Mojotown Motorycle Gear Shop
FREEMONT SALVAGE
| NCR November '09 |
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BUELL CRUSHED, MV AGUSTA FOR SALE We were already a little bummed in mid-October here at CB: the paper was getting printed late (sorry!), it was raining already, and we keep spinning up our rear tire on that stupid diamond plate in the middle of the Bay Bridge. So you can imagine the crushing blow dealt by the news that Harley-Davidson, in its corporate wisdom, had decided to “discontinue the Buell product line as part of its strategy to focus on growth through the Harley-Davidson brand” on October 15th.  A choked-up Erik Buell delivered a video farewell speech (see it at www.buell.com), thanking employees, dealers and suppliers. He also said he would explore “how I can continue to work with Harley-Davidson to bring advanced product technology to riders.” Will we see more sport-oriented motorcycles from H-D? “It’s possible,” states a FAQ on the Buell website, “that some of this technology will find its way into a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.” That would be the silver lining to this sad story. We here at News, Clues want to buy American, but sometimes we want something a little more sporty than what the MoCo offers. MV Agusta is also on the chopping block, but nobody seems particularly upset or surprised. H-D bought the exotic-bike maker last July for $109 million, with an eye towards expanding its presence in the European luxury-bike market. But now, H-D’s board and new CEO Keith Wandell believes their new “strategy to focus on the Harley-Davidson brand reflects the fact that we believe our investments in that brand are a better utilization of overall company resources,” meaning H-D will be focusing only on its traditional core product. H-D “recorded a one-time fixed-asset impairment charge of $14.2 million related to Buell and a goodwill impairment charge of $18.9 million related to MV Agusta,” according to an investor-relation press release; does this mean the MoCo is willing to sell MV for 90 million bucks? Sounds like a bargain, until you realize MV only sells about 5000 bikes a year. Will MV Agusta get snapped up by a well-heeled Italian investor? Or re-purchased by one of the former big names at MV, like Claudio Castiglione or Massimo Tamburini? Neither one of them are talking, but they the Italian moto-blogs are hinting at a big announcement of two new models and other news at the EICMA show in November. Why would H-D suddenly switch strategies? As noted in some interesting analysis from the Hell for Leather blog (www.hellforleathermagazine.com), H-D owes almost two billion dollars to private investors and Uncle Sam’s TALF program, borrowed to cover bad loans made by H-D’s consumer lending arm. Take it, HFL: “…it seems you can boil Harley’s plan down to this: cut costs by streamlining production and lowering output, thereby alleviating dealers of stock they can’t sell, then hope that the loans carry the company through to a projected return of middle-class solvency and credit availability. “All this sounds startlingly similar to the business practices that got Harley into so much trouble in the first place...Harley is failing to understand either the need or the means to reach a younger or wider audience. Relying on the market for motorcycles to return to its pre-recession levels without taking active steps to see it do so seems a remarkably naive way to do business. Harley is now effectively a passive passenger riding the economy’s roller coaster. If the economy goes up, a lot, it might be okay. If the economy goes down or remains stagnant, it may find itself unable to repay that $1.9 billion [in public and private bail-out loans—ed.] and be forced to seek protection from its creditors. “Is it now conceivable that Harley could, at some point in the future, face a similar fate to Buell or at least find itself up for sale? Unless there’s a considerable change in strategy, yes.” If you’re kicking yourself because you meant to buy a Buell and never got around to it, now is the time to snap up the remaining stock languishing on dealers’ sales floors. Dudley-Perkins in South San Francisco confirmed getting word from the factory of a hefty dealer-incentive program. No details on how much the incentives are, but we’ve seen 1125Rs advertised with $5000 discounts; a steal. “We sold an 1125R this morning because of it,” Chris Perkins told NCR. The air-cooled models are discounted less, but should still prove an outstanding value. H-D has pledged to back the Buell’s two-year warranties and provide parts support for at least seven years. One thing that’s clear from reading the chatter on Internet