Harley-Davidson may have a winner with its “trade in, trade up†marketing strategy, which the company says is moving bikes in a desperate economy. It almost makes you wonder: Would such an idea work with cars?
It wasn’t that many years ago that H-D couldn’t keep up with demand for its motorcycles. In 2006 it shipped nearly 350,000 bikes. But as the economy started to tank last year, so did H-D sales.
Harley-Davidson’s 2008 sales were down more than 7 percent, after a 5.3 percent drop in 2007…. Details
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I thought it would be out of scale, like a Hummer at a drive-in, but within a few minutes of collecting it Yamaha’s second-generation V-Max demonstrated enough poise and low-speed controllability to slice through the 5pm traffic like a bike half its size.
And it had enough instantaneous acceleration to grab the gaps before the car drivers even knew they were there.
I’d ridden the V-Max on the SA launch at Tarlton drag strip, which showed the assembled scribes that it has awe-inspiring acceleration and decent brakes (thank goodness) but not much else, so I was keen to see how it would handle the real world where the roads aren’t always straight …. Details
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One small word in a new child-safety law — ‘any’ — is causing big problems with motorcycle and ATV products across the country.
At age 12, Jacqueline Riess is already a two-time state Supercross champion, at times racing motorcycles against women two or three times her age.
But the Eden Prairie sixth-grader might not get a chance to defend her title this year because of off-the-track issues — not hers, but those of some grownups in Washington…. Details
According to Kyodo News International:
A Tohoku University, Japan, study group and motorcycle maker Yamaha Motor Co. said Wednesday they have found riding motorcycles useful for brain training.
The group, led by Ryuta Kawashima, a professor who is known for brain research, looked into brain functions as measured by devices put on the heads of 21 males riding motorcycles and found their brains’ prefrontal areas activated. The area covers memory, information processing and concentration functions.
In another test, 22 males who had motorcycle licenses, but did not ride motorcycles often, were divided into two teams — one for … Details