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Post by truenorth on Feb 5, 2020 12:49:50 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Feb 17, 2020 6:39:26 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Feb 19, 2020 12:06:38 GMT -8
INDIAN TO TACKLE BAIKAL MILE WITH CUSTOM-BUILT STREAMLINER ICE RACER FEBRUARY 19, 2020 CMG Lake Baikal, in Russia, is home of some weird motorcycle events, and here’s one more you can add: the Baikal Mile land speed event. And, Indian Motorcycles is attending this year with a cool streamliner dubbed the Appaloose V2.0. The Baikal Mile runs over the frozen lake, mid-winter, with 1/8-mile and full mile courses. The main reason for the event is land speed attempts, but there’s also stunt riding, flat track racing, all sorts of cool moto-stuff going on, making for a full mid-winter bike festival. It sounds like a good time, long as you don’t mind the Siberian winter. It runs next week. Indian’s entering a modified Scout Bobber, with custom work by Brice Hennebert and Workhorse Speed Shop. It doesn’t look much like a bobber anymore, with Akrapovic exhaust, Ohlins suspension, a streamliner fairing, upgraded Beringer brakes, and studded Dunlop tires (not visible in the summertime shot above, obviously). The extreme cold and the unpredictability of the surface will no doubt make this a challenging event, and the air density will no doubt slow the bike down. However, we’d be surprised if there wasn’t some cool YouTube promo footage out of this adventure—we’ll keep our eyes open, because we always love to see people actually getting out on their bikes mid-winter!
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Post by truenorth on Feb 28, 2020 16:50:35 GMT -8
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Post by wilmywood8455 on Feb 29, 2020 12:48:25 GMT -8
Dan Gurney and Agostini at Goodwood, I'm thinking about 2012 or so. Agostini is sitting on one of Dan's 'Alligator' motorcycles
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Post by truenorth on Mar 24, 2020 8:34:13 GMT -8
There Is a Battle Right Now for the Control of Harley-Davidson Asphalt and Rubber JENSEN BEELER 03/23/2020 Well before the firing of Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich (and it was a firing, no matter how much the Bar & Shield brand touts its “mutual decision” narrative), there has been a wrestling of control over the future of the iconic American motorcycle brand. Dwindling share prices on the New York Stock Exchange necessitated a change of regime at Harley-Davidson, as shareholders saw a continued loss on their investment with the Milwaukee firm; and thus, a loss of confidence in management’s ability to run the company. Now with Matt Levatich out and Jochen Zeitz taking on the role of interim CEO and President of Harley-Davidson, a new battle is being fought – what is known in the investing world as a proxy fight. While the specifics are technical, the concept is quite simple: one of Harley-Davidson’s shareholders is attempting to gather support to take over the company. The shareholder in question is Impala Asset Management, and the investing firm is looking to put two more seats on the Harley-Davidson Board of Directors. Of note, Impala owns roughly 1.2% of Harley-Davidson’s publicly traded stock. We can presume from this move that Impala already has considerable support on the Harley-Davidson board, and that the addition of two more favorable seats would give this consortium of interests control over Harley-Davidson. With Harley-Davidson stock at record lows right now (trading started under $15/share today – a number not seen since the Great Recession), the publicly traded company is especially prone to this proxy fight, as accumulating more stock (and thus accumulating more control) of the company is much easier than it was a few months ago. Though it is quite hard to wrestle the control of a company from its board of directors (most proxy fights fail), we have seen investing groups have some success in this regard in recent times. Should it be successful, it means that Harley-Davidson could see a complete regime change in its top-level management, likely with its third CEO in just a handful of months. The timing couldn’t be worse for the Bar & Shield brand, as the 2021 model year was to be a pivotal make-it-or-break-it moment for the brand. Dealt a body blow already by the COVID-19 outbreak, and now this boardroom infighting, Harley-Davidson’s future is very much on the ropes. Expect to see more movement on this space over the next few weeks (as early as Wednesday, according to Reuters). They are likely to be critical to the future of the American brand.
