Get your motor running. Head out on the highway. Looking for adventure. And whatever comes our way…
The words to Steppenwolf’s bikers’ anthem Born To Be Wild whirled around in my head as I clunked my Harley-Davidson Rocker into gear and pulled away from the lights.
It was just after 10am and I was leaving the Chicago city limits, heading due north along the western shores of Lake Michigan to Milwaukee. It’s a 90-mile journey along Route 94, crossing from Illinois into Wisconsin, with my ultimate destination the new Harley-Davidson museum in the company’s hometown.
America’s premier motorcycle company began life in Milwaukee back in 1903.
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August 29th, 2009 by speed
NEW YORK • The bad boy image of motorcycles helped drive sales for decades in the United States, thanks partly to Hollywood rebels such as James Dean and Marlon Brando or Peter Fonda in Easy Rider. But now, with the industry facing sharply declining sales, some riders and advocates are trying to sell a different, greener image of motorcycles as the environmentally-friendly alternative to cars.
Despite a tax rebate for motorcycles included in February’s U.S. economic stimulus package, combined sales of the top 12 brands were down 46% in the first six months of 2009, compared with the first six months of 2008, according to the U.S. Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC). That’s worse than the 35% drop for auto sales over the same period.
The slide was particularly worrying for Harley-Davidson HOG.N, whose large, loud and powerful machines have become emblematic of the free-spirited American biker. It also accounts for nearly half the U.S. motorcycle market share.
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August 26th, 2009 by speed
Motorcycle safety should be a habit for motorcyclists, but what about for the millions of other motorists on the road alongside the Harley-Davidsons?
Motorcycle enthusiasts agree that other motorists simply don’t seem to be aware of motorcyclists on the road, and that can have deadly consequences.
“The net effect of what car drivers do appears that they are getting too close and not respecting (motorcyclists), but when you look at the data and anecdotal comments from police, (motorists) don’t see the motorcycle,” Ken Glaser, director of special projects for the Irvine, Calif.-based Motorcycle Safety Foundation, said.
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August 26th, 2009 by speed
