The fourth round of J&P Cycles UBCBS series just wrapped, and the winners brought plenty of eye candy for all
Jawa recently released two new models. The one-time Czech company, now owned by Classic Legends Private Limited, a subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra, seems to have struck motorcycle gold. Its two new models sold out until November without the company even rolling one motorcycle off the assembly line.
The company set up a site for people to preorder the bikes, but after overwhelming demand, Jawa took it down. Some of the people who did manage to preorder bikes will have to wait until September to get them and the two models are sold out up to November of 2019.
Jawa wanted to sell 90,000 bikes a year, and by the looks of things, it should be able to. Demand for the motorcycles is high. Buyers in the Indian market where the bikes will be sold want an alternative to the classic 300cc Royal Enfields that have dominated the market.
Jawa has a long history in India, which is probably one of the reasons they preorders went so fast. The new bikes, the Jawa and the Jawa 42, stick close to the classic formula. The bikes come with a new 293cc single cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that makes 27 hp and about 20 lb-ft of torque.
Mated to that engine is a six-speed transmission. The bike gets a twin exhaust, rear drum brake, front disc brake, and ABS is available. The bike also has a 3.7-gallon tank and gets almost 95 miles-per-gallon, meaning it would be an inexpensive bike to operate. It has a top speed of 80 mph. Speaking of inexpensive, the bike starts at about $2,170 for the base Jawa and $2,300 for the Jawa 42 once you do the conversion from rupees.
The models are bikes built for efficiently getting you around, and looking super cool while doing it. Jawa doesn’t seem to have plans at this time to bring its bikes to the U.S., but I wish it would. Although the price would probably go up for the U.S. market due to the cost of shipping and importing, I would love to see a lower-priced classic alternative to what’s out there currently.
These look like killer little bikes. I’m a sucker for cool-looking low displacement machines, though. I doubt the response in the U.S. would be anywhere as positive in the U.S. With that said, more and more small displacement machines show up on motorcycle showroom floors. I would definitely consider dropping a few grand on one of these.
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Low-profile unit connects up to four riders through Bluetooth
Harley-Davidson’s earnings per share dried up due to the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. According to Bloomberg, the earnings per share were zero. Before factoring in tariff and restructuring costs, the company managed 17 cents per share in profits, which came in below analyst estimates of 29 cents.
In Harley’s regulatory filing, it said the following: “Operating margin as a percent of revenue decreased in the quarter due to restructuring charges, incremental tariffs and higher recall costs,” according to Markets Insider.
All this comes after President Trump quarreled with the company after it said it would move some of its manufacturing overseas due to Eurpeon tariffs, which were in response to Trump tariffs.
While the tariffs may not be working in Harley’s favor, the company struggles on other fronts, too. Right now it fails to attract new buyers. With the Baby Boomer generation getting too old to ride, Harley struggles to find younger buyers for its motorcycles. According to Bloomberg, the company has seen eight consecutive quarters of sales decreases, with a 10 percent decrease in the latest quarter.
Harley has taken some steps to modernize. It has new bikes on the horizon and a new electric motorcycle leading that charge (pun intended). However, the LiveWire hasn’t been very well received. It’s simply too expensive for the kind of performance the bike offers. Harley’s other new gas-powered motorcycles will likely be a little more pricey, too.
Unfortunately, younger buyers don’t have $30,000 to blow on an electric motorcycle. Most don’t even have tens of thousands to spend on a new internal combustion engine Harley. All this will likely lead to future difficult times for the company.
Even the CEO, Matt Levatich, seems to agree. He told Bloomberg that he expects 2019 “to be another difficult year.” He said the company will focus on selling cheaper bikes and more gear in the future. Levatich still seemed optimistic about Harley in the long term.
“Everything is angled at that core issue of building riders in the U.S. and leveraging growth opportunities we have in the near term and internationally,” Levatich said.
