National News

It’s a fresh edition of Oil Drippings, a collection of recent news items from near and far: Experia From Energica For Touring Energica is out with a new model named Experia that may just help alter consumer conceptions of electric motorcycles. It’s a tourer with a high profile and luggage …

MILWAUKEE – Harley-Davidson has shut down motorcycle manufacturing in Wisconsin and York, PA for a minimum of two weeks due to a supply chain issue. The company cited a regulatory compliance issue with one of its suppliers as the reason. The production suspension doesn’t affect the manufacture of LiveWire electric …

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last year was a deadly one on the nation’s highways with traffic fatalities soaring 10.5 percent over 2020, estimates released today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveal. Motorcycle deaths rose nine percent in 2021. Deaths totaled 42,915, the highest number since 2005. The agency said …

MILWAUKEE – It took less than 20 minutes today for a limited edition of LiveWire’s second electric model to sell out. LiveWire began taking orders for 100 “built to order” copies of the dirt track-inspired S2 Del Mar LE (for Limited Edition) at 12:40 p.m. (EDT) and customers snatched them …

SANTA MONICA, CA – In what it called a “difficult decision,” the Progressive IMS Outdoors tour announced today that all events planned for 2022 have been suspended. Among the eight tour stops getting scrapped was a planned visit to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY from Sept. 23-25. …

REDMOND, WA – With Russia’s war on Ukraine continuing, Russian sidecar rig manufacturer Ural is moving assembly of its models out of Irbit. They will now be put together about 375 miles to the southeast in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. The plan is “progressing at full speed,” Ural CEO Ilya Khait told …

MONTEREY, CA – Shopping for a new motorcycle these days is just keyboard click away, and Harley-Davidson and Indian dealers lead the power sports industry in responding to internet inquiries, results of a new Pied Piper study reveal. Pied Piper Management Company submitted inquiries to 8,859 motorcycle and UTV dealerships …

MILWAUKEE – It was 65 years ago that Harley-Davidson launched its Sportster model, which became its entry-level line of motorcycles. Numerous Sportster variants have been produced over the decades, including the Nightster with a bobbed rear fender and side mount license plate between 2007 and 2012. Today, Harley-Davidson revived the …

REDMOND, WA – With its Irbit factory in Siberia shut down and the company adjusting to the “new reality” imposed by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, sidecar rig manufacturer Ural this evening hinted that a move of production to another country may be in its future. In …

NEW YORK – Italian electric motorcycle maker Energica has a new majority owner. Ideanomics, which has it headquarters in New York, finalized a deal on Monday and acquired a 70 percent stake in the company. Ideanomics is described in a press release as “a global company focused on accelerating the commercial …

VALCOURT, QUEBEC – Once upon a time, back in the 1970s and long before it began building on-road Spyder and Ryker three-wheelers, Can-Am made motorcycles that competed in the motocross and endurance arenas. Come 2024, it will again build bikes with a lineup of two-wheel electric models for both off-road …

BROOKFIELD, CT – The German company Touratech, which caters to adventure riders with gear, accessories and parts, is expanding its U.S. footprint by opening a retail store and East Coast distribution center here. “We’re targeting early May for an opening,” Touratech marketing director Matt Lewis said this afternoon, explaining that …

(Updated at 9 p.m. on March 15) MILWAUKEE – If you visited Royal Enfield’s United States website during business hours today there was no mention of it, despite a new model announcement being made in the motorcycle maker’s home base of India. Even now, the website hasn’t been updated, but …

REDMOND, WA – In an evening update Monday, Ural Motorcycles reported that the production of sidecar motorcycles at its Irbit factory in Siberia has now been paused in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the manufacture of spare parts “remains fully operational.” Calling itself “a small and fiercely …

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Known as an off-and-on purveyor of superbikes over the decades, the revived Buell brand used Daytona Bike Week to unveil prototypes of two future models on Saturday that plants its logo in two more categories – dirt riding and touring. Buell calls its new Baja DR …