Kawasaki will unveil a new naked version of the Ninja 250 this month, reports TMCBlog.com. The Malaysian Indonesian blog first published a sketch back in October of a new motorcycle believed to be a new model based on the Ninjette to be called either the ER250 or the Z250. TMCBlog.com now reports Kawasaki will be announced before the end of January, quoting Freddyanto Basuki, marketing manager of Kawasaki Motor Indonesia.

The ER250 appears to be more than just a rumor, as the model codename “ER250C” popped up on an Indonesian Ministry of Industry database of motor vehicle trademarks registered by Kawasaki Motor Indonesia. The name Z250 may still be used in other markets, considering the new model reportedly has more in common with Kawasaki’s modern Z family than it does with the ER-6n.

If the sketch is accurate, the ER250 will combine styling elements from Kawasaki’s Z1000 and Z800 with the mechnical parts of the Ninja 250. The sketch shows a headlight resembling that of the Z800 but the fuel tank, tail and exhaust resemble those of the 2013 Ninja 250 and Ninja 300. Continue Reading »

Triumph will produce a 250cc twin-cylinder naked bike for the Asian market in 2014, according to the director of the brand’s Indonesian distributor.

Rudhy Siswanto, president director of PT Global Motorcycle Trading, says the new small-displacement Triumph will be produced at the company’s new factory in Narasapur, India, outside of Bangalore which is set to begin operation in 2014.

“The factory in India is focused on small engines. If it is realized, we’ll bring it in Indonesia, because of the potential and not losing competitiveness to other motors of the same same 250 cc engine capacity, ” Siswanto tells Kompas Otomotif.

Rumors of a small-displacement model have been around since Triumph announced plans to enter the Indian market in 2011. The sketch above has been floating around the Internet for nearly as long. Previous rumors had the new model equipped with a single-cylinder engine as the spiritual heir to the Triumph Tiger Cub, but Siswanto says it will actually be a Twin. Continue Reading »

Lawmakers in a town in Indonesia have put forward new legislation that would ban women from straddling motorcycles when riding pillion behind a male rider. Women in Lhokseumawe city will still be allowed to straddle a motorcycle when she is the operator, but otherwise they will have to ride sidesaddle.

Lhokseumawe is a town in Aceh, a predominantly Muslim region of Indonesia that has in recently years has been implementing strict Sharia law. Officials say the new law will protect women from provoking male riders with their body positioning.

“Women sitting on motorbikes must not sit astride because it will provoke the male driver. It’s also to protect women from an undesirable condition,” Mayor Suaidi Yahya told AFP. “It’s improper for women to sit astride. We implement Islamic law here.” Continue Reading »

Would you buy a scooter from these young Asian women wearing schoolgirl uniforms? Yamaha Indonesia hopes you would. This is JKT48, a 28-member all-girl pop group based in Jakarta, and the new spokespersons for the 115cc Yamaha Mio J scooter.

JKT48 is what they call in the East a “Idol Group”. JKT48 is actually a spin-off franchise for AKB48, one of the world’s highest-selling pop acts. That’s why JKT48 was chosen to help Yamaha market the Mio J to teenagers.

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Infront Motorsports announced it has signed a five-year contract with Indonesia’s Sentul International Circuit to host the World Superbike Championship.

Located in Babakan Madang, Indonesia, the Sentul circuit will rejoin the WSBK circus in 2013. The circuit last hosted WSBK from 1994 to 1997. With the Asian market driving worldwide motorcycle sales, a return to Indonesia was inevitable.

“We are proud of the growth of the Superbike calendar, which thanks to the inclusion of the latest rounds is obtaining a presence in countries of major importance for the development of our championship on a sporting and commercial level,” says Maurizio Flammini, president of Infront Motor Sports, WSBK’s promoter. “Indonesia today is a country with the largest growth factors: GDP is more than one trillion dollars, with a 2011 growth of more than 6%, and the sale of bikes widely exceeds 7 million units per year.”

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The Piaggio Group revealed its business plans for the next three years with a focus on developing fuel efficient engines and introducing new electric motors and hybrid powertrains.

Beginning in 2012, Piaggio plans to introduce a new generation of engines with lower emissions and improved fuel economy.

Examples include the new 350cc engine introduced in the Piaggio Beverly SportTouring and the fuel-injected 125cc four-stroke, three-valve engine equipped in the Vespa Quarantasei concept (which the company has apparently, and quietly, renamed as the much easier-to-pronounce Vespa 946).

Moto Guzzi is also introducing a new 750cc 90-degree V-Twin engine in its 2012 V7, V7 Scrambler and V7 Racer. According to Piaggio, the new V7 engine pictured below, after the jump) offers a 10% increase in power output as well as improved torque and fuel economy and fewer emissions.

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The Piaggio Group has formed a new subsidiary for Indonesia to directly import its scooters and motorcycles to the world’s third largest two-wheeler market.

With the new Piaggio Indonesia subsidiary, Piaggio hopes to establish a larger share of the country’s market which bought an estimated 7.4 million scooters and motorcycles in 2010, trailing only China and India. Piaggio had previously been working with third-party importers for its products, but will now enter the market directly, adopting a strategy it followed to large success in Vietnam.

“The starting of Piaggio Indonesia’s operations is a critical step in the Group’s strategy for South-East Asia” says Roberto Colaninno, Piaggio Group chair and chief executive officer. “Based on the model that has been successfully tested in the Vietnamese market, Piaggio will organize its growth in Indonesia through a series of steps: the first, launched today, is the beginning of our local subsidiary’s operations, by creating an efficient commercial organization that allows both for the development of the marketing of our vehicles and for an in-depth study of the Indonesian market in terms of products, customer expectations and prices. In the future, if this market lives up to expectations, the Piaggio Group will establish a new production site in Indonesia to meet local demand.”

Piaggio Indonesia, under the helm of Managing Director Sergio Mosca, will begin importing the Vespa LX125 and LX150 as well as the Piaggio Liberty 150 and Zip 100 scooters from the Vietnamese production facility.

The Piaggio Group plans to form a network of 35 dealers through 2011 with the goal of increasing its network to 150 dealers by 2013.

Press release after the jump.

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According to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) there are more than 100,000 motorcycle taxis operating in Bangkok alone. The motorcycle taxi, or “Motorsai” as it is known in Thailand, started operating back in 1981 but was controlled by gangs for many years. According to a story that was published in September 2002, it was estimated that Bangkok gangs were extorting at least 100 million Baht or about 2.9 million USD per month from the motorcycle taxi operators.

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