Category: Motorcycles

Lessons from Italy

Sure, Italy and the U.S. are two very different markets, but you’d think this data would mean something to American motorcycle marketers. 15 of the top 20 selling motorcycles in Italy (Jan-June 2007) are scooters. The top five are ALL scooters. The top-seller is a 150cc. The top three are all Honda SH-series scooters. (Why aren’t those here, come ON, Honda!) The best part? There’s not a single bike on there over 750cc. If Italy can sustain that kind of sales/growth with such restrictive displacement and emissions guidelines, U.S. sellers need to abandon the “But 1600cc cruisers are what people WANT!” mentality. Motorcycles are a niche market here, it’s time to focus on the other 99% of Americans who are so repulsed by overpowered and unpleasant-to-ride cruisers and sportbikes (and the people that ride them). Teach them that a responsible, polite motorcycle or scooter can change their lifes.

Mods vs. Rockers 2007 photos

I think his timing is off

As someone on scoot.net chat said the other day, “In the future, all rallies will be called ‘Mods vs. Rockers.'” Although there were six or eight similarly-named rallies in the last few weeks, we’re talking about the Chicago version, which is beginning to rival Milwaukee’s fantastic Rockerbox, in terms of quantity, variety, and quality. (Nary a Harley was to be seen!) Silent Ron’s 200-or-so photos (one is above) sum up the event much better than I could , and if those aren’t enough, here are a few dozen more from Jordan.

ABATE “Dogkiller” ride April 29

Dave “Dogkiller” White (the founder of Chicago ABATE and cofounder of ABATE of Illinois, Inc.) passed away ten years ago this month. Each year ABATE organizes a “Dogkiller” memorial ride for motorcycle awareness, this year’s ride is April 29. (details). ABATE member Dan Kay tells us he suspects the ride is starting at Alderman “Billy” Banks office in order to present Banks with the “Dogkiller” Award–the Chicago chapter’s highest honor–for his motorcycle advocacy at City Hall, including his support of Motorcycle Awareness Month (May). Banks is Galewood’s alderman, so we should send a contingent of scooterists along to show support for ABATE and Ald. Banks, both important allies.

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.

smallwoodracing.com

From the smallwoodracing.com “contact” page:

Scott is available for all kinds of public appearances, contact Scott directly to book him for your event.

Oh, how I laughed when I read that (thanks M5), but the more I think about it, is there really a better motivational speaker than Scott Smallwood? Give ’em hell this season, Scott!

Chicago unveils motorcycle parking plan

The Chicago Sun-Times reported today that the city of Chicago has solved motorcycle parking issues forever with an amazingly in-depth and carefully developed two-tier plan:

  1. Electronic meter receipts will have… wait for it… ADHESIVE ON THE BACK so they can be affixed to headlights.
  2. Motorcycles are encouraged to park PERPENDICULAR to the road.

Pathetic. The first point addresses one tiny fraction of the concern motorcyclists have about meter receipts, the main complaint being that a driver (or Chicago’s notorious wind) could simply snatch a receipt from a motorcycle headlamp and place it in his own car (the wind, technically, does not own a car, but if she did…).

The second point is even funnier, as it is presented in this quote:

“It [creates] more spaces for all motorists. Why take up a whole space if you can park it perpendicular?” City Revenue Director Bea Reyna-Hickey said.

Why, indeed, Bea? Any motorcyclist, anywhere in the world would naturally park perpendicular to the curb, but IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ILLEGAL IN CHICAGO. Assumedly, the law is (finally!) being changed, and that’s fantastic news, but don’t insult motorcyclists by suggesting that the idea had never occurred to us, or that the motivation for change was altruistic. Electronic meters make it possible to collect six full-price parking fares revenue when six motorcycles park in one parking space. Thanks for the favor!(And thanks to Team Wysocki for the link to the story)

As we’ve mentioned, the Chicago Department of Transportation and the Chicago Department of Environment are hosting a Chicago Scooterist Roundtable at the Chicago Center for Green Technology (445 North Sacramento Boulevard) on Friday, May 4, 2007 from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm. We encourage every scooterist in Chicago to take the afternoon off work and join us, email 2strokebuzz to find out how you can get involved in our planning for the meeting.