Mango Countdown

In two days the Indian “Alphonso” mangoes will hit the U.S. supermarket shelves for the first time in 18 years!
I’m reminded of that Jimmy Buffett song “Last Mango in…”
I went down to Captain Tony’s to get out of the heat
When I hear a voice call out to me, “Son, come have a seat”
The “seat” in [...]

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Guns And Motorcycles

No, I’m not talking about the drama of motorcycle clubs or the FX television show “Son’s of Anarchy.”
The story starts in Tucson in 1978 when John Lazzeroni married Melinda Carevich.
Both were motorcycle enthusiasts, so for a wedding gift John arranged to have a new Honda Gold Wing delivered during the ceremony.  After the “I do’s”, [...]

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The Power Of Dreams

In June, Honda celebrated the 50th anniversary of its arrival in the U.S.  I posted an article on the event HERE.
Sadly, this week Honda re-confirmed in the Tokyo Nikkei, its intent to indeed wind down the U.S. motorcycle production due to declining demand.  The closure this month ends a 30 year run of motorcycle production in the [...]

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Harley-Davidson Engineering Prowess

Building a better mouse trap.
It’s about engineering.  It can be a daunting task, especially after 105 years in the market with the leading heavy cruiser segment share locked up.  It seems impossible to surpass.  With success like that why would anyone at Harley-Davidson do anything different or even consider trying to break a proven success?
But, [...]

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50 Years Of Honda

Last week the 50th celebration of American Honda Motor Company went largely unnoticed.
It was fifty years ago in a small storefront in Los Angeles that the company opened its first U.S. based operation selling the step-through Honda 50 and developing the tag line “You meet the nicest people on a Honda.”  It would be 20 [...]

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MV Augusta Twists The Throttle

I landed on the Discovery channel the other night and watched a rare look inside the MV Augusta factory, where they built the F4-312. 
You may recall Harley-Davidson acquired MV Augusta last year for $108M which was previously blogged HERE.
At any rate, I’ve watched the ‘Twist The Throttle‘ documentary series in the past, but MV Augusta was [...]

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Time To Sell Harley Brands

Anyone can purchase Harley-Davidson industry reports which discuss motorcycle demand and forecasts.  Topics often include market size, product segmentation, technology trends, environmental and regulatory factors, trade, market environment, product forecasts and the like.
Or you can wait and watch your inbox as the news or sales promotions roll in for an indicator on the state of [...]

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Revolutionary Road

No, I’m not talking about the newly released DiCaprio and Winslet movie, but about Honda’s plans to enter the “chopper” motorcycle segment.  At the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show in New York City, which ended yesterday Honda announced their plans with a model called the ‘Fury’.
Rumors have circulated since last summer, but Honda’s NYC announcement [...]

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HOG Call For Hooters

For 15 years the Honda ‘Hoot‘ has been touted as one of the largest motorcycle rallies in North America. 
Honda pulled the plug for 2009 citing “economic uncertainty” as the rest of us watch yet another motorcycle rally bite the dust.
I’ve talked to folks who attended the “hoot” previously and they’ve told me, it went from [...]

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Motorcycle Skid Marks

We all did it as young tikes on a bicycle…zoom down a hill and lock the rear tire brake putting the bicycle into a “lazy-S” skid.  Locking the rear wheel required little skill and resulted in a small range of possible after effects.  It was fun, cool and the likely outcome was bragging rights for [...]

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