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Royal Enfield offers Assured Motorcycle Buyback Program

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Royal Enfield is now offering an opportunity for buyers to get assured resale value for the purchase of their new motorcycle. This is made possible with Enfield’s new ‘Assured Buyback Program’. The two-wheeler giant has partnered with OTO Capital for the buyback program, promising guaranteed buyback value of up to 77 percent depending on customer’s selected tenure.

Flexible purchase tenures spanning from 1-3 years are on offer, ensuring customers up to 45 percent lower EMIs with guaranteed buyback value as per the ownership period. OTO Capital is offering a cashback incentive at the end of the tenure in a first-of-its-kind initiative.

Enfield is calling it a seamless ownership experience.

Customers have the option to either trade in their existing motorcycle for a new RE offering or return their motorcycle when their choice of tenure ends. Apart from this, lower EMIs will translate to a lower cost of ownership for customers.

Commenting on the launch, B Govindarajan, CEO – Royal Enfield, said, “At Royal Enfield, we always prioritise the customer. Right from the stage of motorcycle conception and development, all the way to designing in-store and in-use consumer experiences, we always endeavour to create what consumers want. The Assured Buyback Program shows our commitment to making motorcycle ownership more seamless, more accessible and more fun for potential riders. Offering a first-of-its-kind, innovative solution, this programme is designed as a promise to consumers for complete peace of mind, so they can absolutely enjoy a pure motorcycling experience with Royal Enfield.”

For now, Royal Enfield Assured Buyback Program will be available in 12 cities including Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Lucknow, Jaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. This scheme will later extend to other cities in the future.

Refer: https://www.royalenfield.com/in/en/finance/assured-buyback/

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(Classic) Easyriders magazine again hits a speed bump

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The above screenshot shows a message that appears as a pop-up on the re-invented “Classic” Easyriders magazine website. This is after two years into the re-launch of this iconic motorcycling lifestyle publication.

Two specific things noted after reviewing the website:

  1. The September 2023 issue is not listed for sale
  2. There is no link nor button nor any webpage for purchase of annual subscription

It is unknown if there is any refunds or cancellations or any other subscriber related issues– and we don’t intend to speculate. Look out for Bikernet.com investigation into this discovery in the upcoming weekly news posted every Thursday. Refer our Weekly News section by clicking here.

Below is the text reproduction from the screenshot for your information and reference only — all rights are exclusive to Classic Easyriders and Paisano Publishing only.

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From: https://classiceasyriders.com/

Dear Easyriders Subscribers,

Due to a legal conflict between GIT Corp. (licensee) and Paisano Publishing (licensor and Brand Owner), GIT Corp. will no longer be publishing Easyriders Magazine. It will continue to be published monthly by Paisano Publishing and the current subscribers list has been forward to Paisano from GIT, in order for you monthly subscription to continue being delivered to all Easyriders subscribers.

Please direct any new subscription inquiries or current subscription questions to: bbarresi@paisanopub.com

We at GIT Corp. would like to thank all the customers that have supported us in the past 2 years in bringing back Easyriders Magazine.

Thanks,
GIT Corp.

Another Victory in Kansas: Law to Ease Titling Procedures for Antique Vehicles

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Another Victory in Kansas as Governor Signs into Law Bill to Ease Titling Procedures for Antique Vehicles—Congratulations!

Another win in Kansas! Governor Laura Kelly signed into law SAN-supported legislation (H.B. 2595) to allow vehicles registered as “Antique” which are 60 years old or older the ability to forego a VIN inspection when applying for a title. The new law expands vehicles eligible for certain titling procedures by allowing Antique vehicles that are at least 60 years old needing only a bill of sale as proof of ownership and an application when applying for a title.

Prior to the new law, only antique vehicles with a model year of 1950 or earlier could forego the VIN inspection when applying for a title. Additionally, the new law recognizes that the collection and restoration of historic and classic cars is an important part of preserving the technological achievements and cultural heritage of the United States. It will go into effect upon publication in the Kansas Register statute book.

Congratulations and thank you to those who supported this effort!

Join SEMA – visit Website at: https://www.semasan.com/

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At Largest Market: Two-wheeler sales crash to 10-year-low in FY22

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Two-wheeler sales crash to 10-year-low in FY22; motorcycles fall below 9 mn
India is the largest manufacturer of two-wheelers and also the largest market for it. (China being second)

One of the primary reasons for this downfall is the spiraling cost of fuel prices.
by John from https://www.newswwc.com/

New Delhi: Rural distress impacted the Indian two-wheeler segment, one of the largest in the world, in a big way that their sales in 2021-22 fell sharply, for the first time in ten years, to 13,466,000 units, as per the latest data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). It was in 2011-2012 that the two-wheeler sales were close to this number at 13,409,00.

