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Harley-Davidson has just released its sales and financial figures for 2014. We’ve boiled down the report to the news of most interest to Cycle World readers: –For full-year 2014, Harley shipped 270,726 motorcycles to dealers and distributors, a 3.9 percent increase compared to 2013. –For full-year 2014, dealers sold 267,999 new Harleys worldwide, up 2.7 percent compared to 260,839 motorcycles in 2013. –Retail unit sales for 2014 were up 1.3 percent in the U.S., 11.8 percent in the Asia...

Former World Supersport podium finisher Robbin Harms is set to make his debut at the 2015 Isle of Man TT Races. The Danish rider will ride for the highly respected TC Racing/DP Coldplaning team, run by former racer Mick Charnock, and will contest the RST Superbike, RL360 Superstock, PokerStars Senior and Monster Energy Supersport Races on >Honda machinery. The 33-year old came to prominence in the cut and thrust arena of the World Supersport Championship, contesting the series on a...

Motorsport Aftermarket Group (MAG) today announced the hiring of former Brunswick Boat Group President Andrew Graves as its new Chief Executive Officer. Graves will lead the next phase of integration following the 2014 merger of Tucker Rocky/Biker’s Choice and MAG, and drive the long-term strategy of the combined company. He becomes CEO of MAG effective immediately. “We conducted an extensive national search to find the right CEO for MAG,” says J.A. Lacy, MAG’s Chairman. “Andy understands...

India celebrated the 66th anniversary of the establishment of its constitution and becoming an independent republic this week. U.S. President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama were among the guests of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi present for the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi which included a parade featuring the motorcycle stunt display by India’s Border Security Force.     The BSF’s Janbaz stunt team display incredible balance with as many as 11 people perched...

In the real world, the holy grail of motorcycles exist. These are the bikes we ogle every time we either surf the web, attend a show, or ride past a showroom. Then there are the bikes we could never have, primarily because they were never really built to exist for the average human. One can still dream though... Motorcycles built as concepts (one-offs or just fantasy bikes) give us hope for what someday could be. We've assembled a handful of fantasy bikes that we'd love to see in our own...

For no particular reason, my personal moto-wardrobe has been devoid of a new Shoei helmet for quite some time. Evans gave the new-last-year RF-1200 a fair, if not glowing, review, so when the RF’s 2015 color schemes were released, I put in an order for a Terminus TC-9 model. I wore it for the first time on my way to San Diego for Shoei’s presentation of its new adventure-touring lid, the Hornet X2. When it rains it pours.   Arriving in San Diego, I deemed the RF a comfortable helmet in...

After spending his entire premier-class career with Australian Jeremy Burgess at his side, nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi made a surprising crew chief change after the conclusion of the 2013 MotoGP season. Silvano Galbusera, the former technical boss of Yamaha’s World Superbike team, was an easy choice for the Italian. The two worked together in 2010, when Rossi twice tested the factory YZF-R1 while he was getting back to fitness after breaking his leg at Mugello. According to...

We've known a few riders who have been forced to ride three wheels in lieu of two. Joe Smith (pictured above) lost his leg in a motorcycle accident long ago and has since been unable to ride two wheels, forced to ride three-wheelers and side-car-outfits (read his story at the link below).   There will come a day when we're too old to ride, when a bike becomes too heavy and the road becomes too treacherous for us to maneuver. The fact is, there are many abilities a rider can take for...

Shortly after Friday’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross press conference at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California, I spoke briefly with Red Bull KTM's Ryan Dungey. Recently married, the 25-year-old Minnesota native was the last rider to win the number-one plate before the other Ryan, Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto, raced away with four consecutive championships. Dungey and TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed are the only former premier-class title winners to start the 2015 season. How do you balance the...

I was a two-stroke guy until everything went four-stroke in the 1980s. I had a choice: I could either learn about four-strokes or go stand in a corner and pout. I figured both two-strokes and four-strokes burn the same fuel, mixed with the same air, and perform the same four essential power-cycle functions of compression, combustion, exhaust, and intake, so they are really the same engine, packaged in two different ways. So I got over the change and learned about cam-lobe center angle and...