New "American" MC Mfg

[dt]

Motorcycle.com (2-17) re-2010 Indy Dealer Expo: “For us, the highlight of the show was the emergence of a new manufacturer – an American-based one, no less! The formerly underfinanced Swedish OEM Highland is reborn as US Highland, Inc., headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma and now on firm financial footing. R&D work will continue in Sweden. The renewed Highland is preparing to launch a line of at least eight different motorcycles this spring. A key distinction of the Highland bikes will be ability to have them tailored to each rider, from seats to handlebars to suspensions and steering geometry.”

http://www.motorcycle.com/events/2010-indy-dealer-expo-report-89223.html#
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Based on a little research, essentially, the new “American Manufacturer” is the old Highland that was purchased by Lemon Tree (an M&A Firm) and merged into an inactive public shell company based in Tulsa. Highland has had a line of principally off-road bikes and racing models dating back to 2000. The principal concept underlying the new US Highland Company is reintroduction of the Works Bikes concept; that is, factory prepared racing sleds.

The company’s website ( http://www.ushighland.com/ ) is seemingly under development, but it appears that buyers submit form-based details of their size, weight, needs, desires and the company ships out a custom Works-Type racer in seven days. The price tag? Not yet disclosed, but the rumor mill has the 450MX (photo below) at $13,000.

Hmmmm. Welcome to America, but I really don’t know about this whole mail-order concept, particularly when it involves, for all intents and purposes, a startup company. In addition, the whole Works Concept of the 70s and 80s seems a little dated considering that the aftermarket performance parts industry has flourished. I guess if someone wants a “turn-key” solution and is willing to gamble on what ultimately arrives in the crate, then this may ultimately work. My 2 cents.

Thoughts?
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[mrbones]

They all look like racebikes, no?

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According to the article, US Highland is ultimately going to have eight models. In addition to the MX, Motard and Flattracker, shown above, they’re going to have some Enduro models. The first three photos are the Enduros from the old Swedish Company and, since it’s that company that relocated to the US, I guess I assume those will be in the offerings. Something new that they have on their website and in the article is the Viking 1100V2 (a sportbike; last photo). They also will have an ATV. Of course we’ll see if they ultimately have any of this.

Going back to the whole Works Concept, they want to offer custom, factory-prepared motorcycles; race-ready in the case of those models, but the concept applies across the board is how I read it. Mail-order motorcycles that are custom made for the buyer.

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I was catching up on some of my reading this morning and came across this article in Kneeslider: US Highland Motorcycles Partners Die in Plane Crash

Geesh, that's absolutely terrible. Most companies have policies about officers and key employees using planes, like two can't travel in the same plane and some companies don't allow officers to travel or even ride in private planes. This is why.

[mrbones]

Wow. Just like that, gone.