discussion for a is a deep resentment towards Buell for not building exactly the sort of motorcycle the sportbike-riding public seemed to want. We would point out that Buell made a valiant effort, overcoming early problems with reliability and rideability to produce what we thought was a world-class machine, remarkable for such a small company: H-D ran Buell as a self-supporting, stand-alone business, a business that had 180 employees and made less than 10,000 motorcycles a year. We congratulate Erik Buell, his management team, and all Buell employees on their achievements and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. RSV4R-VER Okay, enough downers: here’s some swell news. Aprilia’s stunning $20,999 RSV4 Factory, a 180-hp, V-Four sportbike that’s getting media and sportbike fans slavering, will be sold in the USA for 2010, accompanied by a lower-spec RSV4R. The R version will lack the adjustable chassis and Öhlins suspension, but will still have the same motor, ride-by-wire throttle and Brembo radial-mount brakes. It will be 11 pounds heavier than the carbon-fiber-festooned Factory, but we’re guessing the $15,999 pricetag will make up for that nicely. Sweet deal for a bike straight off the WSBK grid, no?  San Francisco Aprilia dealership Scuderia West’s Don Lemelin was at the dealer meeting last week, where he rode the bike and found it to be just as good as all the magazines are saying: powerful, compact, sweet-handling. Sure he’d say that, as he wants to sell the things, right? Well, it’s more than talk: he also ordered enough to meet initial demand, saying they’ll be in the showroom in the next few weeks. Sadly for those of us with bad backs (are there any of us with good backs?), the new Tuono naked sport-standard, based on the RSV4, will probably not be available for 2010. DUCATI HITS THE STRADA As a City Biker, you don’t really care what people think of how your bike looks, so long as it’s fast, comfy and handles like a racebike, are we right or are we right? In fact, you may have something unsightly and European, like a Multistrada, in your garage right now. Comfy? Check. Great handling? Check. Ugly? Si. Big power? Not really…but we like the torque and character of that Carter-era two-valve Desmo, don’t we? That’s what we said to ourselves, anyway…until we heard about Strada Aperto.  Details are slim, and we’ll know more as the November Milan EICMA motorcycle show draws nearer, but the 2010 Strada Aperto is a heavily reworked Multistroodle with a four-valve, liquid-cooled Testastretta 160 hp superbike engine all up in there. How much fun will it be to blast past our space-suit-wearing BMW GS friends like they’re having one of those dreams where a polar bear is chasing them and they’re running knee-deep in rubber cement? Really fun. These pictures, poached from the Internets, show that Ducati isn’t letting Terreblanche’s absence keep it from choosing its own design path. Expect pricing and technical details in the next issue. LET’S GET HYPERMOTARDED Whatever the price of the Strada Aperta is, it won’t be cheap; in the mid-to-high teens is our guess. If you’re looking for a bargain Duc, the new Hypermotard 796 may be your thing. City Bike contributor Pete Brissette just got back from that models Italian press launch, and there’s a full tech and ride report in this very issue. ROCKET ROADSTER FOR 2010 Triumph has but one new model in its 2010 offerings for the USA, the Rocket III Roadster. It’s a souped-up evolution of the original Rocket III monster Triple that debuted in 2004. The car-like liquid-cooled, 2297cc DOHC Triple gets upgrades, including a new exhaust system, to boost torque output to a mind-and-tire-blowing 163 ft.-lbs. of torque (at just 2750 rpm) and 146 hp. The chassis gets updated, too, with new suspension, anti-lock brakes and menacing blacked-out engine and chassis finishes.  We here at NCR have ridden the Rocket and while it’s no beauty queen, it is among the best-handling heavyweight cruisers we’ve been aboard, with a smooth motor that brings the concept of “torquey” to a whole new plane. We look forward to riding one with improved suspension and 20 percent more power. Triumph, you can drop it off at the 16th Street BART station. Just leave the key with Itchy Charlie; he’s the guy with the toy saxophone and empty birdcage sitting next to the elevator. THE (CYCLE) WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN Shocker! Cycle World magazine, one of the best mags in the industry (not counting CB, of course) went through some changes in early October, with long-time Editor-in-Chief David Edwards moving out and Executive Editor Mark Hoyer moving up to Editor-in-Chief. We’re sad to hear the news. Edwards