Industry Updates

Thanks for the heads up, Jeff. I just sent you some of my economic stimulus money, and as I was doing so I happened to notice that V&H is no longer offering their 4-into-1 for Z1's.

I'm guessing here but I'll bet tires will certainly go up since a lot of the tires sold next year will have been made with US$150 per bbl oil LAST year. I had expected them to take a jump in '08 just because the distributors could use the price of oil as an excuse for some gouging but....it didn't happen.:blink:
Yes, 2009 will be an interesting year in the M/C biz.....

Well, all I say is that hold on to your goodies there in US. If your currency keeps on dropping eurotrash is gonna buy all your priceless kwaks and ship them home to Europe.

EURO
= USD 1.4264
= GBP 0.9418
= SEK 11.0125

It´s beginning to look very tempting to buy stuff from US. Well, actually, I´m waiting for my order from Jeff@Z1...

Hey, Jeff, no extras on pricing though:P

WPBill wrote:

Thanks for the heads up, Jeff. I just sent you some of my economic stimulus money, and as I was doing so I happened to notice that V&H is no longer offering their 4-into-1 for Z1's.

Note previous thread:)

kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...imit=20&limitstart=0

Mcdroid wrote:

Note previous thread:)

kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...imit=20&limitstart=0 [/quote]

I see. QC problems, not economy related. Thanks for the link!

I'm glad I got the 650s going a couple of years ago although I didn't do the 250 this year as I'd thought I might.

How this all shakes out will be interesting. I'll go out on a limb and guess that in a few years the new model lineups will bear little resemblance to the past few years.

N0NB wrote:

...I'll go out on a limb and guess that in a few years the new model lineups will bear little resemblance to the past few years.

At least in the USA, I would agree.

The folks at Kawasaki USA (and the other OEM USA people), seem to have their head in the sand. The bikes sold in Europe and the rest of the world are a much more varied selection. Much less emphasis on cruisers, more on sport bikes and commuter bikes. There's many more 250cc-500cc models in Europe and Japan - mainly for the city riding. When you look a tt eh OEM lineups for the past 10+ years, there's been hardly a single commuter bike or starter bike in their lineup.

I think the aftermarket streetbike performance market (Jay, do you want to comment?) will take a big hit. The EPA emissions requirements going forward are going to make life very difficult for companies like Dynajet, Vance & Hines and more.

Dynojet was nailed with a $1,000,000 fine late last year for knowingly selling performance parts that violated California emissions.
Jesse James was saddled with a big fine too.
In smaller cases, one of the Honda dealers was nailed for modifying off-road bikes, a couple of HD dealers hit...
Yamaha was fined $3,000,000 for selling bikes that didn't conform to CA emissions... and forced to recall/destroy all those bikes...
Expect to see much more of this as the EPA and local states start to enforce emissions.

Wow, Jeff! I hadn't heard or read of any of those fines before, except for the Jesse James one which was quite publicized. I don't recall reading about any of this in Cycle World (maybe they were told to shutup about it) over the past year. The Yamaha case would surely have been big enough to capture the attention of the editors over at CW.

Without going off on a tangent, but before anyone starts thinking that we're safe because we ride older bikes, we're not. The least they could do would be to restrict the yearly miles or purpose the bike is used for as a condition of registration. At the extreme they could refuse to register any vehicle manufactured prior to X date. And don't assert that it can't happen because it most certainly can and probably will someplace.

In the meantime, enjoy your rides!

Here's the start of the Yamaha one...
www.allbusiness.com/government/environme...ations/862669-1.html

and the end:
www.arb.ca.gov/enf/casesett/yamahaseas.htm

The complete California Enforcement list - when you read through there are a fair number of powersport related companies...
www.arb.ca.gov/enf/actions/actions.htm actions
www.arb.ca.gov/enf/casesett/casesett.htm settlements

I got laid off last saturday.. Is that bad enough? Im scared shit, theres nothing out there..

Wow, that sucks violent, sorry to hear that. Were you employed in the automotive industry? Hope things work out for you.

violentvintagecycles wrote:

I got laid off last saturday.. Is that bad enough? Im scared shit, theres nothing out there..

Sory to here that. I just transfered out of a place that layed off 800. Got out just in time but I still might get it just bought my self some time.