Mid-Size Harleys for 2023

Harley-Davidson will be launching a new mid-size bike late in 2023, and it will be significantly cheaper than the current upmarket V-twins. It will be first fruit of the company’s new agreement with the Indian giant Hero MotoCorp, which has the capacity to mass produce smaller bikes at far lower cost than Harley ever could. The aim is to build cheaper Harley-badged bikes for India’s massive home market – at 20 million bikes and scooters a year, this rivals China as the biggest in the world. Hero and Harley-Davidson are collaborating on mid-size bikes which could benefit both companies. Hero’s Chief Financial Officer Niranjan Gupta recently revealed that the first model will be in the 350-800cc segment, and is now being

Are Hybrids the Answer?

Could your next motorcycle be a petrol/electric hybrid? Vitesco Technologies, a German company which supplies electric powertrain technologies, certainly thinks so, unveiling a 400cc prototype at EICMA*. The bike, based on Husqvarna’s Vitpilen single, adds a 48-volt electric drive system consisting of a 12Kw motor and small 1.5kwh battery. Vitesco claims that the petrol/electric system gives the best of both worlds, doubling the torque of the standard Husky 400cc engine while delivering up to 75% less CO2 (on the standard WMTC cycle) and makes the bike easier to ride, with an automated gearbox – it’s even got a reverse gear. Petrol/electric hybrid cars have been around for many years, and White Motorcycle Concepts is building petrol/electric Yamaha Tricity scooters for Northamptonshire Police,

New Euro NCAP Vision 2030 includes motorcycles

New crash avoidance testing of automated cars will include motorcycles. Euro NCAP is also looking at ways to assess the safety of motorcycles. In September 2022, we published an article about the very high Euro NCAP star rating for the Tesla model Y, while accidents with Tesla’s in the USA have showed that the Autopilot system is far from failproof, especially in bad-weather conditions. This led to several meetings with Euro NCAP, more about that later. In the meantime, on 9 November 2022, Euro NCAP published its new Vision 2030: a Safer Future for Mobility. In this paper Euro NCAP describes on a high level how it sees future vehicle safety standards and testing. Euro NCAP plans, for example, to add testing

Massive ‘Barn Find’ comes to UK

Imagine the biggest barn find in the world. Hitchcocks Motorcycles, the Royal Enfield spares specialist based near Solihull, has acquired one from the USA amounting to over 180 old motorbikes, and brought it home to Britain. Actually, it’s less of a barn find, more of a huge buyback of mostly British machines, which were exported to North America in the 1950s and ‘60s, and some before World War II. “It was a unique opportunity in America from two different sources,” said Derek from Hitchcocks. “As well as over 180 bikes we’ve got over 50 tons of spares. Everything was shipped back in five 40-foot sea containers.” The bikes are predominantly British singles and twins, though the promotional film does show glimpses of two-stroke

Motorcycle Transportation and the EU Border – NMC Publishes Advice

Procedures and options for taking bikes in vans and on trailers across the border made clearer after the NMC and the UK Government work together on developing solutions. The National Motorcyclists Council (NMC) has published general advice for riders who wish to take their bikes across the EU border in a van, motorhome, or on a trailer. This advice provides information about procedures and paperwork which should be considered for border crossings. It became necessary to develop the advice after the Council received reports from riders and commercial operators who had experienced problems at the border, with in some cases costly ATA Carnets demanded. On a handful of occasions, riders were even turned back until they could secure a carnet. It

Motorcycle Kit Goes Green

We’re all told that reducing mankind’s carbon footprint will affect every area of life – well, now some motorcycle kit is looking more sustainable, with biodegradable body armour and jackets made from recycled plastic bottles. The body armour has been developed by RE ZRO, a UK firm set up by three friends, two of whom are ex-3DO, the well known flexible body armour made in Brighton. “A lot of the protectors on the market these days are still made with polyurethane,” said co-founder Alex Yellowley, quoted in MCN. “Manufacturing of this, in itself, is quite a dirty process, produces a lot of gas and produces a lot of release agents. You can reconstitute it into things, but you can’t create a