is arguably the most influential moto-journalist of a generation, with three decades of experience. He started at Cycle News covering local races and was hired on at Cycle World in 1984. By 1988, he was Editor-in-Chief, and quickly grew the magazine into the 800-pound gorilla it is today, with circulation over 300,000. Hachette-Filipacchi Media, CW’s parent company, said no layoffs were associated with the reorganization of the magazine, just that Edwards is leaving. Long time Senior Editor (and yet another V.P.) Paul Dean remains in his position, as do the rest of CW’s cast of lovable rogues, like Matt Miles, Kevin Cameron, Peter Egan, Ryan Dudek, Blake Conner, Don Canet, and the irascible Mark Cernicky (we can call him that because he probably doesn’t know what that means, plus he routinely calls CB editor Gabe Ets-Hokin “Gay Balls” whenever he sees him). We’ll miss Edward’s high standards and vast knowledge of all things motorcycling, but still look forward to seeing the mag (redesigned beginning with the November issue—under Edward’s watch) in the mailbox each month. BREATH-A-LOSER CB Editor Emeritus and legal eagle Craig Bessenger sent us this item: Governor Arnold signed AB 91 into law, which applies to residents of the “counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Tulare that requires, as a condition of being issued a restricted driver’s license, being reissued a driver’s license, or having the privilege to operate a motor vehicle reinstated subsequent to a conviction for a violation of the above offenses, a person to install for a specified period of time an ignition interlock device on all vehicles he or she owns or operates...” Essentially, it’s a pilot program to be implemented in these counties requiring everyone (even a first time offender) convicted of a DUI to install an ignition interlock device on their cars, the little gizmo that requires one to blow into it and register no alcohol before the car will start. Okay, that may be objectionable on its own terms, but it is what it is. But get this... buried down in the bill is this language: (e) For the purposes of this section, “vehicle” does not include a motorcycle until the state certifies an ignition interlock device that can be installed on a motorcycle. A person subject to an ignition interlock device restriction shall not operate a motorcycle for the duration of the ignition interlock device restriction period. What?!? So per this new law, if someone happens to ride a motorcycle, they are now banned from riding simply because ignition interlock devices don’t exist for motorcycles, while car drivers are allowed to drive with an interlock device in place. Note that the law doesn’t go into effect until next summer and then only if they secure certain funding. But still... Some of you may feel a drunk rider, once caught, should never be allowed to ride again, while some of us may hold that everybody makes bad decisions that, once the debt to society has been paid, should be forgiven. But either way, if car drivers can drive again and motorcyclists cannot, the injustice is apparent. Write or call your state assembly member or senator and let them know you ride and vote. BIG BROTHER GETS A DIGITAL CAMERA Of course, once you have a human with a camera trained on your possibly extra-legal activities, you’re kind of screwed. City Bike reader Cemoto was on the Sunday Morning Ride in West Marin last month with four other riders when, on one of those bitchin’ straightaways south of Marshal, the group came over a rise only to see two Marin County Sheriff’s Department deputies armed with a radar gun and a long-lens digital SLR camera. The fuzz was as surprised as our guys were, according to Cemoto: “They looked like the keystone cops, fumbling around with the equipment, but they didn’t motion us to pull over.” v The group slowed down a bit, “and several minutes later, one of the deputies came up with his lights on. I pulled over, but he just went by. Another rider got a ticket for 61 mph in Marshall, and the duputy showed him picture of another rider, asking if he knew him.” The deputy seemed proud of his new equipment, showing off his long lens; Cemoto’s friend David said it looked like a Cannon 1DS, a $6000 camera with a super-high shutter speed. A little while later, Cemoto and another rider got letters from the sheriff’s department. Attached to the letters were photocopies of what look like very clear photos of the miscreants, bikes and license plates in high-definition, ultra-mega-pixel action. The letter was rife with “threats of arrest, property seizure, jailing, suspensions of licenses, and forthcoming Tickets By Mail for Speeding.” Here is the text of the letter: