2005 Harley-davidson Road King Custom Flhrsi on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Harley-Davidson to Assemble More Models in India

Harley-Davidson is expanding its assembly operations in India, increasing the number of models imported as complete knockdown kits to nine. Harley-Davidson will now assemble the Fat Boy, Fat Boy Special and Heritage Softail Classic in India, joining six models already being assembled in India. The move follows India’s new budget which increases import duties on motorcycles with engines larger than 800cc to 75% from the previous rate of 60%.

Fundraising Harley Prints By 8-year-old MDA Ambassador On Sale

MDA Ambassador Reagan Imhoff wanted the artwork she created with Harley-Davidson designer Mathew Hintz to “raise a lot of money for MDA so we can have more scientists to make medicines.” The original drawing of a purple Harley-Davidson Softail Breakout motorcycle brought in $3500 on August 31 at the MDA auction during the 110th Anniversary Celebration. The pair hopes to raise even more with sales of the limited edition, signed prints, available through www.HintzStudios.com. “I’m happy our artwork raised some money, and hope we sell all of the prints!” said Reagan, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a painful neuromuscular disease.

Vespa goes back to the future

IT'S been a while coming, but the gorgeous Vespa 946 - EICMA 2012's Best of Show - has finally introduced something to the two-wheeled world that our four-wheeled counterparts have had for a while.  I call this 'reverse retro-futurism' - the art of borrowing lines from models past and imbuing them with a sleek sense of future direction (as opposed to retro-futurism, the pre-1960s design trend of depicting the technology of the future. The term 'decopunk' may come close, but feel free to tell me if there's a more exact term.) It's what the New Mini and the New Beetle (both 1997 and 2012 versions) have done so well, and so successfully: building an all-new model as a tribute to a classic, something that's modern yet already timeless, with a widely-appreciated, inclusive aesthetic (and here we eliminate the Plymouth PT Cruiser from the conversation). The biking world is great at retro, indeed thrives on it, but not so good at adding in a taste of the 21st century.