Federal, state, and local law enforcement officers fanned out across three states early Friday morning to arrest 19 alleged members and associates of the Vagos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang charged in a 12-count federal indictment with conspiracy involving racketeering, murder, robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault, among other charges. The federal indictment, which names 23 defendants including some of the gang’s most senior leaders, is the culmination of a more than six-year…
Read MorePA to Adopt New Motorcycle Lemon Law
State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Greene/Fayette/Washington, said the House Consumer Affairs Committee today approved her measure that would cover motorcycles under Pennsylvania’s Automobile Lemon Law. “If you buy or lease a new motorcycle with defects affecting its safety, value and use, the manufacturer should fix it – the same as with cars and trucks,” Snyder said. “That’s what my House Bill 74 would ensure.” Snyder said H.B. 74 would include motorcycles…
Read MoreUS Sues Suzuki Analyst Over Emissions Filing
The United States of America is taking a former Suzuki Motor America employee and analyst to court, over allegations that he lied in documents to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of his job with Suzuki, which included filing reports to the US government. The court filing, made with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on June 2nd, alleges that Wayne Powell, a Government Relations Analyst for…
Read MoreKawasaki to Pay $5.2M for Defective ROVs
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., of Japan, Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A., of Foothill Ranch, California, and Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp., U.S.A., of Lincoln, Nebraska have agreed to pay a $5.2 Million civil penalty for under reporting defective vehicles. The penalty settles charges that Kawasaki failed to immediately report to CPSC that its 2012-2016 model year Teryx4 750, Teryx4 800, and Teryx 800…
Read MorePolice Seize Two Motorcycles from Biker
Police Seize Two Motorcycles from a Middletown biker and convicted felon this week after investigators searched his home and determined he bought the vehicles with illegal drug money, police said. Police said they began investigating Shawn J. Gonzales, 37, in March for allegedly selling drugs in Middletown, Meriden, Hartford and other areas. A report on his arraignment stated that Gonzalez is a longtime member of the Dog Pound Rydaz motorcycle club,…
Read MoreThieves Steal 3 Bikes from Manchester Honda
Three off-road motorcycles were stolen from the Manchester Honda dealership early Tuesday morning. The theft occurred at about 12:30 a.m., police Capt. Christopher Davis said. Surveillance footage of the incident, provided by a dealership manager, shows several people backing a silver pickup truck up to the Adams Street building, shattering two windows, using bolt cutters to break a lock around the bikes’ wheels and then lifting three bikes out of…
Read MoreIs Harley-Davidson Moving to Thailand?
Harley-Davidson Inc. said it will build a plant in Thailand ’s Rayong province, southeast of Bangkok, in order to serve the Southeast Asian market. “This is absolutely not about taking jobs out of the United States,” Marc McAllister, a managing director of international sales at Harley-Davidson based in Singapore, told the New York Times. “This is about growing our business in Asia.” The United Steelworkers (USW), which represents members at…
Read MoreHonda Donates Two Bikes to Redondo Beach PD
American Honda donated two Africa Twin adventure motorcycles to the Redondo Beach Police Department during a ceremony at the company’s offices in Torrance, California. The donation was to support the recently launched City of Redondo Beach Police Foundation, which funds new technologies to help advance the vision of the police department. American Honda Community Relations had already assisted the foundation as a founding sponsor, donating a pair of Pioneer 700…
Read MoreNicky Hayden Dies After Being Hit by a Car
Nicky Hayden, the former MotoGP world champion, has died five days after he was involved in a cycling accident with a car in Italy. The 35-year-old American also known as the Kentucky Kid was hit by a car on a training exercise in Italy last weekend, suffering severe head and chest injuries. On Monday, the Maurizio Bufalini Hospital, where he had been placed into a medically induced coma, confirmed that…
Read MoreNICB: National Motorcycle Thefts Increasing
Motorcycle thefts rose slightly in 2016 compared to 2015, but the crime rate is still way down from where it was 10 years ago. So says the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), which just released its annual report on motorcycle thefts in the United States. In 2016, 46,467 motorcycles were reported stolen, compared to 45,555 in 2015 – an increase of 2 percent. “Although 2016 delivered another slight increase in…
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