Harley-Davidson

Back in 2014, Harley-Davdison teased the world with something that many of us considered to be an unlikely creation for the U.S. motorcycle icon; an all-electric sportbike in the form of the LiveWire. Some things have changed since then. Victory Motorcycles has gone tits-up-and-taking-on-water, ending its Brammo-based ’Empulse TT’ program, at least for the moment until Polaris shifts development/production to its other U.S. manufacturer, Indian Motorcycle. That’s a delay that gives H-D a much-needed buffer on the electric front as it struggles to compensate for its dwindling traditional buyer base, and it looks as though the factory is about ready to capitalize on its competitor’s misfortune and the current void in the U.S. electric streetbike market.

Continue reading for the upcoming Livewire release.

Harley-Davidson seems to be slowly shifting gears post its struggle to register any success stories due to its current downward trend in the market off-late. It has become a worldwide brand now after aggressive expansion that took place in the past decade, and to keep things from drifting away, the HR folks are busy setting up the stage for the brand and its social media presence.

Harley-Davidson USA in a bid to attract the millennials into motorcycling is giving a few guys an opportunity to intern with them to gain hands-on experience in integrated marketing communications. It will pay you to work with them for a period of 12 weeks, 40 hours a week, to ride its bikes and write about them on social media.

We’ve all seen the news. Harley-Davidson, the iconic American motorcycle manufacturer, has announced plans to close its Kansas City, Missouri, plant next summer and move operations to its York, Pennsylvania, plant. The Harley-haters are having tailgate parties and lots of folks are wringing their hands and quoting numbers and statistics over what could be spun into a story about a failing business. But is it really? What is really going on at MoCo headquarters?

Continue reading for my take on the plant closing and what it means.

NOTE: We do not endorse/promote stunt riding on public roads. Keep yourself and other road users safe. Always consider safety first and wear a helmet and all riding gear.

In a project aptly called as “Wheelie King”, Japanese Masaru Abe pulled off the longest wheelie on a two-wheeler creating a record that now stands at an incredible distance of 311 miles. It was done on a closed course, rather a pre-created track just for this feat under marshals and all safety factors are taken into considerations.

Then there is this guy, just like all spoilt brats out there attempting the wheelie on public roads – across Auckland’s Harbour Bridge exactly. It is apparently the ’world first’ wheelie across the span of the mile-long bridge. But he is, however, facing the heat from the authorities for this act.

Just days after Harley-Davidson and Alta Motors entered into a wedlock, creative heads from around the world have begun letting their imagination go wild. We have come across what we think is the first rendered image of the motorcycle that is touted to come out of this marriage.

The bike envisioned here is an electric street-tracker model that captures Harley’s values onto Alta’s Redshift platform. As a matter of fact, Alta has already showcased its street-tracker concept at last year’s One Moto Show, in Portland, Oregon. The Redshift ST concept was also built on the same platform.

2018 hasn’t started well for our Bar and Shield brand which, at the end of 2017, saw a 6.7% downfall worldwide. In the US alone the numbers were down by 8.5% compared to the previous year. Then the news came of the firm shutting its Kansas City plant, due to the uprise of used Harleys being sold outside.

It received slander from Green activists opposing the waiving of pollution fines by the President Donald Trump administration. Now, it seems to have caught up in a brew of political strategies between the Trump government and the world over. And if you have been paying attention to the current affairs lately, Trump has declared Trade Wars with India and the European Union.

We all want to jump off a ramp and feel weightless with our bike. Doing that may sound dead easy, but it involves a lot of things in play. Ramp angle, approach speed, bike weight, fuel mass, rider mass, and some basic mathematical solutions to land you safe back on the ground.

This guy here on a Harley thought he could pull off a Travis Pastrana jump. He did get a few things right though: two ramps, a bike and himself. Unfortunately, he must have left his brains hanging in the backyard and forgot to pack it.

