2012 Harley-Davidson Dyna Switchback

The first high point of the new models is a brand new Dyna model, called the Switchback. It not only comes standard with the removable windshield and hard bags–that both pop off without tools–it’s also powered by the new 103ci V-Twin mill.  In addition to the more powerful engine, it’s also got new front end geometry, upgraded suspension and a low profile front tire.

A new, 10th Anniversary model of the V-rod is also part of this year’s line-up, with lots of new components, including a special exhaust and wheels.

Next, the more powerful 103ci power plant is now standard on the Softail, Touring, and most Dyna models, almost completely replacing the previous 96ci standard engine in all but a few Dyna models.

A new option generally available on the 2012 bikes is a Security Package, containing ABS brakes and a Smart Security System with a hands-free security fob. The package is a factory option for all Dyna, Softail, V-Rod, and Touring models.  It comes standard for all CVO models, the Road Glide Ultra, the Electra Glide Ultra Limited, and the Road King Classic.

And, speaking of the CVO models, Harley has rolled them out for the motorcycle press to play with, and the reports are in from Motorcycle USA, Motorcycle.com, and Cycle World. This year’s CVO models are the The CVO Softail Convertible, the CVO Street Glide, the CVO Ultra Classic Electra Glide, a new version of the CVO Road Glide Custom that is oriented more for the street, than the touring version from last year.  The CVO models all come with Harley-Davidson’s 110ci power plant. The CVO Street Glide also comes packed with a 400-watt sound system, to help you better hear your hard rock & roll music over the roar of your loud, life-saving pipes.

Motus American Sport Tour - First Leg

Motus American Motorcycles is taking their new V-4  MST-01 (and maybe the MST-R?) bikes on the road starting July 11th.  Starting out from Birmingham, AL, they’l ride out to LA and ‘Frisco, then back through Denver and Athens, GA. While they’re in California, they’ll hit Laguna Seca for a little track fun.

Paul Crowe at The Kneeslider has more.

Styling owes more to Austria’s KTM than Bavaria’s BMW, although the term “styling” is used pretty loosely for duel-sports. If, indeed, it is a dual sport.  True off-roading with the Nuda will require a significant investment in skid plates to protect the exhaust and radiator, it looks like.

Motorcycle USA has more.

Triumph is, however, studying the feasibility of opening a plant in-country–which seems like it would be necessary for any sort of long-term growth, considering India’s unreasonable import rates.

“India is a very important motorcycle market and Triumph has assessed it carefully before deciding to step in,” said Nick Bloor, Triumph’s chief executive. “We see it as the next step in our global business model.”

Triumph has appointed Ashish Joshi, the former head of European operations for Indian motorcycle maker Royal Enfield as its managing director for India.

Triumph currently has two manufacturing facilities in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and three in Chonburi, Thailand. It produces about 50,000 motorcycles each year, selling them in about 35 countries.

Taylor said Triumph has been getting several inquiries from prospective customers in India and plans to initially sell its motorcycles in six to eight cities in the country.

Triumph now joins the Big 4 and Harley-Davidson in India.

Photoshop of a rumored BMW K1600R

Where would we be without new model rumors, and the photoshops that make them seem true, or, at least, plausible.

In this case, the rumor is of a coming roadster version of BMW’s new flagship sports-tourer, the K1600GT, which would be called the K1600R.  It would look something like the photoshop image here. Or not.

It sounds attractive. Still, there are some questions that would have to be answered:

But… The K1600GT starts at £15,300, a full £1800 more than the old K1300GT (which it effectively replaces, as well as superseding the mammoth K1200LT). Would it be possible to make a six-cylinder machine that could match, or even come close to, the K1300R’s £10,450 price? And would the bigger engine offer a significant advantage over the existing four? Finally, could a six-cylinder BMW out-pose and out-muscle the Ducati Diavel that’s scrambled the “big naked” market this year?

Having said that, BMW doesn’t really compete on price, much. and if they can pump up the power of the K16, the same way they did with the K13 for the S model, I can foresee a 180HP+ version making its way into the lineup as an S or R model.

I can dream, anyway.

2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650

Suzuki has released the details–some of them  anyway–about the new V-Strom 650 ABS.

