Harley Davidson is in the final stages of deciding whether to restructure the York, PA production facility for greater efficiency or move those operations to another location in the United States. The decision is now down to just two options, stay in York or move to Shelbyville, Kentucky. The company had previously announced 4 potential alternatives to York, but yesterday announced only Shelbyville remained on the list.
Company representatives met this week with Kentucky officials to further explore plans and options. At the same time, Harley-Davidson management said that a joint union-management task force has developed a plan to restructure the York operations that provides a “viable path to competitiveness,” pending the ratification of a new contract that aligns with restructured operations.
A decision is expected by the end of the year.
Link: Business Journal
Boeing T-50 jet turbine powered Honda Magna
Maybe you aren't Jay Leno and you can't afford a Y2K Turbine motorcycle, but you have this crazy desire to listen to the whine and smell the burning Jet A or diesel fuel while you're cruising down the road, ... well, here's your answer. This is a Boeing T-50 jet turbine powered Honda Magna. It's for sale on eBay and he's asking $7000.
The T-50 has 300 pounds of thrust, 400 with the afterburner. The motorcycle is thrust driven but can be converted to wheel driven. The builder seems to be the real deal, he previously built a turbine powered Porsche 928, I'm guessing he spends a lot of quality time out in the garage.
This Honda is a lot cheaper than the Y2K and probably a lot faster than the pulsejet bicycle. Just be careful what's behind you when you spin it up.
Thanks for the tip, Nicolas!
Link: Jet powered Honda
Related: Y2K turbine motorcycle
Boeing T-50 Jet Turbine Powered Honda Magna
Uno electric motorcycle - in single track mode
Remember the Uno? That's the parallel wheel unicycle (dicycle?) built by Canadian, Ben J. Poss Gulak. The young student, now an MIT sophomore, found riding the original a little scary once he began to pick up speed. Like a Segway, the Uno moved forward when he leaned forward, but, though it worked, he knew he would have to do something different if he was going to get others interested in riding on the potholed city streets where it was intended to be used.
The original garnered a lot of attention, and as the video below shows, he was able to round up $1 million in investments and found BPG Motors. Hiring some engineers and renting space to work, the team came up with a radical idea, when the Uno accelerates past 20 mph, electric motors transform the frame from the parallel configuration to inline mode with the wheels on a single track. No more worries about taking a dive if you hit a bump in the road.
The video below is his bid for financing on what appears to be a TV program called the Dragon's Den where entrepreneurs pitch their idea in return for investment capital.
No matter what you think about how practical the Uno is or will be, Ben designed it, built it and went on to create a company and then this new transforming variation of the original. Ben is definitely a "doer." Very cool!
Link: BPG Motors via Popular Science
Related: The Uno - Parallel Wheel Electric Motorcycle
Photo and video below: [click to continue…]
Royal Enfield expands production of the Bullet Classic
Not every motorcycle company is slowing down, Royal Enfield is set to invest almost $14 million dollars to expand manufacturing capacity in their Chennai plant, raising capacity from the current 50,000 units a year to 100,000.
The company, which currently sells between 4,500 and 5,000 motorcycles a month, expects to sell 50,000 motorcycles in 2009, Mr. Lal said.
"From 5% of our total sales now, we see overseas sales growing to 15% in the next four-five years," said Mr. Lal, who is also managing director of Eicher Motors.
Royal Enfield has exported 1,700 motorcycles between January and September 2009.
The company launched a new 500cc Royal Enfield Classic C5 this year which is available in the U.S. and also offers a 350cc Classic in overseas markets.
Link: Wall Street Journal [subscription required]
A recent study indicates 30 percent of the population has a genetic variant that may contribute to bad driving. Bummer, I guess if you have it, you’re doomed to accidents and tickets for the rest of your life. Don't become a rider or racer, you can't possibly hit the big time so learn the bus routes and take up golf, ...
People with a particular gene variant performed more than 20 percent worse on a driving test than people without it - and a follow-up test a few days later yielded similar results.
They were asked to drive 15 laps on a simulator that required them to learn the nuances of a track programmed to have difficult curves and turns. Researchers recorded how well they stayed on the course over time. Four days later, the test was repeated.
Results showed that people with the variant did worse on both tests than the other participants, and they remembered less the second time.
Hmm, ... let's think about that.
Studies like these bother me because of the conclusions people draw from the data. A study, like the one above, indicating a genetic cause of less potential for performing well at a task like driving can be misinterpreted even if the findings are accurate because life is not a controlled experiment. Life is messy, challenging and unpredictable.
Even in the case of a simple task like driving, the difference in performance between two individuals outside the lab is more often related to attitude, desire, commitment and good old fashioned hard work than it is to some preexisting potential. Potentials are not absolutes; low potential does not preordain failure nor does high potential guarantee success. Really wanting to be a better driver can influence how much effort you put into it while others may not care. [click to continue…]
You already know about the Roehr 1250sc, an American sport bike with a 180 horsepower 1250cc supercharged Harley Davidson Revolution engine. We've covered it here many times. The bike is for sale new at about $45k, but, here's something you may not know, there's a demo available for sale.
This particular bike has only 2600 miles and it's available right now at $19,995! That's a little discount of about, oh, let's see, ... $25,000.
Quite a few folks think the Roehr is a spectacular bike but at $45k, a little out of reach. Here's your chance to park one in your garage for less than you might pay for a full dress Harley. No one else on your block will have one, but, as you would expect, there's only one demo available. Of course, let's face it, this bike is not for everyone, but if you already wanted a Roehr, just not at full price, you may want to jump over to eBay and snag it.
Link: Roehr 1250sc demo
Andreas Georgeades and his Honda CBX V12
Building a V12 from a pair of Honda CBX engines would be quite an accomplishment if it was the only motorcycle project a builder ever did, unlikely of course, but by itself it would stand alone quite well. Andreas Georgeades' most recent project is exactly that, the bike shown here, but "most recent" are the key words. He's been doing things with motorcycles his entire life, starting out as a racer but quickly becoming a builder with some very unusual and creative skills.
Andreas Georgeades V12 CBX
Andreas, a former motorcycle racer from South Africa who raced his Matchless 500 at the Isle of Man in 1964 and 500cc GP racing in Europe, he also raced in Canada and the US. He also raced and won in Canada with a bike powered by a Honda 600 auto engine, a water cooled engine converted to air cooling by removing the water jacket and adding cooling fins!
This CBX V12 came to my attention over a year ago but there didn't seem to be many photos available, probably because the project was ongoing and still incomplete for so long, then Doug sent me a link to these photos which show quite a bit of the build of the now complete bike, and it's truly impressive. [click to continue…]
Harley Davidson continues to tighten its belt adjusting to financial pressures. Harley is closing the test facility in Talladega, Alabama, eliminating about 100 jobs. Plans call for consolidating test operations from Talladega, Naples, Fla., and Mesa, Ariz. to the Arizona Proving Grounds in Yucca, Ariz.
Harley Davidson also announced that they would be outsourcing non-core operations like small-parts stamping, sub-assembly and chrome plating, at the York, PA facility whether they decide to keep the facility open or not. Assembly, metal fabrication and painting would stay.
Right on the heels of the Buell announcement, these new actions show the Motor Company is aggressively cutting costs wherever it can. It will be interesting to see how many more cost cutting measures will be necessary before sales alone can keep the company afloat.
Link: Miami Herald
Link: York Daily Record
Kickboxer Subaru WRX Powered Motorcycle Concept
