All the News that Didn't Fit

There wasn't much news that didn't fit this month. These are the scraps:

Motorcycle Parking

Brooklyn, NY cops are putting the arm on motorcyclist sidewalk parking, an illegal practice that has escaped notice in the past. Motorcyclists park on the city's sidewalks to protect their motorcycles from the city's infamously erratic drivers and for security. A parking ticket costs $115.

Cincinnati, Ohio officials are going to create more parking spaces for scooters and motorcycles. The director of Transportation and Engineering said demand for these spaces is high and the city will add more spaces as streets are being redone.

Fit Yourself to a New Motorcycle

Check out this website to see how you fit on a brand new motorcycle: http://cycle-ergo.com/

Road 2 A Cure

Former Army Ranger Chris Calaprice has crossed several milestones in his 43 years. He is a two-time survivor of pancreatic cancer and was also treated for melanoma (skin cancer). On November 20th (November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month), he came to the end of his 9-month-long, 42,000-mile 50 states tour.

Chris said, “We set out on the Road 2 A Cure to change the nation’s view of pancreatic cancer from one of hopelessness to hope, and to capture it in documentary style.What we learned is that cancer funding is largely driven by big marketing dollars and politics, but we can change that through our democracy – survivors and supporters need to exercise their voices. My wife and I paid a high price to bring pancreatic cancer awareness to America, but it is imperative for those millions of people out there being crucified by this unforgiving disease.”

Euro Market Disaster

Like the US economy, European motorcycle sales are crashing. Following a terrible 2009, 2010 sales are 33% below the previous miserable year. In fact, for the last 3 years, sales have contracted by almost one-third every year. Italian sales, which drives the European motorcycle market has been hammered, but Germany, the UK, France, Denmark, Greece, Poland, Norway and Sweden are all down. Even scooters, the under-50cc market, is down 26%. There is some hope, though. The 5-day Cologne INTERMOT show registered more than 210,000 motorcyclists and scooterists, which was a decent increase from the previous year.

H-D Set to Manufacture in India

Harley Davidson's CKD (complete knock-down) assembly facility is expected to go on-line in the first half of 2011. This plant will, initially, build "motorcycles for the Indian market from component kits supplied by its U.S. plants."

Harley-Davidson Motor Company President and Chief Operating Officer Matthew S. Levatich said, “This investment will allow us to improve our market responsiveness and production flexibility while reducing the tariff burden, which we expect will drive growth over time by making our bikes more accessible to India’s consumers."