First of all, the ABS system is new, and is supposedly better and lighter than the old system. In addition, Suzuki has made lots of other styling changes and other tweaks.  The seat is a bit higher, although with optional lower and higher seats, you’ll have a wider range of choice and ergonomics now. The slightly smaller gas tank is also narrower between the knees.  The muffler is excitingly modern, as is the new composite resin luggage rack. The windshield is 3-position manually adjustable, too. New headlights and instrument cluster round out the redesign.

The powerplant is where some big changes come in. The displacement is still the same, but midrange power and torque has been increased with new cam profiles, and the use of single, instead of double, valve springs. Air cooling has been replaced by liquid cooling for the oil cooler. A new crankshaft and primary gear are said to smooth the engine out a bit. Fuel economy is better, too, with a claimed 10% improvement on gas mileage.

The US Market will receive the orange model shown here, as well as an all-black version.

The V-Strom has always been a highly regarded bike, and the new changes seem like an improvement to an already well-loved bike.

I’m not sure what, other than some styling changes, the new bike has to offer. In terms of styling, however, the Street Triple gets new headlights like the Speed Triple, aluminum handlebars from the Street Triple R, as well as a spiffy new engine cover. Oh, and a new Triumph logo.

I’m not sure I’m on board with the purple model color.

As it happens, however, that model already exists as the “Pike’s Peak” edition. Ducati was just using “Corse” as a fallback name in case they couldn’t acquire the rights to use the “Pike’s Peak” name. Nothing to see here. Sorry.

Two of the points he alluded to in the article bears further discussion.  First, he notes that the ATK badged cruiser, with it’s smaller displacement, has significantly more horsepower, and less weight–at signifigantly lower cost–than Harley’s 883 Sportster. Second he notes that Harley-Davidson isn’t keen on, and is actually rather hostile to, Frank White’s introduction of US-assembled cruisers and sportbikes to the Harley dealerships who are working with him.

I believe it’s quite likely that the latter point is a direct result of the former. ATK’s CEO never tires of telling you that he wants ATK to be sort of a Scion to H-D’s Toyota, i.e., a little brother brand that creates new entry-level customers for the top-shelf product in the fullness of time. The MoCO, however, doesn’t seem to see it that way at all.

From H-D’s point of view, their dealers are selling lower-priced, better-performing cruisers. Which means that, when it’s time to move up to a big-boy bike, customers who are more impressed by actual motorcycles than they are by the badge on the tank are quite likely to look at, say, an M109 or Vulcan rather than a Road King.

Harley Marketing to the Perv Community.

Sadly, this does not seem to be a spur to Harley to produce a more competitive cruiser but rather to circle the wagons to protect the precious, precious “brand”. And, sure, a brand is a valuable thing that needs to be protected. But it seems Harley’s idea of protecting the brand is to a) change the product as little as possible, b) resist innovation, and c) cling to an increasingly geriatric rider market. While you can get some short-term success by doing this, it’s ultimately a strategic failure.

This is a recent Harley-Davidson advertisement. It certainly says a lot, even without saying it. Even if we assume the hirsute fellow shown evokes any reaction among 17 year-old girls other than a strong urge to run shrieking in terror, capitalizing on it is, not to put too fine a point on it, a crime.

It speaks to a certain older gentleman who might wish to have a juvenile female as a companion (no doubt because of her great wisdom and ability to contribute as a equal partner). What is doesn’t speak to is the younger rider who does not see themselves, in their dreams, as an aging fifty-something pedophile.

The product itself–while admittedly attractive and well-built–is also rather dated in style, and most certainly in performance. It is the previous generation’s idea of what a motorcycle should be, with new “Dark Custom” bike sporting–Springer front-ends, a suspension system so useful it was abandoned in the 1950s. <Meanwhile the other US motorcycle company, Victory, is producing bikes that look–and perform–as if they were designed in the 21st century.

Although, in the case of the Vision, that’s actually a bad thing.

Sadly, Harley-Davidson’s current leadership, led be Kieth Wandell, seem unable or unwilling to recognize this. And, to the extent that they do recognize it, their solution so far has been to introduce factory trikes, to keep their doddering ridership on a Harley for a few after their legs are no longer able to hold up an Electra-Glide.

Sure, they are managing to keep their stock price up for the moment–mainly through cost-cutting–but at what overall cost? The fundamentals look troubling. Gross margins are declining, and debt to equity has skyrocketed from 50% to 306%. That’s not the sign of a company in rosy health.