Harley-Davidson adds to its Sportster footprint and moves the progress bar on its “50-new-models” goal with the ’Seventies-tastic’ Forty-Eight Special. Like the base model Forty-Eight, it rolls with numerous custom touches that tie it directly to a specific era, just of a more-recent vintage. Blackout components and chrome accents mix freely across the machine with the same 1200 cc, 73 pound-feet Sportster engine that drives the base model. Join me today whilst I dig into the details specific to this charming little mid-size standard to see how it differs from its predecessor.

Continue reading for my review of the Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight Special.

A few motorcycle manufacturers these days are scrambling to set up new technology and are pushing their R&D department to come up with innovative solutions to develop electric motorcycles. Others are partnering with smaller start-up companies who already have all the infrastructure ready for electric production, and the newest combination of this is Harley Davidson and Alta Motors.

The Brisbane, California based Alta Motors designs and manufactures the most advanced electric motorcycles in the industry. Starting in 2010, the firm has come a long way in establishing itself building bikes that prove to be better off-roaders than the petrol-powered counterparts. Their recent adventure is the brand new motorcycle called the Redshift MXR.

Harley-Davidson has been giving us resilient machines ever since they began their stunt back in 1903. This year, the Bar & Shield brand turns 115-years-old, and the company plans to leave no stone unturned to celebrate it with its fans worldwide. Bikers and non-bikers alike.

Harley has always celebrated such milestones with a bang, be it their first ever one on their 85th, 100th, or their 110th anniversaries, and each has surpassed their previous celebrations by a huge way. This time too the brand plans of treating everyone with a cynosure and for the first time, Harley invites those non-riders as well to enjoy the big bash set for August 29 – September 2.

“No matter what you ride, or even if you haven’t started yet, you are welcome to join the 115th-anniversary celebrations of Harley-Davidson.”

Harley-Davidson expands the Sportster family with the new-for-2018 Iron 1200. Retro is in, so the ’70s-esque paint and custom touches draw from that era to give the Iron 1200 plenty of nostalgic value. Power comes from the venerable Evolution engine to the tune of 73 pound-feet of torque to give this ride modern performance that belies the dated veneer. A classic dish with custom spices, the new Iron 1200 stands poised to raise the Iron family’s displacement ceiling in order to try and draw new customers from a market that has been in decline for over a decade. Join me while I take a look at the rest of the package, and let’s see what else it has going for it.

Continue reading for my review of the Harley-Davidson Iron 1200.

Paying regards to what their customers made, Harley-Davidson decided to add two new models to their already strong Sportster series, factory-costumed Iron 1200 and Forty-Eight Special. Yes, the Iron now also comes with the Evolution 1200 V-Twin engine running under the hood apart from the 883cc.

Taking inspiration from their customers, the Milwaukee brand created the new Iron 1200 giving it an all-new character and soul making it look very much like a custom motorcycle. It gets pimped up with equipment that was previously available only as exclusive HD parts and accessories, yet still retains the aggressive throwback styling.

“A modern take on what’s been putting big grins on the faces of Sportster motorcycle riders for decades,” says Harley.

After nearly three months of building and a month of online voting, the Harley-Davidson Battle of the Kings (BOK) has finally culminated with picking the UK&Ireland winner out of the five finalists that were shortlisted earlier this month.

The Alley Rat, built by Syc Kustoms, the custom side of Sycamore Harley-Davidson of the UK got the best credits by the judges at the Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show. The Alley Rat will now go head to head with the finalists from other regions at a Grand Final to take place at Milan’s EICMA exhibition in November 2018 where the “Custom King” will be crowned.

The Bar and Sheild brand launched two new motorcycles in their Sporters lineup as part of their new strategy to add 100 new models in the coming decade. The Iron 1200 and Forty-Eight Special factory customs.

These machines pay regards to the throw-back styling trends developed all over by the custom-bike scene with the solid foundation of the Sportster platform and the punchy performance of the Evolution 1200 V-Twin engine.

Taking inspiration from what Harley customers were doing with their Sportster models since generations, the Milwaukee brand created the new Iron 1200 and Forty-Eight Special and gave them an all-new character and soul making it look very much like a custom motorcycle.