By 2027, Harley hopes to have half its sales come from markets outside the U.S. That means the company has a lot of work to do. However, Harley is making the right moves by building a production facility in Thailand. If they can get that up and running and sell more bike abroad, then they could turn sales around.
Even if Harley can do that and sell motorcycles by the boatload overseas, I would be surprised to see it captivate American consumers again in the way it has in the past.
Harley is an American motorcycling icon, but going as hard after the global market as it is may hurt its brand image here in the States. People buy Harleys bikes because it’s an American brand.
The company has perfected wrapping itself in the American flag, but If the company starts changing that for a more global image it may have trouble selling its bikes to people back home. That’s especially true if they’re too expensive. Offering truly affordable modern motorcycles will go a long way, but it’s not the whole solution.
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I used to think Ducati and mountain bikes didn’t go together, but like many other times in my life, I’ve been proven wrong. Apparently, you can buy a Ducati electric mountain bike. The company calls its new pedal and battery-powered bike the MIG-RR E-mtb. You can buy it for a little over $7,100 if you’re in Europe.
Ducati partnered with Thok Ebikes to make the bike a reality. It was first shown off at EICMA in 2018, and now it will officially be for sale. Thok is no newbie to the mountain biking scene. It has extensive experience in the downhill mountain biking world and BMX. If Ducati wanted to do a mountain e-bike correctly, it looks like the company went with the right partner.
According to Motorcycle News, Ducati’s Design Centre and Aldo Drudi’s D-Perf worked closely with Thok Ebikes to ensure the finished product was worthy of the brand’s name.
To be clear, this is no twist-and-go electric bike. The MIG-RR E-mtb is a pedal-assist bike. This means you need to pedal the bike to move it. However, the assist of the electric motor makes pedaling so easy you won’t even break a sweat. I rode a pedal assist bike in the mountains of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. I found it to be an exhilarating experience. You feel like you kind of feel like you have super-human strength on a bicycle.
The bike weighs roughly 50 pounds, has FOX Factory Kashima suspension with tons of travel, Shimano Saint brakes, Shimano XT gear set with 11 speeds, and Renthal handlebars made with carbon fiber. The power unit is a 250 Watt Shimano Steps E8000 motor. The motor weighs just over six pounds, and it can produce an insane 51.6 lb-ft of torque.
The battery is a 504 watt-power unit. Both the electric motor and the battery are snuggled right up next to and basically integrated with the frame of the bike. It uses a regular chain drive like any other mountain bike. The aluminum frame itself looks like any other mountain bike. It comes with a small display showing vital info like charge and the power mode (eco, trail, boost, and powerwalk).
Top speed and range can vary depending on how you ride. If you suck all the juice out of the battery you just pedal home like any other bicycle.
The Ducati MIG-RR E-mtb is interesting because it seems far from what the company usually does. However, with Harley showing off a similar bike—albeit not pedal assist, but a real-deal twist-and-go electric bike—it would seem to me that the motorcycle industry is shifting.
The future might bring motorcycles and regular bicycles closer together. I’ll take a high-speed motorcycle over a pedal-assist or low-speed e-bike any day, but there’s no denying we’ll probably see more of these bikes coming down the pike.
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If you don’t recognize the name Meguro, don’t worry. It hasn’t really been a thing since the 1960s. It was a motorcycle gearbox company in the 1950s, then a motorcycle company, and then Kawasaki acquired the company and continued to use the name for a bit on a bike. Eventually, the Meguro name was killed.
Now Kawasaki may bring the Meguro name back from the dead. According to Motorcycle.com, the company recently filed for the Meguro trademark rights in several markets. The markets include the U.K., U.S., New Zealand, Australia, and the Philippines. The company will reportedly use the trademark for, “two-wheeled motor vehicles; motorcycles; scooters; mopeds; bicycles; structural parts for motorcycles,” according to the filing.