Harley-Davidson has skated along on the strength of it’s brand for twenty years. It’s been a great run. But it’s getting awfully close to the time when the lack of innovation and stodgy corporate culture can’t be saved by the brand alone.

I’m looking forward to getting hold of one of them–and hopefully a sport model too–in the next month or so.

ATK’s stated goal is to offer entry-level bikes to customers at Harley-Davidson dealers in order to help catch a younger generation of riders, and have them convert to the bigger Harleys in the fullness of time.

The full press release is below the fold.

Centerville, Utah, February 8, 2011 — ATK Motorcycles has named former Harley-Davidson Sales Manager Jon Syverson as its new Executive Vice President.  In his new senior management role at ATK, Jon will be responsible for expanding ATK’s presence in the V-Twin market. Already known for their race-ready off-road motorcycles, ATK sees Syverson as a key to pushing into the street bike market.

“We’re excited to welcome Jon to our expanding group of tried and tested motorcycle people,” says ATK President Frank White. “At ATK we clearly understand that in order to successfully market our V-Twin motorcycles we must maintain a balanced relationship with both dealer and rider. We must clearly understand our customer’s needs, and act to provide appropriate motorcycles… areas that Jon will be able to help us with greatly.”

White explains that ATK sees Jon Syverson as the ideal person to handle their dealer expansion and sales activities since that is what he did best at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc.* for 30 years. “I met Jon some 20 years ago at the Motor Company when he managed a great team who specialized in military, police and related fleet sales,” White added. “Jon has a proven history of performance, which resulted in a commanding market share during his tenure at Harley-Davidson.”

In addition to serving in senior sales management roles at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc., Jon also worked as a District and Regional Manager. He is a Life Member of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), long involved in the Patriot Guard Riders and a member of the Advisory Board, Concerns of Police Survivors. He is also a past recipient of Wisconsin’s prestigious Annual Motorcycle Safety Award and a member of Damascus Lodge No. 290, F. & A. M., Milwaukee, WI, a Masonic Order.

*ATK is not aligned with or sponsored by Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc.

About ATK

ATK Motorcycles is the only U.S. off-road motorcycle manufacturer, producing race-ready motorcycles for more than 25 years. ATK serves as co-members of the United States Motorcycle Manufacturers Association, along with Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc.  A history of off-road racing success put ATK on the map. Recently, ATK entered the street motorcycle business, providing V-Twin motorcycles, specially developed for new, entry-level or seasoned riders alike. ATK V-Twin motorcycles and related products are marketed through select Harley-Davidson dealers nationwide.

BMW liquid-cooled boxer?

BMW’s boxer engines are air/oil-cooled, but the end of the road is surely in sight for air-cooled engines, due to both emissions compliance issues and the consumer demand for a bit more power. So, the best guess here is that this is a GS testing a new liquid-cooled boxer engine.  we don’t know the displacement, or anything else.  We don’t even know if this engine is liquid-cooled, based on the picture.

Still, the rumor is the BMW is water-cooling the boxer, and if this GS with what is obviously a different motor is already testing on the road, the chances are pretty good that it is the water-cooled boxer, and if its in this advanced stage of testing, i.e., running around on a bike in the wild, then we can look forward to a brand new RXX00GS for 2012.

We might know more, but this picture appears to have been taken by a 1930s Kodak box camera, using film that’s over its expiration date.

Erik Buell Racing 1190RS?

I think this is an Erik Buell racing 1190RS.

Net income for the fourth quarter 2010 was a record $54.5 million, an increase of 24 percent over the same period in 2009. Record sales of $618.4 million for the fourth quarter 2010 increased 31 percent over 2009 fourth quarter sales of $471.8 million.

For the full year ended December 31, 2010, Polaris reported record net income of $147.1 million, or a record $4.28 per diluted share, compared to $101.0 million, or $3.05 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2009. This represents a 40 percent increase on a per diluted share basis and a 46 percent increase in net income.

Polaris, of course, makes much more than motorcycles, but Victory certainly did its part in 2010, moving 81,624 motorcycles compared to 52,811 in 2009. That’s a 55% increase in sales, and was the largest sales increase of any of Polaris’ product lines.

Congratulations to Victory, and Polaris, who are showing real strength when most other manufacturers are still scrambling to cut losses.