Geezer with a Grudge: All The News that Didn't Fit

Jul 1, 2012

All The News that Didn't Fit

Can 4 Wheels be a Cycle?

South African company, Swago Motor, is producing a product they are calling a "four-wheeled leaning motorcycle" (also known called a motorized quadricycle). The model is the 575 EVR-1 and it is sort of like a trike for the handicapped. It cruises at 65mph with a 24 mile range, has all-wheel independent suspension, dual hydraulic disk brakes, dual rear-wheel direct drive electric motors with electronic torque control, takes 6 hours to charge, and will lean up to 42 degrees. It's still not a motorcycle, though.

Harley is in India, Sort of

Not long ago, HD opened up a new "mother plant" in Bawal, Haryana. Soon afterwards, there was a lot of talk about an "INR 3-4 lakh Harley Davidson" developed specifically for the huge Indian market. However, Harley Davidson India CEO Anoop Prakash made it absolutely clear that there will be no sub-800cc Harley products coming from his factory. The Company is trying to target emerging economies' younger buyers in India, Brazil and South East Asia. without a product aimed at that market's preferences, it will be tough for HD to make much of dent in those highly competitive markets.

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The Geezer Story

I stumbled upon this column name (Geezer with a Grudge) almost 20 years ago, in 1999. The first Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly editor I worked with, in late 1999, complained that the magazine was getting no mail and the editors wanted to know if any readers were still out there. I fired off a sarcastic note, as a joke, intended to provide a little humor and some feedback. He published it as an article and later called me to say he'd received more mail on that letter than he'd received in the past year! I followed that with an offer to write a monthly column attempting to piss off a particular section of the magazine's readership to see if that tactic would generate some mail.

It did, probably more regularly than the magazine wanted at times, and I wrote a monthly column for MMM until the magazine died in 2018.

I plan to post an occasional old Geezer article into the blog, followed by short comments about the current status of my perspective on our activity/sport/vehicle of choice.