2008 is shaping up to be the year that displacement kills the fun of scootering. If the Kymco 700 is too puny and Taiwanese for you, and the Gilera 800 is too big and Italian, Honda’s got a new 750cc Silverwing with your name on it. And it’s got an airbag. Have fun, everyone knows more is better.
Category: Honda
Honda 2008: Changes, finally?
There are a lot of ways to interpret The Scooter Scoop’s report on Honda’s 2008 U.S. lineup. While it’s sad to say goodbye to old friends, the Helix and Elite were both well past their sell-by date and it is certainly time for Honda to shake things up. (Besides, killing them off only paves the way for their triumphant ‘retro’ return, later). If losing the Big Ruckus (not a big seller anyway) makes way for the SH series, then I’m all for it. I’m betting the good news will eclipse the bad before the end of the year, and it’s about time.
Honda, Yamaha, and Piaggio prepare for Vietnam war
In the last week, both Honda and Yamaha have announced new factories in Vietnam. The Japanese marques are targeting a booming Vietnamese market for scooters and small motorcycles, Honda will build mainly scooters at their new facility, and Yamaha will increase capacity for their bestselling “Nuovo” and Sirius” big-wheeled scooter models. Even if the Vietnamese market growth continues, Piaggio will find plenty of competition when their Vietnamese plant opens in 2010, though analysts suggest the higher-end Vespas will find their own niche.
Kymco Backs Experienced Duo With “No Factory Support”
Kymco USA has bumped up their motorsports profile by sponsoring the “No Factory Support” AMA Superbike team. The team will be running CBR1000RR sport bikes with very experienced pilots in the seats. Motorcycle legend Doug Chandler and experienced former MotoGP rider Kurtis Roberts are going to have a shot at taking on the full factory supported AMA superbike teams.  Kymco Super9 scooters will be used by the team in the pits as well as by the crew of a reality show on the SPEED Channel network. (In other related news, Kymco is sponsoring a NASCAR team as well). Hopefully this mainstream injection of scooters into the public arena will reduce the likelihood of Roman Holiday references in craptastic newspaper pieces by at least a small amount. Thanks to the good folks at Road Racing World Magazine for passing along this Kymco PR information.
Chicago International Motorcycle Show 2007
You’ll hopefully forgive 2strokebuzz if coverage of the 2007 Cycle World International Motorcycle show is a little scaled back this year. The truth is, very little has changed from year to year. Each year there are fewer surprises, less swag, and fewer perks (the bus service to the CTA parking lot was cancelled this year, brrr.), while parking, concessions, and admission (at least seem to) get more expensive. Probably that’s why Triumph didn’t appear for the second year in a row, and why Kymco, CMSI, and Genuine rarely bother with these shows.
On top of that, we had a head start on new 2007 models, thanks to the Milan EIMCA show, and next weekend I’m attending the Indianapolis Dealer Expo (my first trip), which promises to be a bit more exciting. But out of a sense of duty, and because Ryan was driving, I decided to once again trek through the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, to see what there was to see. Which wasn’t much, really.
Continue reading “Chicago International Motorcycle Show 2007”
Go Bears!
In the News, January 22, 2007
- Honda unveiled their blinged-out Forza “Smart” concept scooter at the Tokyo Auto Salon.
- More on the Bajaj Krystal, announcing the Blade will be back on the market in six months.
- Honda recalled 455,000 scooters made for the Japanese market between 2002 and 2006 at their Sundiro Honda plant in China. It’ll cost Honda $15.8 million to replace faulty speedometers.
- The Wall Street Journal chimes in on the boom in smaller-displacement motorcycles and scooters.(Subscription only… I didn’t actually read it, but Piaggio execs are probably quoted and mirth will ensue.)
- FourWheeler.com’s 2007 Honda Ruckus review.
- The Independent reviews the Piaggio MP3.
