Apparently, the American motto of “bigger is better” has struck a chord with someone in China, of all places. This giant beast of a motorcycle measures over 14 feet long and almost eight feet tall, and was built by a Chinese sewage plant worker in his spare time. Continue Reading »
Friday morning, May 24, Suzuki will be unveiling a few new models. Details beyond that are slim, but Suzuki has sent us a teaser rendering of one of the models, shown above. The image isn’t very large at all, but judging by the headlight shape, we’re guessing it’ll be part of the M line of cruisers.
Suzuki reported an operating loss of 11.9 billion yen (US$117.1 million) from its motorcycle business for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2013. The loss stems from a 10.7% decrease in motorcycles sales and a 9.6% decline in motorcycle revenue from its 2012-2013 fiscal year.
According to Suzuki‘s year-end report, motorcycles accounted for 230.3 billion yen in sales revenue, down 254.8 billion yen reported the previous year. The drop in sales contributed to the 11.9 billion yen operating loss, compared to a loss of 2.4 billion yen reported in the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
Suzuki sold 2.312 million motorcycles in its fiscal year, a year-on-year decrease of 10.7% from 2.589 million motorcycles. North American sales were down 8.6%, decreasing to 44,000 units from 49,000 units the previous year.Sales were also down 8.6% in Asia, 3.0% in Japan and 28.7% in Europe where the overall economy continues to struggle. Continue Reading »
Saturday, May 4 marked the 5th annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering in Carmel, California. With such a diverse collection of historical, rare and outrageous motorcycles, the Quail is an event we thoroughly enjoyed attending last year. To commemorate the occasion, this year’s guest of honor was none other than three-time 500cc Grand Prix world champion, and local area resident, Wayne Rainey. Continue Reading »
American motocross pioneer, race team manager and motorcycle industry executive Mark Blackwell is getting another honor: being recognized as an AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Legend. Blackwell, who was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2000, will be feted alongside the 2013 induction class during AMA Legends Weekend, Oct. 18-19 at the Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa and Casino in Las Vegas.
Blackwell will be honored alongside Torsten Hallman, another member of the of 2000 class, who will be recognized as a Legend for helping introduce motocross to America and for founding gear maker Thor. Like Hallman, Blackwell excelled at several different facets of the motorcycle industry.
As a racer, Blackwell was one of America’s first motocross racing stars, competing in the late ’60s and early ’70s. In 1970, Blackwell was hired to ride for Husqvarna and traveled to Sweden to train with the factory riders. He came back to the U.S. the following year and raced in the Trans-AMA series, winning the American class title by beating Brad Lackey by a single point. In 1972, Blackwell won the prestigious Daytona Motocross before returning to international racing in Europe. Continue Reading »
Harley-Davidson dealers outscored dealers from other brands to take the top spot in the Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Motorcycle Industry Study for the second consecutive year.
The annual study measures the effectiveness of motorcycle dealerships, rating them on how they perform in different categories, such as inviting customers to sit on a floor model, offering demo rides and asking for a customer’s contact information. The study was conducted from July 2012 to April 2013 with data collected by 2,503 hired “mystery shoppers”.
We’ve included the full scores below as well as the scores from past years. One caveat however: Pied Piper PSI has rejigged its study questions and adjusted the weighting and scoring for the 2013 study to achieve an average score of 100. This resulted in a significant scoring changes compared to last year’s study and a wider range between the highest and the lowest scores.
Former Grand Prix World Champion Kevin Schwantz has been making the headlines a lot recently, and not necessarily for good reasons. But finally there’s some good news: Schwantz is coming out of retirement to race in the 2013 Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race.
Schwantz is joining Yukio Kagayama‘s team for the July 28 race, riding a Japanese Superbike-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000. Schwantz will be Team Kagayama‘s third rider, behind Kagayama and former World Superbike star Noriyuki Haga.
The last month and a half had been a trying period for Schwantz when it should have been a positive experience with the first ever MotoGP race to be held in his home state of Texas. In a perfect world, Schwantz would have been the event’s promoter, playing the welcome host to the Grand Prix circus. Instead, Schwantz has been surrounded by controversy. Continue Reading »
Tom Sykes earned his first win of the 2013 season and came a hair short of a double victory at the World Superbike Championship round at Assen in the Netherlands.
Traditionally a fast starter and qualifier, Sykes started on the pole once again at Assen and had strong starts in both races. But unlike the first two rounds where he started strong before fading, the Kawasaki factory rider was able to remain at the front in both races at Assen and earn some valuable championship points. Continue Reading »
Monster Energy Kawasaki racer Ryan Villopoto demonstrated once again he is a the top of his sport, clinching his third-consecutive AMA Supercross championship. Villopoto cemented his title with a win in front of 43,149 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, his ninth main event victory of the season and 33rd in his career.
Though he led every lap, Villopoto didn’t have as easy a time in Salt Lake City as he has had in some races this season. He spent most of the race trailed by Rockstar Energy Suzuki‘s Davi Millsaps and Red Bull KTM‘s Ryan Dungey but withstood the pressure for the full 20 laps. Continue Reading »
Suzuki is providing 10 million yen (US$100,500) in aid to the Red Cross Society to provide support for those affected by the April 20 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province. Suzuki‘s pledge is in addition to 1 million RMB (US$161,000) donated by Chongqing Changan Suzuki Automobile Co., a Suzuki joint venture with China’s Changan Group.
The region in southwestern China was hit by a major tremor at about 8 o’clock in the morning, local time. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.6, with aftershocks registering magnitudes up to 5.1. As of this writing, the earthquake resulted in the death of 186 people. Another 11,000 people were injured and nearly two dozen in rural communities remain unaccounted for. Continue Reading »