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Post by truenorth on May 2, 2020 7:23:35 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on May 17, 2020 6:34:21 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on May 19, 2020 7:04:00 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on May 19, 2020 7:04:44 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on May 26, 2020 7:37:53 GMT -8
1939 INDIAN SCOUT FACTORY HILL CLIMBER This is 1 of just 18 hillclimbers produced by Indian for racing purposes in 1938/39, it’s tuned to run on pure alcohol through its Linkert carburettor that has a rear facing air-intake to avoid having it ingest sand, mud, plants and whatever else the front tire might kick up. This bike was ordered from the factory by Ken Edmiston, a well-known and highly regarded racer who took part in hillclimbs and other motorcycle racing events in just about every US state, including Alaska. Ken modified this bike over the course of the years that he owned and raced it, but he always kept the original components on hand in case he ever wanted to swap it back. He decided early on that he wanted to stretch the frame 4 inches with a new front frame section, which meant he also needed to fit a different tank. In the years after it passed from his ownership two Indian collectors realised that between them they owned a complete, original Indian Scout factory hill climber – and so a few years were spent haggling over who would buy what, and eventually all the original parts found their way back into the bike. Most of the factory prepared race bikes didn’t fare well in their post-racing years, many were chopped up, scrapped or otherwise ruined.
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Post by truenorth on Jun 8, 2020 10:19:04 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jun 25, 2020 5:28:31 GMT -8
Sweet Panhead
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Post by truenorth on Jun 27, 2020 4:52:53 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jul 30, 2020 7:42:46 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Jul 30, 2020 15:56:02 GMT -8
Harley-Davidson announces future moves after tough Q2 CMG Staff -July 30, 2020 Following a tough second financial quarter for 2020, Harley-Davidson’s leaders have laid down the rough outline for the company’s future. Spoiler alert: Things are changing. Everybody expected Harley-Davidson to have a tough Q2. The company’s fortunes have mostly been in decline for many months, with market share and total sales usually slumping. However, Harley-Davidson has still turned a profit, and still sold a lot of motorcycles. However, in Q2, Harley-Davidson saw $92 million in losses; total revenue was $865 million, down 47 percent year-over-year from 2019. US retail sales dropped 27 percent, and H-D dropped to 38.5 percent of the heavyweight bike market in the US. Sales dropped 51 percent in Latin America, and 30 percent in Europe/Middle East/Africa. Harley-Davidson Financial Services saw operating income drop 94 percent (but revenue only dropped one percent, thanks to some financial moves). The Moco’s revenue from motorcycle and related products was $669 million, down 53 percent from 2019’s Q2. That’s tough news, but remember, all the other OEMs had a rough spring as well. Some of Harley-Davidson’s decline is simply due to the company’s production stoppage. There’s still a demand for its machines, but the company isn’t building them. Earlier this spring, the company said 70 percent of its dealers would receive no new motorcycles this year, which has driven up the used Harley market. Still, the current situation is dire enough that former CEO Matt Levatich left the company earlier this year, replaced by Jochen Zeitz, who promptly announced he was overhauling the operations. Zeitz detailed more of his plans, after the financial announcements. For the rest of 2020, Harley-Davidson will be in the middle of a transitional program called Rewire, followed by a five-year plan called Hardwire. What’s coming, then? A few less motorcycles, for one thing. Levatich’s plan to aggressively expand the lineup is out; Zeitz is planning to sell fewer models, “balancing investments between current stronghold categories and new, high-potential segments.” Translation: Zeitz wants to focus on the categories that Harley-Davidson performs well in, and focus on segments where Harley-Davidson can make money. Specifically, H-D’s press release mentions the 1250 Pan America adventure bike … and interestingly, does not mention the future of the LiveWire electric bike, or the Bronx streetfighter, which was supposed to debut around the same time as the Pan America. It does say Harley-Davidson is “shifting annual product launch timing from August to early in the first quarter,” so don’t expect many, if any, new models this year. Also, the company says it’s “Reinvigorating launch efforts including collaborations with key influencers to bring the brand and new products to life drive brand desirability.” Jason Momoa (star of Aquaman and Game of Thrones) is the first Hollywood star tapped to promote H-D. Harley-Davidson is also planning to re-evaluate its current markets, with the company pulling out of less-profitable areas. More details should be coming on the Hardwire plan in coming months, but whatever they are, expect big changes ahead for the MoCo.
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Post by truenorth on Aug 10, 2020 7:32:00 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Aug 11, 2020 6:54:01 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Aug 12, 2020 8:01:11 GMT -8
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Post by truenorth on Aug 13, 2020 7:25:55 GMT -8
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