TO: (Cemoto) RE: Speeding Shoreline Hwy, West Marin On September 13, 2009 at approximately 1030 hrs, your motorcycle (plate no.) was observed speeding Northbound Hwy 1 in the town of Marshall. You were in a group of 5 motorcycles, clocked at 97 mph in a posted 55 mph zone. This clearly is a violation of 22349(b) CVC exceeding the maximum speed limit of 55 mph. Given your speed, not only will a citation be issued, but a suspension would be in order. If evading my attempt to stop, a charge of 2800.1 CVC (aka evading The Man, a misdemeanor with a maximum fine of a year in the county slammer-ed.) would be in order. Your vehicle is now recorded in my records and if observed again for this type of driving, I will be pursuing all lawful actions against you. This includes, going to your home and impounding your vehicle for 30 days. (14602.7 CVC) NCR called the Marin County Sheriff’s Department and was told by public affairs officer Sgt. Debra Barry that this is indeed an official pilot program to educate riders about the consequences of speeding in West Marin, although she did say threatening to impound Cemoto’s bike was an error in that instance. You have been warned. PARKING? LOTS! Used to be 50 cents worth of nickels would park your motorcycle in the Financial District, South of Market or Civic Center all day at one of The City’s many motorcycle parking spaces. That is, if you could drag yourself out of bed before The City’s 30,000 other two-wheel riders: the spaces filled up early. A small number of moto-commuters took advantage of a fantastically under-priced public benefit. But we all liked the system anyway.  That was before the Great Recession with its friend, Big Deficits. Over the summer, the Transit Commission voted to jack up meter rates for both cars and motorcycles. The rates vary by location, peaking at $3.50 an hour for cars and 70 cents an hour for motorcycles. That’s 1/5th the car rate; you can’t fault the commission’s logic there, as a motorcycle takes up about a fifth the space a car does. Still, that’s a huge increase from the max of 25 cents an hour it used to be, and the effect is apparent to many of our readers. Reader Jay Larson sent in this picture, snapped with his iPhone, of the empty spaces: now there are a lot of empty moto-spaces in the Financial District and other areas during the week. Seems illogical for San Francisco, the center of alternative everything, to discourage eco-friendly transport like motorcycles and scooters. Of course, City officials would say you should walk, bicycle or take MUNI. They would. But the silver lining is that if you have business to attend to downtown during business hours, you can now find a spot to park your bike, and hey, 70 cents an hour is a pretty good deal compared to parking a car. The grumbling from the two-wheel community is loud, but nothing like the noise generated by the San Francisco Motorcycle and Scooter Coalition in 2002. The SFMSC was able to get The City to add more motorcycle spaces and allow motorcycles to park along those tiny red-painted curbs orphaned between driveways. We could use the SFMSC again: go to sfmsc.tribe.net to see what’s up with that organization. LAP UP HUNGER! Our friends at Santa Rosa BMW Triumph, Infineon Raceway and RKA Motorcycle Luggage have joined forces to put on a unique food drive. Here’s how it works: drop off five or more cans of food at either RKA Luggage (930 Shiloh Rd. Bldg 41-C, Windsor, 800/349 1-RKA) or Santa Rosa BMW Triumph (800 American Way - Windsor, 707/838-9100) to benefit the Salvation Army and another Sonoma County charity between now and November 15th. On Saturday the 14th, there will be a charity event at Santa Rosa BMW Triumph with “a raffle drawing, BBQ, vendors, a tire plug clinic in the morning, and a slow race against a motor-cop.” We at NCR have had such races on the Bay Bridge, but hopefully this will be more fun. The next day, on the 15th, Richard and Kathy Battles of RKA will lead a ride to Infineon raceway, where after a donation ceremony, riders who donated five cans of food and/or $10 will be allowed to ride an unspecified number of laps around the track...probably not at any kind of knee-dragging pace, but still, it sounds like a good time and a great way to help those in need; last year a ton and a half of chow was donated for hungry families. Get more info by going to www.santarosabmw.com or www.rka-luggage.com. SAUSAGE PARTY Jay Larson, who sent in that photo above, also wanted to tell CB-ers that he’s “started a new sportbike club in the city focused on gay riders. We have a lot of really cool stuff going on—new-rider mentorship, a lending library of gear, electronics, books and videos; education