamaha in 2007, founder
Kenth Öhlin finally implemented a succession plan a year ago that saw him hand over day-to-day management of the suspension business he started at the age of 25 years old in 1976. The appointment of Henrik Johansson as CEO guarantees continuity- Johansson having been with the Swedish business for over 20 years, most recently as Deputy CEO, with an emphasis on strategic planning and management; www. ohlins. com
GIVI: Recent new products from the Italian luggage to helmets to windshields manufacturer include their S410 universal trolley base for their Monokey top cases, luggage and accessories kits for bestselling current models such as the Z1000SX, 50.5‘ Tridion’ thermoplastic I303S Bluetooth intercom- ready sport touring full face helmet, plus additions to their universal fit soft luggage ranges, including the new Ultima-T and Gravel-T( off-road) ranges; www. givi. it
United States, the industry and consumer attendance was always largely regional. In which respect, Columbus has much to commend itself as a permanent venue for the show. The organisers say that some 41 % of franchised and independent motorcycle dealers in the United States are located within a 500 mile radius of America’ s 14th largest and still fast growing city, with 50 % of the entire U. S. population also located within a 500 mile radius. Based on the results regularly seen when exhibitors and dealers are researched about their trade show venue preferences, the temptation to flirt with the western and south-western markets must be strong for the organisers. However, the further west you go in the continental U. S., historically the less inclined motorcycle
Polini Motori: The U. S. powersports industry isn’ t normally regarded as a hotbed of scooter, maxi- scooter and Vespa riding, but the market there is so huge and so diverse that there is room for all PTW tastes, and the Italian replacement and performance parts specialist does good business in a country where reliable supplies of quality scooter parts have always been an issue; www. polini. com
Pacific Powersports: Headed up by Brian Cornelius, Pacific are the United States importer and distributor of Italian designed and manufactured Falco boots, spoke wheels by Dutch specialist Haan, Australian designed Zac Speed backpacks and, seen here, the Australian designed Motoz specialty off-road tyres programme- one of the fastest growing and most respected specialty tyre lines in the industry; www. pacificpowersports. info
Matt Levatich, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, pointed to a future in which“ it’ s all about the software not the hardware, and the software is the consumers whose world is defined by their screens”
dealers are to attend trade events. Given the importance of the off-road motorcycle and wider powersports sectors to the overall market in the United States, and the fact that Adventure Tourers, ATV, UTV and SxS sales are the only growing sectors currently, it may well be that the OEs( who now largely drive show policy), will want to cater to the south-west. In which case, an alternate annual east / west cycle makes sense- maybe dropping anchor at Las Vegas for the non-Columbus years( or perhaps, better still, exploit the larger hinterland at Phoenix, Arizona). Either way, the date proximity to INTERMOT every other year is a misjudgement. If AIMExpo wants to get serious
Furygan: The Nimes, France based manufacturer says that their in-house‘ Motion Lab’ R & D facility uses state-of-the-art equipment, identical to that of the official certification laboratories, to replicate approvals tests for abrasion, cut, tear, perforation and ergonomics, allowing them to meet or exceed all current regulatory requirements; www. furygan. com
Cardo Systems: Latest products from the‘ Scala Rider’ bike communications and entertainment systems specialist include the rugged Q-solo Bluetooth communicator for solo riders, Freecom 4 and Packtalk DMC( Dynamic Mesh Communication) based Bluetooth communication systems; www. cardosystems. com
Arrow Special Parts: The Italian exhaust specialist sells its Arrow and Giannelli slip-on and full system brands through Tim Calhoun’ s California based distribution partner SpeedMob, who specialise in representing European made parts, accessory and apparel product lines in the USA; www. arrow. it, www. speedmob. com
18 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS- OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017