As Motorcycle.com points out this filing is probably about more than just protecting the name’s heritage in the motorcycle industry. It’s more likely that Kawasaki will build a retro bike of some kind. This would jive with the current slew of bikes it has put out, including the Z900RS and the new W800.
The old Meguro bikes were little more than BSA knockoffs. I don’t see anything wrong with that, honestly. If Kawasaki could give me a modern and reliable bike that looked like a vintage BSA with some modern tech like fuel injection and some quality brakes, I’d be all for it.
With that said, Kawasaki has made no indication as to what the Meguro name will be used for. While the retro bike guess is a good one, it’s purely speculation. The name could be used for basically any bike. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a BSA lookalike, though.
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Harley-Davidson made a big effort towards the future with its new LiveWire. However, that bike hasn’t been very well received. Most people aren’t impressed with the range or price. Basically, $30k is a lot to ask for a motorcycle that only goes about 100 miles per charge. Harley showed off two other bikes when it debuted the LiveWire. Two smaller concepts and now there’s video.
At the X Games in Aspen, Colorado, the company brought its two small concepts along and let some of the X Games folks ride them. The resulting videos are little more than advertisements for the company with a celebrity in the saddle.
Still, it gives you a look at what the little electric bikes are capable of. Oddly, Harley only posted one of the videos to its YouTube channel so far, so we only have one of them to show you, but you can head over to Harley’s website to check out the other one.
Between the two unnamed electric concept bikes, I have to say the urban scooter thing is the weirder of the two. The other bike is pretty much a mashup of an electric mountain bike and a dirtbike. It makes sense to me, and I think Harley could actually sell it if it targeted the market right.
The scooter-looking bike is kind of cool, but I’d be more inclined to buy a Vespa Electtrica than the weird Harley creation. If the LiveWire’s price is any indication of where these things will hit the market, I bet Harley’s scooter bike would be pretty pricey, and I’d almost rather have the trusted Vespa name carting me around city streets.
The post Harley-Davidson Shows Off Its Electric Concepts In Action appeared first on Web Bike World.
After Rick Jensen passed away, one of the best collections of Indian motorcycles and memorabilia was found at his business, RJ&C Metal Fabricators in Phoenix, AZ. Jensen locked the collection in a shed behind some other much less interesting and valuable items.
The collection included 15 motorcycles, several bicycles from the brand, signs, clocks, and other promotional items. Jensen kept his collection a secret from most people. It was only after his death that it appeared at a Mecum Auction.
The auction for the items happened in Las Vegas last week. The collection brought over $500,000 and the list of items spanned Indian Motorcycles’ beginning to the very end of the brand’s original run. Notable items according to Fox News, included 1908 Single Camelback that sold for $82,500 due to its extreme rarity. There was also a 1929 Ace Four that sold for a price of $88,000 and a 1941 Four that managed to snag $71,500.
Having any one of those unique motorcycles to sell, or to be able to buy would be a serious privilege. What makes Jensen’s collection so unique is the sheer scope of it. The man seemed to have collected everything he could get his hands on that had the Indian name attached to it.
While many of the pieces are museum-quality with a little cleanup, some of them were showing their age. Still, the rarity of the items means people with money to burn want them. Seeing as how there are plenty of worse ways to spend your money, I’m all for people buying and enjoying the pieces in Jensen’s collection.
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The next Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show is over ten months away, but many top-flight builders are already plotting their next entries. After all, ‘Mooneyes’ is the top custom show in Japan. It’s jam-packed with supreme craftsmanship—so if you’re bringing a bike, it had better be good.
Here’s a closer look at a gem we uncovered at the most recent show: a magnificent hardtail with a knucklehead engine, created by Hideki Hoshikawa and his team at Asterisk Custom Works. Hoshikawa-san built it just for the show, and it took him almost a year.
If you’re wondering why it took so long, here’s a clue: We asked Hideki what the donor bike was, and he simply replied, “there is no base bike…we made it from scratch.” That’s right—this is no weekend special.