seminars, bi-monthly bike nights, rides and special events and community support activities.” Their monthly business meeting is held at the Sausage Factory in the Castro, where they...eat sausage. Indeed. Find out more: www.homoto.us. ‘ROUND THE WORLD IN 248 DAYS Your lifetime dream may be to circumnavigate our globe by motorcycle, and why not? It’s a good dream. But even if you have the money and time, you may bot have the logistical resources or now-how to make it possible. It’s a pretty daunting task, even for an experienced adventure rider. That’s why the adventure-travel experts at Edelweiss Tours in Austria have put together their Mother of all Tours, the Discover Our Earth Expedition. It will cover 40,000 miles across five continents in 248 days, starting from Edelweiss’ HQ in Austria in November, 2010 and going through Europe, Africa, then flying to South America, where the tour will wind its way up to North America. Australia is next, followed by China and the rest of Asia. The tour will end back in Meiming, Austria in July 2011. Pricing is…well, a bargain considering the time and effort spent organizing this thing, with Guinness Book record-holders (for fastest circumnavigation of Earth on a motorcycle) Kevin and Julia Sanders along for the trip, local guides and vehicle support and all the legal stuff done for you (like permits, immigrations, insurance, and the tangle of bizarre laws and codes required by the Chinese government). Have we softened you up enough yet? Okay, cost is a heart-stopping $101,200 per rider, and you have to bring your own bike and pay for some meals and airfare (for you, not the bike) between legs of the journey. You can add a passenger for another $55,600. But hey, there’s guys paying $20 million to fly in an ex-Soviet space capsule for a few days, so when you consider it’s eight months of what will surely be an unforgettable experience, it seems cheap. If one of our readers wants to sell his wife, kids, car and house to go on this, please let us know: we’d love to have you as our City Bike correspondent. You can get more info by going to the Edelweiss website: www.edelweissbike.com. ONE CRAZY RIDE  Some of us just like to watch others experience tremendous deprivation and discomfort. NCR had a chance to view a screening of Gaurav Jani’s “One Crazy Ride.” The 87-minute documentary, shot entirely by Jani, follows him and his club through a remote province of India as they ride dirt roads and mud tracks through a primitive and beautiful landscape. Low budget it may be, but its as compelling and fun to watch as any moto-travel documentary we’ve seen. You can get your own copy to watch by going to Jani’s website, www.dirttrackproductions.com. OR JUST READ A BOOK  Some of us don’t really like travelling too much, not even to go see a movie. It happens when you get too old and fat. Luckily, adventure writer Sam Manicom (whom we mentioned last year in NCR) has a slew of adventure-travel books he’s written about his travels, including Into Africa, Under Asian Skies and Distant Suns. You can find out more about his books (and where to get them) at www.sam-manicom.com INTERNATIONAL MOTORCYCLE SHOW City Bike is pleased to announce we will be occupying a place of honor in some dusty corner at the International Motorcycle Show in San Mateo November 20-22. Please drop by and say howdy: we think we have more than 10 readers, but we’re not sure exactly how many. Catch up on back issues, give us constructive feedback or just vent your rage. It’s all good. More information is at www.motorcycleshows.com. We’ll see you there. WHERE’S CITY BIKE?  We get frequent inquiries to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it axeing us where to get City Bike. To help you out, we have a Google Map with all locations where City Bike has been distributed in recent years. It changes month to month, so before going to that location, please call them first. The map can be found at our Facebook page (search FB for City Bike) or at the new City Bike Blog: citybikeblog.blogspot.com. And of course, we’re always updating our own website, www.citybike.com. RIDERS FOR HEALTH BENEFIT On Saturday, November 7th, Scuderia West will be holding an open house, with free barbeque, beverages, and a raffle benefiting Riders for Health, a program that provides emergency transportation and other services for underdeveloped communities in Africa. The Scuderia folk will also be unveiling a new motorcycle...you may be able to guess which one if you started reading NCR from the beginning. Oh, and they’re discounting everything in the store between 10 and 50 percent, so be sure to stop by. Scuderia is at 69 Duboce Ave. in San Francisco: www.scuderia.com. |