Yamaha Motor has cause for celebration…just not in the United States, as the Tuning Fork brand posted a 6.6%…

There is some big news coming out of the motorcycle industry today, as Triumph and Bajaj have just announced a new global partnership that will see the two brands collaborating on new middleweight motorcycles for the global market. It is still not clear what the fine-print of the deal looks like, but an obvious guess would be that Triumph and Bajaj will co-develop middleweight motorcycles for both emerging and developed markets, with both brands taking advantage of the other’s distribution to reach new untapped customers. If this sounds like a familiar strategy, you would be right, as Bajaj’s deal with Triumph is very similar to the deal the Indian brand struck with KTM. However, in the case of Triumph, Bajaj is not taking an equity stake in the British marque.

If you wanted better proof that the American motorcycle industry is struggling right now, take a look at the…

It has been speculated in the motorcycle community for quite some time now, and the day has finally come, as the Bonnier Motorcycle Group (BMG) announced today that it is ceasing production of Sport Rider Magazine. The news about Sport Rider comes wedged into a larger announcement, which involves BMG restructuring its motorcycle publishing and sales departments “in order to deliver more specialized content and provide better solutions for the motorcycle industry to engage with enthusiasts.” There is a lot to be said with how Bonnier is “restructuring” media, marketing, and editorial amongst its brands – perhaps better left for an article of its own – but the big shock today is how the closure of Sport Rider ends a 25-year tradition of covering the sport bike market in the United States.

Can part two of the (melo)drama that is the 2017 MotoGP season live up to part one? It has…

The hits keep on coming, in terms of Volkswagen’s plans (or non-plans) to sell its Italian motorcycle manufacturer, Ducati Motor Holding. According to the latest report from Reuters, the votes are lacking on supervisory board for Volkswagen, when it comes to selling Ducati and transmission-maker Renk. The lack of votes at the Volkswagen board isn’t a new problem, of course, with the German company’s labor unions accounting for half of the board seats, and reportedly very unenthusiastic about selling either brand. “The employee representatives on Volkswagen’s supervisory board will neither approve a sale of Ducati, nor one of Renk or MAN Diesel & Turbo,” a spokesman for VW group’s works council told Reuters this past weekend.

Remember last year when Harley-Davidson had a Brinks truck dropped on them, for performance tuner kits that failed to…

We already broke the news last week about the BMW R1200GS model recall, for issues with the front fork tubes, but today the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) made it official, listing the recall on its public database. The move sees BMW Motorrad USA recalling over 14,000 units in the US market, which is close to one tenth of the total models sold worldwide. This recall affects certain 2014-2017 BMW R1200GS and BMW R1200GS Adventure motorcycles. As we mentioned in our previous reporting, at the center of the recall – which started life as a mere technical bulletin – is the ability for the fixed fork tube to separate from the pressed in seal plug that secures the tube to the upper triple clamp.

MV Agusta has finally closed a very important funding round, getting equity investment from ComSar Invest, which is backed by the Black Ocean Group, which in turn is owned by Russian billionaire Timur Sardarov. The move sees MV Agusta able also to repurchase its stock from Mercedes AMG, which previously owned a 25% stake in the Italian motorcycle manufacturer. The details of the ComSar deal however have not been disclosed, though we do know that the deal includes enough cash to finish MV Agusta’s recapitalization plan with its creditors and to begin its new, more focused, business plan for new models and motorcycle production. According to MV Agusta’s press release, the newly financed recapitalization plan has already been approved by a quorum of the creditors.