The results of the 'Brexit' vote are in, and the UK will now soon begin the process of leaving the European Union. I'm surprised -- not because of pre-referendum polls, which were too close to call but because the bookmaker Ladbrokes was offering terrific odds for 'Leave' bets just a day before the vote. It was a rare example of a vote that defied the bookmaker's odds.

The vote has huge implications for Britain and the future of Europe -- the thing is, at this moment, it's hard to know what the implications are. But there will be short term ramifications, and they'll influence the motorcycle industry in a few ways.

The British Pound immediately fell relative to the Euro (-5%) the Dollar (-9%) and the Yen (-11%). It will rebound but it is likely that the pound will remain depressed for some time. That should be good for British exports and bad for British imports.

Triumph bosses were probably conflicted as they watched a historic drop in the British Pound overnight. Triumphs assembled in Hinckley will become more affordable in export markets. But triples like this one are assembled in Thailand. The Pound fell 8% against the Baht making the decision to offshore that production a lot less attractive.

A lot of Triumph bikes are now made in Thailand, and overnight the Pound fell nearly 8% relative to the Thai Baht, making the decision to assemble bikes there a lot less attractive.

In spite of that, Triumph motorcycles should probably increase market share in the UK, because British importers will be paying a lot more for Hondas and Harleys, for example.

Moving in the opposite direction, the price of new Triumphs could fall here in the U.S.

British motorcyclists ride in Europe a lot. In the short term, that just got more expensive. Over the long term, if Brexit means a return to travel carnets for vehicles, insurance hassles, and the need for visas... well, British riders will have a little less incentive to seek out those sunny Spanish roads or attend a cacophonous Italian MotoGP round.

The Isle of Man, which didn't even have a say in Brexit, pegs its currency to the Pound; it just got a little more affordable for travelers to attend the TT, although it may get a lot more complicated for the many racers who currently travel to the Isle of Man from the Continent.

I noticed that David Emmett, the Brit who operates the excellent Motomatters blog from a home in Holland said on Facebook that he'll apply for Dutch citizenship. Last but not least, I just got a pay cut for my Classic Bike column, because I'm paid for that one in Pounds.

Brexit also has larger implications for Europe. The EU is weaker without the UK; it's too early to tell what that means for companies like Ducati, KTM, and BMW which rely heavily on export sales. In the short term the Euro's also fallen against the dollar, which should be good for Americans who like to ride new European bikes, but it will be bad for Harley-Davidson which has been counting on increasing foreign sales to offset aging American buyers. (H-D doesn't break out International sales by country in its annual report, but I think it's safe to say the UK is one of, if not the biggest, foreign markets for The Motor Co. Harleys are popular in the UK, and Harley's had a strong dealer presence there for a century.)

In an increasingly interconnected global economy, it's harder and harder to say where anything's made any more. But at least in the UK, Brexit was a vote for borders. (Well, it was really a vote against foreigners.) It's also harder to predict exactly how it will shake out for any business.

I'm certain of this, though: it will impact the motorcycle business, and motorcyclists who live in the the UK and the rest of Europe...

UPDATE...

Roger Willis, a long time observer of the UK motorcycle industry notes: Two-thirds of Triumph's production is now in Thailand including all the Bonnevilles for sale worldwide. The ones coming back to the UK are, I believe, dollar-denominated imports. The prime reason for a Thai manufacturing location, besides cheaper labour, is to take advantage of ASEAN group FTAs with the US and Antipodes. PS Harley's UK market is much smaller than France or Germany

[My article is republished from Cycle World - check the original here]

Julian Heppekausen is the first ever to win Baja with a �60s Bonneville desert sled.

Sand is perhaps the most difficult terrain for a motorcycle, but the Triumphs weight was an advantage over newer, lighter machines.

Dirt; it�s how Americans race. That was the story in 1961 anyway, when Daytona still referred to a beach.  Honda wanted to crack the American market, and that meant building dirt bikes; they�d dominated global GP racing, but were mostly absent on the rough stuff. The machine they developed to spearhead an off-road push was the CL 72 Scrambler, which used the sophisticated OHC twin-cylinder motor of the CB 72 Hawk, installed in a new full-cradle frame with a bash plate and high ground clearance, high-level exhausts, minimal fenders, and a small fuel tank.  To modern eyes, the Honda CL 72 Scrambler looks more enduro or street scrambler, as it was fully road legal with lights and all, but pure motocross machines were rare in 1962 � most scramblers were roadsters with their lights removed.

