From the category archives:

Motorcycle Business

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 [...]

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Royal Enfield Plans to Double Production Capacity

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 11/4/2009

in Motorcycle Business

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, [...]

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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 [...]

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There’s a strong contingent of riders always asking the same questions, “Why build every new motorcycle with a big engine? Why not build something smaller, affordable and light that still looks cool? We want a real motorcycle, not a scooter.” OK, check out the Vento 400 Cafe GT from PTS Motors. If you think a [...]

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Buell Supporters Trying to Save the Company

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 10/21/2009

in American Motorcycles, Motorcycle Business

Both, Buell riders and a potential investment group are asking Harley Davidson to at least sell the brand rather than shut it down completely. Walworth County officials are trying to get a group of buyers together, contacting a group in Chicago and another in Minneapolis. They have received no reply from Erik Buell to their [...]

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Harley Davidson’s earnings just came in and third-quarter net income dropped 84%. But this jumped out at me:
The company plans to discontinue its Buell product line and sell its MV Agusta unit, essentially exiting the sport bike market.
“The fact is we must focus both our effort and our investment on the Harley-Davidson brand, as we [...]

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2010 Honda VFR1200F

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 10/8/2009

in Motorcycle Business, Motorcycle Technology

After all of the teasers, patent drawings and spy shots, Honda has finally introduced their new high tech 2010 VFR1200F. Power comes from a 1237cc liquid-cooled 76-degree V-4, Throttle By Wire, Unicam® valvetrain, optional Dual Clutch Automatic Transmission with manual mode and automatic mode with two D/S modes and paddle-style shifters, Honda slipper clutch in [...]

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2010 Kawasaki Concours 14

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 10/6/2009

in Motorcycle Business

Kawasaki unwrapped their new 2010 Concours and it’s obvious they haven’t ignored this super sport touring machine since the new version appeared in 2008. With a couple of years and many thousands of miles, they refined the bike to reflect feedback from riders and added some extra technology, too.
The bodywork has been changed a bit [...]

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