“No Same Way”
The news is Ruckus-heavy this week. Here’s an amazingly-silly ad for the Honda Zoomer (the Ruckus’ Japanese-market name), by motion graphics company Le Pivot.
Ruckus Force Nashville
Nashville Police ride the 50cc Honda Ruckus. Sublime.
Honda SH300i to US?
The Scooter Scoop finds a ray of hope that we might see the big-wheeled, powerful Honda SH300i in the US. Maybe. Eventually. Here’s hopin’!
News bits
Sorry, we’ve still been a bit under the weather and busy with the impending holidays, but here are some stories from the last week to keep you up to date:
- Seinfeld star (and model for illnoise’s current hairstyle) Jason Alexander is getting around Australia on a Vespa.
- Autoblog makes a corny joke about AMCA’s bazooka Vespa with the inevitable comment that, being French, the gun should point backwards.
- There are hundreds of online shops selling electric bikes and scooters, but finally one man, Rich Sathoff of Raleigh, NC, had the idea to actually learn to repair them.
- Despite being indicted in a huge financial scandal last week and facing more than four years in prison, Piaggio boss Roberto Colaninno met with Italy’s prime minister yesterday, and is expected to bid for control of Italian airline Alitalia in January. Only in Italy. (Note: we could be totally misinterpreting that poorly-translated press release).
- Rumors of the death of the Indian scooter market have been exaggerated. Honda’s Indian subsidary is raising scooter production 20% after reports that Bajaj is developing new scooters. Analysts predict Indian makers will introduce as many as 60 new two-wheeler models in 2007, despite the indroduction of Tata Motors well-hyped Rs 1-lakh (US$2,250) automobile. Bajaj, meanwhile, has raised prices on all models other than the Pulsar by a whopping Rs500 (US$11).
- Speaking of the Pulsar, the Bajaj motorcycle was reported to be the first motorcycle to complete the Carrerra Pan Americana, a seven-day, 3000km race across Mexico. This was the first year motorcycles were invited to participate, though the English-language site for the event lists no rules or results for motorcycles.
- Back to India, motoring magazine Top Gear has named the 165cc Kinetic Blaze “‘Two-wheeler design of the year.” Never mind that Italjet designed it several years ago–to be fair, Kinetic has made some improvements to the original.
News Briefs
I’m falling behind again, it must be the beginning of hockey season (and the launch of the Galewood Cookshack, more on that later).
- Last Tuesday, 200 workers at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India’s Gurgaon plant went on strike The strike was settled on Sunday, and today HMSI promised US$87 million in investment in the plant and new product development in the next three years.
- From St. Maartens: How not to steal a scooter.
- According to Hemscott.com, Roberto Colaninno expects Piaggio’s Indian- and Chinese-market sales to increase to 25% of the group’s sales by 2010, as opposed to 15% currently.
- Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services have upped Piaggio’s long-term debt rating from BB- from B+.
- St. Louis joins a growing list of cities with a minibike pickup service to discourage driving while intoxicated.
- And finally, something to think about next time you’ve brought a long-dead bike back to life after a marathon drinking ‘n’ wrenching session.
20 years of Helices
Honda is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Helix (and boy is it showing its age, but people keep buying them) with a special gold edition, the “Fusion SE.” Nevermind that the traditional 20th anniversary gift is china, not gold. I guess a scooter made of porcelain wouldn’t be a good idea, nor would a Helix made in China. (from The Scooter Scoop)
Ron Patrick’s jet-powered Metropolitan
Photos of the “Jet Powered Honda Metropolitian” have been circulating for months, but Engadget’s piece is the only one I’ve seen that actually tracked the guy down and got the story.
Qatar two-fiffy roundup.
Four 250cc scooters and the Yamaha Morphous compared for posterity, from Qatar’s Peninsula newspaper. (Note: Turns out this was not from Qatar, but a poorly-credited wire story by Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times, it also ran in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette with a good photo and better proofreading.)