Italian international distributor Omnia Racing has added to its inventory with new product lines from DNA Filters, of Greece; protectors and accessories from British specialist GB Racing, and lightweight, high performance Stylema brake calipers by Brembo. The Stylema design sees around 7% less weight and reduced external dimensions for "a more direct connection to the piston area, increased airflow to the pads and the spaces around the pistons for better cooling".
Dell'Orto is to continue as exclusive Moto3 ECU supplier until 2025. Headquartered in Lombardy, Dell'Orto has been the sole ECU supplier for the lightweight class of Grand Prix racing since 2012 and is a long-term partner of MotoGP. The company is also the official ECU for the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup.
At the end of October, Max Biaggi set a new record in the 'Partially Streamlined electric motorcycle over 300 kilos' class when he rode the Voxan Wattman electric Superbike at the Chateauroux Airfield in France to set a two runs in two hours average of 366.94 km/h (228.05 mph) - beating Ryuji Tsuruta's Mobitec EV-02A record of 329 km/h (204 mph).
Having already added manufacturing capacity in Argentina in 2020, Indian manufacturer Royal Enfield (Eicher Motors) is said to be planning to open an additional 'overseas' plant in 2021, this time in Thailand. Based in Chachoengsao it will be a Southeast Asia production hub. It will benefit from the better tariff status that Thailand would offer as one of the signatories to the recently concluded 15 nation Asia-Pacific free trade deal - a deal that covers some one third of the world's population, including China, but currently excluding India.
John Russell, the interim CEO for TVS at Norton Motorcycle in the UK, has said that he hopes to move the company into a new manufacturing facility near Birmingham, England by the end of 2020, with production underway there at some point in January 2021. For the next year or so, he says the company will mostly be working on the current V4s and getting into Euro 5 compliance for future models. The company will be retiring the present iteration of the Commando after the current production run ends.
Hero MotorCorp is said to be developing a premium pitched, high performance electric motorcycle range in Europe. An artwork of an avant-garde, hubless, adjustable configuration chassis design has been in circulation on the internet. It shows a machine called the e.US (Electric Ultra Sport) which is being developed at Hero's Munich based technical center, in collaboration with the R&D Center in Jaipur, Rajasthan. In order to keep costs down it will be manufactured in India, where Hero is already a player in the EV market, but largely from European components.
In addition to producing an updated Metropolis three wheel scooter at Peugeot's historic Mandeure factory in France, Mahindra's 'Classic Legends' retro brand division says it sold over 50,000 Jawa branded motorcycles in India in the 12 months to October 2020. In a separate announcement it has let it be known that it is plotting an Indian comeback for the Jawa 'Yezdi' sub brand. Add to that, Brexit permitting, the company is believed to be developing BSA badged ICE and electric bike models at its Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK Technical Center, for 2021 assembly from mostly UK made components at a factory in Coventry - the spiritual home of the motorcycle industry in the UK, if not the world.
It is five years since Honda teased a possible electric Super Cub concept, but according to rideapart.com, a patent filed in the U.S. in 2016 (for the battery case/cradle structure) that just got published this July may suggest that 'Big Red' is finally about to 'Go E'. As part of its mission to "democratise electrics", Shanghai Customs (sh-customs.com) started offering Cub ICT/E non-battery and full conversion kits some two or three years ago.
The 48th Tokyo Motorcycle Show, originally planned for Spring 2021, has been cancelled already, with the organisers hoping to be able to host the show in 2022.
For the 2021 Supersport World Championship campaign, the ParkinGO team will return to Yamaha to form the ParkinGO Yamaha team, fielding promising young talent Manuel Gonzalez.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MNW, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com