Hideki named the project in honor of the Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind, after watching the film The Greatest Showman. “I tried to recreate the real diva from the movie, in our custom bike,” he explains.
Hideki chose a S&S Cycle Type E Knucklehead motor for the project. He then decided to take the theme further, going full retro on not only the style of the build, but also the techniques.
So there’s no fancy CNC work going on here; all the custom bits were hand-made using basic tools.
The hardtail frame, for starters, is a one-off. Hideki took the steering neck, seat mount, rear motor mount and transmission mount from a shovelhead frame, but built the rest using chromoly steel. He then had it all chrome plated, before scuffing it up with a Scotch Brite pad.
It isn’t a simple design either. Hideki wanted a single down tube design, so he modded the neck to accommodate this. Then he manipulated the down tube with a unique bend at the base, mimicking the shape of the crankcase.
That little swoosh is repeated elsewhere too—including the hand-made side stand. The rear lower frame tubes also follow a definite kink, before joining with a pair of V-Twin manufacturing axle plates.
The perfect hardtail stance is equally impressive. The front suspension is a modified leaf spring setup from Cannonball, held in place by triples from Cro Customs.
The wheels are a F23/R19, wrapped in Firestone rubber: a Clincher at the front and a Deluxe Champion at the back.
Hideki’s only running one brake; a full KustomTech setup in the rear. He’s also installed a foot clutch and hand shifter, and an internally routed throttle. That’s left the swoopy custom handlebars (and the entire cockpit) super sano.
Then there’s that gorgeous fuel tank. It started out as a slightly modified shovelhead unit, but then Hideki decided to add some extra trim. While trawling the web for inspiration, he fell in love with the tail section of the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.
The initial plan was to just carry some of the Chevy’s trim concepts to the fender, but the idea morphed into a pair of full-on Bel Air style side panels. The paint’s by Yossy; a single hue of green, complemented by a gold pin stripe.
Jimmy Dope handled the seat upholstery for the build. The rear fender’s a modified Russ Wernimont Designs part, mounted on a pair of custom-made stainless steel brackets. Other custom stainless steel bits include the hand-shifter, carb mount and side stand.
The Asterisk crew also fabricated a stubby two-into-one exhaust system, designed to avoid visually obstructing the frame in any way. A sand-cast aluminum air cleaner cover, made by Fork, adds an extra touch of class.
With perfect proportions, top finishes and a plethora of neat little details, ‘Jenny Lind’ sure is a showstopper. The bike’s for sale too. Tempted?
Asterisk Custom Works | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Satoru Ise of Vibes Magazine
Back in the good old days of 2013, Suzuki showed off a new concept bike called the Recursion which featured a turbocharged system. Today that possibility sounds more plausible for a production bike. According to Cycle World, Suzuki recently filed new patent applications that show a motorcycle with a special turbocharged engine.
The patent application was for the frame, but what makes this frame special is the application of the turbocharged XE7 engine. Cycle World noted that Suzuki is actually using the pipework of the frame to funnel air to the turbo system.
This an ingenious way of cleaning up the look of a turbocharged bike while still getting plenty of air to the turbo system. It’s also a smart way to eliminate some weight. Without this special frame, Suzuki would have to mock up something for the turbo.
By integrating it into the frame, you get a seamless look that actually helps performance. In order for this to work, the portion of the frame used to provide air to the turbocharged system must be sealed off from other areas of the frame.
It’s unclear if Suzuki is building this for a bike that looks like its Recursion concept. It would seem so, but then Cycle World points out that the frame design would actually work best for a naked bike where the clean design could shine. The Recursion concept had a fairing on it. The drawings from the U.S. Patent Office show a bike with a fairing, but that doesn’t mean Suzuki will build one.
The most recent patent application is just one in a string of many that have hinted at a future turbocharged machine. This makes me think Suzuki is still a ways away from revealing a bike.
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