The easy part - a lousy dirt road is the best road you'll find in the Mexican 1000

American Honda�s lightbulb moment to launch the CL 72 was a record run over the wide-open desert of Baja, Mexico. While plenty of SoCal racing took place in California�s Mojave desert, very little happened south of Tijuana, and an audacious 1000-mile endurance test could be conducted out of the public eye.  Legendary desert racer Bud Ekins was tapped, but his contract with Triumph meant Honda was a no-go, so he passed the opportunity to his equally talented younger brother Dave, who teamed with LA Honda dealer Bill Robertson Jr. No official record existed on the run from Tijuana to La Paz, so the bikes only needed to finish the 963-mile ride, and send telegrams from each end to confirm their time. That didn�t mean the prospect was easy; with no gas stations from Ensenada to La Paz (851 miles), and few villages, the riders would need to be supplied en route. The going had only a few miles of pavement, and long stretches were untracked sand through desert wilderness.

Baja buggies from vintage to new compete side by side with motorcycles

The riders� route was scouted by air, then food, gasoline, and support were provided the same way.  John McLaughlin, former Catalina GP winner (on Velocettes) piloted a Cessna 160 with Cycle World founder Joe Parkhurst and photographer Don Miller as passengers. A larger Cessna 140, piloted by Walt Fulton, carried the food and fuel for the riders, along with Bill Robertson Sr.  The bikes needed 9 refills, and landable spots were chosen for riders to meet the planes. Come ride day, Ekins and Robertson sent their telegrams from Tijuana at midnight, and headed south on Highway 1.  There were hardships and lots of crashes; they got strung up on barbed wire fences while sun-blinded, Ekins fell 13 times in one night, and they were lost and rode in circles for 6 hours.  Robertson�s Honda holed a piston 130 miles from La Paz after crushing his air cleaner in a crash, and grit entered the motor, but he carried on with one cylinder, catching up to Ekins 2 hours after he�d clocked a 39hour, 49minute elapsed time.  The point had been proven, and the publicity for Honda was certainly worthwhile, as they sold 89,000 CL 72s from 1962-68.

Historic Era entry Mark Post's highly modifed 1992 Ford F-150 racer

Not long after Honda�s ride, Bruce Meyers took his prototype Meyers Manx VW dune buggy along the same route, and lopped 5 hours off Ekins� time � those hours spent lost at night no doubt. Thus was born a car/bike rivalry, which sparked the idea for a proper race, and Ed Pearlman founded the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA), which ran the first Mexican 1000 race in 1967.  Motorcycles, cars, and trucks ran the same route, using a rally format, with mandatory checkpoints in the multi-day event.  The Mexican 1000 was run for 6 years, before the Oil Crisis of �73 dampened everyone�s spirits; NORRA was disbanded, and there was no race that year.  But nobody had asked Mexico�s opinion on the matter; the attention focused on the nearly vacant Baja peninsula was too good to let lapse, so they promptly announced their own Baja 1000 race over the same course. They contracted Mickey Thompson of Southern California Off-Road Enterprises (SCORE) for organization, who hired Sal Fish (of Hot Rod magazine) to created SCORE International to organize the Baja 1000, which it has done since 1974.

Hayden Roberts ('65 Triumph TR6) chats with Julian Heppekausen ('66 Triumph T120)

The rising interest in vintage dirt racing in recent years spurred Ed Pearlman�s son Mike to revive NORRA, and bring back the original Mexican 1000, with its multi-day rally format.  Started in 2009, the race originally catered to pre-1998 motorcycles, cars, and trucks; now there are classes for modern vehicles as well, in case your 800hp trophy truck needs exercise between professional Baja bashes.   Running superfast modern desert tools alongside vintage motorcycles and cars is daunting, but also part of the fun, at least according to Julian Heppekausen.  He recently rode his 1966 Triumph T120 desert sled, �Terry�, to victory in the Vintage Triumph Thumper class, becoming the first rider ever to win, and one of only 3 to complete a 1000-mile Baja race on a Triumph.

Julian's lucky number!  An arcane mix of family numerology, which apparently works

You might know Julian Heppekausen as CEO of the Deus store in Venice, CA, or for his exploits on Terry the Triumph in the Barstow-Las Vegas off-road race, which he�s finished 4 times.   He credits this success to the quality of Terry�s original construction by motorcycle industry icon Terry Prat, for whom the bike is named.  Prat was the European MX correspondent for several magazines in the 1970s, then a manager at Cycle News from 1979 � 2011.  The �66 Triumph T120 desert sled was his last build, which he raced in the Barstow-Las Vegas Rally in 2011 (it�s not a race; that�s not allowed in the tortoise sanctuary � but everyone knows who finished first).  Heppekausen bought the bike in 2012, and carried on competing across the Mojave desert every year since, finishing the �hard� route twice.   The means riding with new KTMs and Honda 450s, and his Triumph is the only 1960s bike to finish the Rally in a very long time.  �They really don�t have a class for such an old bike � they call 1980s twin-shock motocrossers vintage!�

Viet Nguyen's 1969 Triumph T100 at dawn, ready for the day's stage on his 500cc twin

Keeping a 50-year old Triumph from grenading mid-desert exposes Heppekausen as a sensitive hooligan; �You need to know your bike really well. There�s a harmonic hum at certain rpms, where it seems like the motor will go forever, and in a long race you have to bring it back to that pace when you can. I continually pat the tank and thank Terry for not breaking!�  Some vintage riders are scared of breakdowns on gentle street rides, but the old saw �the more you ride them, the better they get� seems to apply here. Julian shipped Terry the Triumph to Europe in 2014, competing at events in Germany and England; it�s also been filmed wheelying in front of the Eiffel Tower under Dimitri Coste. After successes in Vegas-Barstow, he decided to try the revived NORRA Mexican 1000, along with several friends on their own vintage Triumph dirt bikes, although Terry the Triumph was the only finisher.

