America needs a transportation policy that includes Motorcycles and electric scooters.


I feel its my duty to start writing about this since as I write this the United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is getting a demonstration of Zero's 2011 electric motorcycle product line. I hope he can go over to the SBA and to the Department of Energy and get them to cut all the red tape involved with the assembly of EV bikes.


Right now I have over 3 Chinese factories begging the Scooter Maven to assemble vehicles for them. I have the business plan, we applied for grants ( we got a few ), but after doing the math its impossible to assemble in America. It's not just a cost issue. It's a demand issue.


Who is buying ZERO Bikes? Its like the name implies ZERO. I was a consultant for the old Vectrix and I've written about this numerous times. The industry push has to be met with demand on the consumer side. Right now besides a few greenies in California it's not there. You need to have the Postal Service, Police Departments, and local Municipalities buy Green, but not just any green because they will buy the worse vehicle out there, but to buy GREEN THAT WORKS.


We are loosing the next phase of the Solar / Electric / Scooter / Motorcycle race to Asia. Why? Because all that people do is wonder what is in it for them. The cities with the grant money want you to sign unrealistic job creation agreements, the Obama Administration wants unrealistic returns and when they do lend money its part of a bigger promise nobody can meet. Look at what happened to the solar power company SOLYNDRA. Nepotism, government croonies, and money that gets fed to the $300,000 a year CEO does not make the average citizen drive an electric motorcycle or put solar panels on top of his building.


We need a policy that works, we need one clear vision and so far this Administration has done nothing for the motorcycle industry in this sector. The MIC just wants less regulation what it should be calling for are politicians with brains and a clear path for our country.


There are more electric scooters, motorcycles, and bicycles in use in one Asian city right now than in all of North America. If we don't catch up we'll be left behind in the next frontier of motorcycling. Sad for the guys who practically invented the art of motorcycles.

Read more »

Happy Birthday to Benelli a once made in Italy brand which is now like any global brand mostly Chinese made.
Next weekend Moto Guzzi now part of Piaggio Group turns 90 years old.

Piaggio founded in 1884
Malaguti and Moto Morini both 1930 now both on the edge of not coming back as brand.

At least we can celebrate Benelli a company who survived several downturns and is in its latest phase with QJ ownership (owners of Generic, Keeway Group, and Benelli Motorcycles)

 The motorcycles are still mostly made in Italy, but the scooters come 100% from China. If you need QJ parts and Benelli parts MRP has them http://www.mrp-speed.com

Read more »

Where to get Hyosung and United Motors Parts


I got a few emails about the last post on Hyosung getting out of the US Scooter Market. As of right now the factory in Korea I have confirmed has stopped all production of the scooters.


So yes, MRP we got the parts.  Manuals
http://www.martinracingdealer.com/WSWrapper.jsp?mypage=Manuals.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Uk__NG2Fo

How to find United Motors Parts.

Are you looking for parts for United Motors of America? Then MRP has the solution for you! http://www.mrp-speed.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY_seaQGr04

HYOSUNG
Founded in South Korea in 1978, Hyosung was established as a joint venture with Suzuki, which relationship continued well over 25 years. With research and development facilities currently in Hamamatsu, Japan, Hyosung vehicles have quickly become synonymous with performance and dependability. Currently available in 80 markets worldwide, Hyosung has become a global manufacturer of quality "driven" motorcycles, scooters and ATVs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN1pQMJvH3Q


Do you need to find parts for a United Motors dirtbike, scooter, atv, or motorcycle? Need Chongqing HuanSong Industries UTV parts? Hyosung S&T Motors Scooter parts? How about an LS Motorsports Precision or Diamo? CFMOTO? TNG? Linhai? Malaguti Italy? Does your local shop not know what these names mean? Are you looking for parts for scooters and having a hard time? Well then visit one of our dealers and have them give us a call. We are the only scooter parts distributor in the USA that is solely dealer direct and we are happy to send any potential online inquiries to stocking stores. So any consumers looking for Daelim parts will have to go to a store with an MRP account or have their store buy from another dealer that has an account with us. We also sell top name scooter brands like SN, Duro, Innova, Kenda, Bridgestone, Gates, Powerlink, We have partsforscooters for hard to find brands like United Motors -- Hyosung Scooters! Twist N Go Scooters! ATK Motors AKM, PFS, Andretti Benelli and much much more! Keeway Malaguti Linhai Loncin Huanson UTVs Qiangjiang Motorcycles Linhai Zongseh Lingyuen CF MOTO Loncin Lifan and more! Dealer locatorhttp://www.martinracingdealer.com/locator/index.php MRP distributes OEM parts for TNG (CMSI), select models of CF Moto, Daelim Motors Korea ( parts should appear on website by mid July) Malaguti of Italy (www.Malaguti.com) Keeway Southeast (Keeway, Vento, QJ, Andretti, Yamati models), CPI Taiwan, Powersports Factory Brands PSF, Diamo, Cubik (matches OEM Vento part numbers), as well as QJ and ZNEN (who manufacture bikes for a variety of scooter importers) such as FlyScooters, Lance, BMS, Qlink models that were ZNEN corresponding to matching TNG parts. http://www.mrp-speed.com