Aston Martin launches track bike

Luxury sports car maker Aston Martin has unveiled the AMB 001 Pro, a 225bhp V-twin which claims the power/weight ratio of a Formula 1 car. It won’t be road legal – so that’s track-only (or, more likely, collector’s air conditioned garage only). Designed by Aston, the new bike will be built by Brough Superior at its factory in Toulouse, southern France. Not that the V-twin track bike is all new. Aston Martin launched the limited edition AMB 001 sports bike at EICMA 2019, and the Pro is a track-only version of the same thing, though there are plenty of changes. The one-litre DOHC liquid-cooled V-twin has 25% more power than its predecessor, now peaking at 225bhp, and the crankcase is milled

US Military tests electric stealth bikes

The US military is evaluating Huck Overland electric bikes, attracted by their light weight, low price and above all, quiet operation. According to Huck Cycles, which builds the e-bikes in North Carolina, two Overlands have recently been trialled in live fire exercises and tested for use in search and rescue, border, air deployment, even medical evacuations. And of course covert operations, thanks to their lack of exhaust noise. The Overland is a lightweight off-road bike weighing just 65kg, with a 3Kw (6Kw peak) motor and a small 3Kwh battery. Top speed is around 45mph and claimed range 40 miles. The Overland was originally intended for the US hunting, shooting, fishing market, but has since been taken up as a commuter machine,

Has Europe banned the combustion engine?

Maximum confusion in Brussels whether the sale of cars and small vans with an internal combustion engine will be actually banned from 2035. And what about motorcycles? On Thursday 27 October 2022, the European Commission, European Parliament, and the member states, united in the Council of the European Union, reached an agreement in the so-called trilogue about the emission limits for cars and vans. After a few steps to lower the emission of the fleet, from 2035 the sale of new cars and motorcycles that have no zero CO2-emission will be banned in the European Union. Many parties, especially NGOs like Transport & Environment, who have lobbied for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for years and the Greens in the European Parliament celebrated

Greater Cambridge Partnership calls motorcycles a noisy safety risk

Cambridge justifies high charges for a Sustainable Travel Zone by calling motorcycling a noisy safety risk. BMF says these proposals are a poorly justified move against motorbikes. A new consultation from the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has suggested that motorcycles are a safety risk, are noisy and that they conflict with cyclists. They have therefore proposed a charge of £5 a day for motorcycles travelling in and around Cambridge (please see the map for the area affected). The GCP is formed of Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire Council and the University of Cambridge, and aims to bring powers and investment from central government to improve Greater Cambridgeshire. Their new consultation, ‘Making Connections’, proposes to transform transport in and around

Motorcycling Challenges Face New Government Ministers

New ministers inherit a long stalled policy agenda for motorcycling, while in the meantime, Brussels ‘ups the ante’ on decarbonisation. The National Motorcyclists Council (NMC) welcomes new Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper to his new role. The Council urges him and his new ministerial team at the Department for transport (DfT)to finally break the paralysis that has existed in departmental policy-making since before the summer, so that urgent motorcycling related issues can now be tackled. The NMC highlighted the key issues that need tacking on September 7th, but recent political events have meant that little has occurred since then. Key issues include the future road safety strategy, decarbonisation and revision of the current training and testing regime for those seeking

Hero & Zero Link Up

Unlikely bedfellows or the sign of a new era in electric motorcycles? Zero, the Californian pioneer of electric bikes has teamed up the Indian giant Hero MotoCorp to develop the next generation of battery bikes. It’s a deal which could work well. Zero needs investment to develop the new bikes and Hero needs electric knowhow to engineer cheaper machines for its home market in India. That’s why Hero is investing $60 million in the Californian operation, which was founded in 2006 and is acknowledged as the market leader in electric motorcycles, having pioneered the sector and kept at it while other startups have fallen by the wayside. Meanwhile, mainstream manufacturers (Harley-Davidson apart) still haven’t launched rival e-bikes. Hero is already linked with

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