Classic rally roll-charts keep the riders from getting lost...too often

That�s perfectly understandable � all the bikes were at least 50 years old, and 1000 miles of desert racing is insanely demanding.  Julian notes, �Modern trophy trucks with special tube-frame chassis and high-HP motors run 36� of suspension; they can run over a basketball and not feel it. I can�t do that on a Triumph with 3� of travel, and when the road is full of rocks, I could hit a baseball and be thrown off.  Near the end of the race was a 15-mile stretch of rocky downhill, which was mentally challenging after 1000 miles, especially with trophy trucks passing at 140mph!  I have to go to work on Monday, so kept way left to preserve myself.�  While running with $200k, 600hp specialized desert trucks is hairy scary, it has benefits too, �Robbie Gordon passed me around a corner, driving like I�ve never seen a car driven. I was doing 60mph, and he was doing 110mph � I don�t know how he got around!  And I was the only one watching � it�s the best view of the race, from the saddle.�

Viet Nguyen's T100; unit Triumph 500cc twins are considered very reliable, but none has ever finished the Mexican 1000

Julian abandons the roll-chart for an impromptu mileage-based warning system for sand washes and potholes

Mark Stahl's Legend category '78 Ford F-100 pickup

Julian finishes a stage, alone again

John Crain's beautiful 1953 Rickman-Triumph pre-unit racer, the most exotic Triumph in the race

Nate Hudson's 1969 Triumph T100 after a day in the desert

Hayden Roberts exits Tijuana on his 1965 Triumph TR6

The 'Mail on Sunday' gives details of the Matchless bond offer, to raise cash for making motorcycles...

The Matchless name, currently embroidered on a line of moto-inspired clothing, was purchased by the Malenotti family of Italy, back in 2012.  They'd previously purchased the Belstaff brand, and found considerable success selling updated moto-ish gear, after hiring supermodel Kate Moss for ads, and product-placing their gear in movies and TV shows.  Rapid expansion of Belstaff retail shops around Europe meant borrowing lots of money from Italian banks, and when those banks got nervous and made 'the call' for their cash back, the Malenottis were forced to sell Belstaff.  But they pulled a rabbit out of a hat, as the brand was sold for nearly 100M euros more than they owed the banks, and the Malenottis walked away smelling like a rose.

The Matchless 'Model X Reloaded' prototype

With Matchless, they've been running the same playbook, immediately hiring the evergreen Kate Moss for the next round of Matchless logo gear.  The Malenottis went a step further with Matchless, though, and have stated their intention to begin limited production of Matchless branded motorcycles, and have shown the prototype Model X Reloaded, as shown here.  Last Sunday's 'Mail on Sunday' newspaper noted the Original Matchless Motorcycle Company will offer a bond to investors through the online finance platform Karadoo, with the promise of a 6% annual interest rate for 5 years - considerably more than any bank offers at the moment.  The �5M they intend to raise will fund the launch of 'two superbike models', neither of which is Kate Moss.  But surely she'll be in the picture; she's their lucky charm.  Whether the Model X Reloaded will be produced in the same configuration as the prototype shown is unclear, and I'll refrain from passing judgement on the design, except to say,

The Model X Reloaded...

Michele Malenotti designed the Model X Reloaded, and is quoted saying, "We want to build the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles...I spoke with the Rolls-Royce CEO and he told me 'congratulations, you have found a place in the market where nobody is selling right now."   I don't expect the Rolls CEO to know his bikes (although their parent company BMW happens to produce motorcycles), but that's not an accurate statement. Several boutique motorcycle firms have price points far beyond typical production models, including the revamped Brough Superior SS100, and the Ecosse Moto Works Founder's Edition Titanium XX, which currently holds the #1 spot for most expensive new motorcycle at $300,000.  Brough Superior's tagline has been 'The Rolls Royce of Motorcycles' since 1921, so the Matchless claim is audacious...and Brough is already delivering new bikes.  In fact, I'll be test riding one next week!  Stay tuned...


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Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.  

When you look around, wouldn't you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such fine looking men as are standing in uniform in this ballpark today? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.  

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift—that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies—that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter—that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body—it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed—that's the finest I know.  

So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.