Read more »

Is Italy finally taking the Malaguti bankruptcy seriously?

Sometimes I read this stuff and I get my hopes up. Then I call my friends in Italy and its the same old story.

For those of you following the blog or the articles on Motorcycle USA regarding the failure of the Italian government, Malaguti, and the Unions to come to an agreement on how to save this prestigious firm it seems the press in Italy has finally woken up. http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/7/9852/Motorcycle-Article/Italys-Malaguti-Scooters-on-the-Brink.aspx

This week alone several articles have hit the press online. The protests are starting up again. It's a comedy and you can't even make this stuff up because it could only happen in Italy where people go on vacation in August and forget that they won't have a job in October. "Ok guys let's go to the beach and when we come back in September we will start the protests again!" its exactly what happened. At least the Greeks would be burning something and setting a bus stop on fire, but in Italy they are a little more civilized as the Chinese motorcycle industry slowly destroys whats left of Italian production.

Right now according to the economist magazine September 10th edition there are 44 million people unemployed in the Western Economies (OECD) this would be equal to Spain's population. In America we have close 14 million people and who knows how many undocumented unemployed workers right now. The only thing we see happening in Europe and in America is talk of tax rebates, stimulus dollars, and more projects to hire on a massive scale. I think what Europe and America needs is a boost in the arm much like the car industry received back when the financial crisis started. We have over 15 idle factories in Europe in the motorcycle sector that are under capacity right now or on the verge of closing. Including Derbi Spain which is about to close. The most famous of all of these is the Malaguti factory. The last remaining independent family owned operation who is tired of loosing money and is trying to close on purpose. Why would an entrepreneur do such a thing? Because in Europe the laws will drain you dry in order to keep people employed. While their competitors in China get better kickbacks for keeping people employed Malaguti has been unable to compete with the rising tide of less expensive Asian imports. Nonetheless there is a solid argument for reasons they should be saved.

Several articles appears online this week most of them repeating the same information without mentioning the deals or possible investors by name ( it just goes to show there is no investigative reporting anymore in the motorcycle industry unless its paid by a behind the scenes advertiser )

http://parma.repubblica.it/dettaglio-news/16:41/4032049
http://www.viaemilianet.it/notizia.php?id=8461
http://www.omnimoto.it/magazine/7847/malaguti-moto-sta-per-chiudere-licenziamento-per-160-dipendenti-fiom-regione-emilia-romagna


What all these magazines fail to mention is how I brought several qualified investors to the table only to be ignored by the Malaguti family, Regione Emilia Romaga Graziano Prantoni who by all means is incompetent. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doToyGMEFjs

One group of investors had a net worth of over $30million and asked for majority shares and for the Malaguti family to make concessions in production. Nobody budged. It's better to destroy the Italian economy, fire everyone, than to let US investors come in and take over. I suspect the real reason again is that Malaguti will continue much like Benelli and Garelli as a Chinese brand. Once the employees are fired they will go back to importing ensuring that all future production will not truly be Italian which is what made Malaguti special in the first place.

The situation in the Italian motorcycle industry is as bad as the US mortgage crisis in my opinion. Banks would rather demolish a brand new house or foreclose on it than to budge and refinance certain buyers. 


Why refinance when you can write it off as a loss? Why not reduce the value of the property and get some income instead of none? Malaguti has its back to the wall. The requirements of the Italian Unions and the employee costs are so high they cannot compete. Forget bad management, old designs, etc... the biggest factor in this is the cost of production. 

ITALY IS TOO EXPENSIVE TO PRODUCE ANYTHING OTHER THAN HIGH END GOODS. 








