Features

CYCLE UPDATE

MILWAUKEE APPROVES H-D LAND PURCHASE
The Milwaukee Common Council has approved property rezoning, site redevelopment guidelines, the creation of a Tax Incremental District, and the sale of 20 acres to Harley-Davidson, Inc. for the company’s planned $95 million museum.
The land to be purchased currently houses the Milwaukee Department of Public Works. The City of Milwaukee has committed to move the public works facility by February 28, 2006, and the museum is expected to be completed two years later. Harley-Davidson’s target is to open the museum to the public in 2008.
H-D officials say development will take place in three phases for a total of 230,000 square feet.
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce estimates the museum will generate $78 million in annual spending and $12.3 million in annual state and local tax revenue.

HONDA FEATURES NEW MODELS ON CYCLE TRADER
Honda has become the latest OEM to showcase its motorcycles in the Manufacturer Showcase on CycleTrader.com. The Manufacturer Showcase allows visitors — i.e., consumers — to preview the new bike models from featured manufacturers.
All of a brand’s new models will be displayed once a visitor clicks on a ‘Featured Manufacturer’. Then, each model can be viewed in closer detail, or the visitor can link to the manufacturer’s official home page.
The Honda brand currently yields approximately 620,000 monthly searches on CycleTrader.com, and has been the leading searched manufacturer on the website for the past two years. Honda vehicles are responsible for 15% of the total number of ads on the site.
Other OEMs taking part in the CycleTrader.com Manufacturer Showcase are Buell, Kawasaki and Victory.

INVENTOR SHOPS CYCLE-COPTER HYBRID
John Bakker, the Dutch inventor of a motorcycle-helicopter hybrid, says he is showing his vehicle to several Montreal-based manufacturers.
Although Bakker won’t name the Canadian firms negotiating with Spark Design, a Rotterdam-based engineering company he is working with, he told CanWest News Service that Montreal, as an international hub of aerospace technology on the doorstep of the U.S. marketplace, is the top choice for a factory to build the three-wheel, two-seat Personal Air and Land Vehicle (PALV).
Bakker said the PALV’s primary use would be to fly between major cities, land at a suburban helipad, then retract its rotors and be driven as a three-wheel motorcycle in city traffic. Capable of reaching speeds of about 125 mph on land and in the air, the vehicle would fly no higher than 4,900 feet and cost an estimated $100,000.
Bakker said it could be ready for test flights by the end of 2005.

  • To return to the current issue, click here.
  • For more of the latest news, click here.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button