National News

MONTEREY, CA – Ever asked a motorcycle dealership a question via its website? If you got a response, you most likely inquired of a Harley-Davidson, Indian or BMW store. If you didn’t get an answer, you probably were reaching out to a Honda, Kawasaki, Triumph or Yamaha dealer. That’s the …

OLEY, PA – It was a “come one, come all” sideshow to the springtime National Meet of the Perkiomen Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. The 110-year-old Reading Motorcycle Club up the road opened its drag strip on April 23 to both old and new bikes, allowing friends …

MILWAUKEE – It looks decades old, but it’s new. It’s Harley-Davidson’s new, limited-edition Electra Glide Revival model, the initial offering in what the company is calling its Icon Collection. Going forward, the company plans to bring out one or two limited run models each year that will invoke the past …

OLEY, PA – They are defunct German motorcycle companies that ended up being owned by major carmakers. NSU began building motorcycles in 1901, ended in 1963, and was eventually swallowed by what’s now Audi. Horex began in 1923 and survived until 1960 when it was acquired by Daimler-Benz and dissolved. …

OLEY, PA – Girard Fox had 40 miles remaining on a 140-mile ride Thursday from his home in Brooklyn, NY when his 1949 Harley-Davidson “Panhead” Hydra-Glide started losing power going up a hill. He was headed here to attend the Perkiomen Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America’s National …

OLEY, PA – Thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts came to gaze at vintage models and to shop from tables and bins filled with tens of thousands of old parts at this weekend’s National Meet put on by the Perkiomen Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. After a year of …

MILWAUKEE – Less is proving to be more for Harley-Davidson. Having trimmed both its model lineup and its dealer network, Harley-Davidson saw significant bottom line improvement in the first quarter of 2021. Quarterly income rose to $259 million, up from $70 million in 2020. Earnings per share increased to $1.68, …

What was introduced as a first-time invitational event last October at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA returns in 2021 with more races, more corporate backing and certainly increased chatter as street riders become aware that professional motorcycle racers are now going at it on behemoth baggers. Yes, the cruiser …

MILWAUKEE – Royal Enfield’s strategy is to be an “accessible, affordable and authentic brand,” according to Krishnan Ramaswamy, president of Royal Enfield Americas. The India-based company brought the Himalayan adventure model to the U.S. in 2018 and followed up with the INT 650 and Continental GT twin models a year …

Of all the books ever written about or involving motorcycles, Beverly Cleary’s “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” could well be the top seller of all time. After all, in a writing career that lasted decades, Cleary sold more than 85 million books. And who knows how many riders can trace …

MILWAUKEE – Harley-Davidson has announced plans for an eight-month demo tour of its new Pan America 1250 adventure model that includes five stops in the Northeast. The 25-stop tour kicks off in mid-April in Dallas, but makes its way to New England in June when it visits Laconia Motorcycle Week …

HINCKLEY, Leicestershire – Touting its prototype design as “significantly more compact and lighter than anything currently available on the market,” Triumph today provided a peek at its “Project TE-1” electric model that has been in development for nearly two years. Featuring sport bike/roadster styling, the TE-1 is a collaboration of …

It’s a fascinating video that contains some surprising and not-so-surprising conclusions on the build practices of various motorcycle brands. It’s perhaps predictable that the Chinese brand Yin Xiang gets labeled as “atrocious but cheap” and Italian makes Aprilia and Ducati get written off as “shoddy.” However, Royal Enfield from India …

There were some open spaces on showroom floors last year caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers who were anxious to buy motorcycles and escape were a big part of the reason for the gaps, but factory shutdowns also presumably played a role. If dealerships did well in 2020, they may …

At this stage, it’s still anyone’s guess when the riding landscape will significantly shift to electric motorcycles from those that are powered by gas. However, just-released results from a survey done by the BikeSure insurance company suggest a rapid switch may happen fairly soon, at least across the pond. More …