50cc scooters are no longer high end goods. You can buy them in China for $300 less than the cost of materials thanks to the Chinese governments kick backs. The Italian solution to this has been allowing more and more of the industry to outsource to China. As one member of the EICMA told me "If the motorcycle part is designed in Italy, the packaging is made in Italy, the company is Italian you can produce the part in Taiwan, assemble in Italy and it will say made in Italy."


Hence why that Polini clutch that reads made in Italy, is made at the same factory in Taiwan as the MRP one in a different box. Italy right now is a joke and our country is in the same boat. Don't believe me check out this video from Taiwan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F7WuGgqV3w





The truth is ANCMA and EICMA all have a stake in this. Our own MIC could do more and tell our Administration what needs to be done for US builders. We can't all live off Harley Davidson and a few companies like Polaris. The truth is more parts get outsourced every single day. Have you checked your Harley Lately, there's parts on it made in China by ZONGSHEN. 









Yes, the same ZONGSHEN parts MRP has and the same bikes found in PEP BOYS. Have you looked at your ARCTIC CAT ATV? That 250cc is made by KYMCO TAIWAN. It's a great engine and we love Kymco, but more and more of our industry is getting sent abroad to the point where we the United States of America will end up like Italy. 






The Obama Administration can continue giving the rich tax breaks and discounts but it wont get people to invest more in the USA if I can go to China and open a factory for a third of the cost. To revitalize the US Motorcycle Industry give us incentives to produce and assemble in the USA not a tax break. Give motorcycle companies cash to manufacture and hire. Same in Italy. Do you want Malaguti to stay in business? Give them the cash to hire, eliminate the high taxes and allow foreign investors to take majority shares. Bring in fresh management.





The Motorcycle Industry press won't call it how it is, but there are fewer real OEMs out there. I hate to be one for calling for barriers to trade, but the same way we didn't allow GM, Ford, and Chevy to fail maybe Italy should take a closer look at what is left of the scooter industry. Last I checked Piaggio Group - owners of (Vespa, Gillera, Derbi, Aprilia, Piaggio) were closing plants in Spain and firing people in Italy to build more factories in China, Vietnam, and India. If you check online all the new Piaggios entering the USA are not even made in Italy anymore the two basic models are Zongshen, some of the Aprilia scooters are made by Jincheng. The funny thing is this all makes sense if you were the board or an investor in Piaggio Group. So its up the people of Italy to rise up and demand that they keep these jobs and they keep Malaguti open. So far I'm not holding my breath, most people just got back from the beach and are just getting back to the picket line.


It's a slippery slope when it comes to letting your production get outsourced.


The Scooter Maven

Read more »

Someone asked us what is up with Hyosung Scooters?

The official line is EPA. They have withdrawn from the North American scooter market. Technically speaking no new scooters have been built since 2010 so I guess there are no 2010 and 2011 Scooters on the market.

Now obviously that makes parts even harder to find, but never fear MRP is here. We can help you with all your Hyosung or United Motors (made by Hyosung needs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY_seaQGr04


http://youtu.be/pBri0gwSC8U

For repair manuals on Hyosung scooters and to look up schematics use the PDF Files in the link below

http://www.martinracingdealer.com/WSWrapper.jsp?mypage=Manuals.htm

Read more »

Lightning strike destroys phones and ruins lunch!

Ever have one of those days? So far its turning into two for us here at MRP. I was having a good week, I met Pitbull the singer at a bar over the weekend, saw a great movie. Started off the week with a great meeting and BAM lightning struck yesterday destroying our electric supply for the rest of the day. I was about to take a bite out of my sandwich when everything went dark.

It ruined lunch for everyoneat MRP and basically we couldn't work until the evening. Now today we found out we have power, internet, but no phones. It will be another few hours before the phones are back up.

I know considering all the bad weather related things happening across America this is nothing, but I wanted to inform our customers because some of them don't read the mass emails we put out. We had some great export orders and this week, they are going out. I want you to know we are here it's just the weather has basically made our lives impossible.

You can email us at Info @ mrp-speed.com we are all here. PLUS we are giving free shipping
to all our clients that place orders yesterday and today to make up for the lack of phone communication.

Things happen. I just hate getting emails from people that start " I tried to call the office why won't you guys answer!" not avoiding anyone, just that Thor made a mistake and sent a bolt to the wrong street. Orders are going out, life will go back to normal soon we hope.

The sandwich was still great and all the online orders went out so what more can we ask for? EMAIL US.

Read more »