( India’s Financial Year is calculated as from 01-April-2021 to 31-March-2022 )

Throughout the year, demand for motorcycles and scooters was impacted by rural distress and higher ownership cost amidst soaring fuel prices. Sales of two-wheelers, particularly motorcycles failed to gather momentum even during the festive months, leaving the companies burdened with a pile of unsold stocks. As a result, the overall sales of motorcycles fell below the 9-lakh mark for the first time since 2016-2017, SIAM report said.

One of the primary reasons for this downfall is the spiraling cost of fuel prices. Barring two months, petrol prices escalated in almost all months of FY22, sometimes even thrice a month that severely impacted the demand of entry-level motorcycles which is the primary choice of the budget-conscious low-income consumers.

New motorcycle sales are directly correlated with fuel prices, as 62% of the country’s fuel sales are consumed by the two-wheeler segment.

According to market experts, spike in auto fuel prices has triggered the rate of deferment majorly among the consumers of below 125cc two-wheelers that hold about 80% of the total market. Besides, shortage of semiconductors and high container charges have also deterred the production levels of OEMs.

Besides, frequent price hikes by the OEMs to overcome the spike in input cost coupled with moderation in rural demand hugely deterred the buying sentiments of consumers.

Additionally, electric vehicle demand continues to witness pickup in the states with higher government incentives like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Karnataka etc., which are also key markets for conventional two-wheelers.

All the segments except the two wheelers are in green. Passenger vehicle sales grew 13.2% to 30,69,499 units in FY 22 compared to 27,11,457 units in FY21. Sales of passenger cars stood at 14,67,056 units, utility vehicles at 14,89,178 units and vans at 1,13,265 units.

As fuel prices skyrocket and concerns grow over the running cost of petrol and diesel vehicles, the electric vehicles market has quietly started to build up. As fiscal 2021-22 came to a close, the green brigade — still small in numbers — seems to be coming of age, also charged by government subsidies.

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Women and Growth in Gun Ownership & Firearms Industry

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Contributions American women make to the firearm and ammunition industry – past, present and future

by Larry Keane from www.TheTruthAboutGuns.com

March is Women’s History Month and there’s no better opportunity to celebrate the contributions American women make to the firearm and ammunition industry – past, present and future.

Women have accounted for 40 percent of firearm sales over the past two years.

Click Here to read this Feature Article on Bikernet.com

Check Out our “Celebrate Women” section – Click Here

Do You Own a Motorcycle Airbag if You Have to Pay Extra to Inflate It?

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by EditorDavid from https://tech.slashdot.org

“Pardon me while I feed the meter on my critical safety device,” quips a Hackaday article:
If you ride a motorcycle, you may have noticed that the cost of airbag vests has dropped. In one case, something very different is going on here. As reported by Motherboard, you can pick up a KLIM Ai-1 for $400 but the airbag built into it will not function until unlocked with an additional purchase, and a big one at that. So do you really own the vest for $400…?

The Klim airbag vest has two components that make it work. The vest itself is from Klim and costs $400 and arrives along with the airbag unit. But if you want it to actually detect an accident and inflate, you need load up a smartphone app and activate a small black box made by a different company: In&Motion. That requires your choice of another $400 payment or you can subscribe at $12 a month or $120 a year.

If you fail to renew, the vest is essentially worthless.

Hackaday notes it raises the question of what it means to own a piece of technology.

“Do you own your cable modem or cell phone if you aren’t allowed to open it up? Do you own a piece of software that wants to call home periodically and won’t let you stop it?”

This Motorcycle Airbag Vest Will Stop Working If You Miss a Payment
by Aaron Gordon from https://www.vice.com

Airbag vests are pretty much exactly what they sound like, garments worn by people who undertake exceedingly dangerous personal hobbies in order to slightly reduce the risk of severe bodily harm or death. For example, in 2018 the motorcycle racing circuit MotoGP made airbag vests mandatory.

Since then airbag vests have become steadily cheaper and therefore more popular among recreational riders. One motorcycle apparel company named Klim, for example, sells an airbag vest called the Ai-1 for $400. In the promotional video launching the product, product line manager Jayson Plummer called the vest “a whole new era of a platform where analog meets digital and results in a superior protection story.” Which is an interesting way of framing the fact that the vest includes an additional subscription-based payment option that will block the vest from inflating if the payments don’t go through.

This is possible because the vest includes two components: the vest itself made by Klim and the airbag system including a small black box made by a French company called In&Motion called the “In&Box detection module.” The module has the sensors and computer components that detect a crash and make the bags inflate.

The customer buys the vest for $400 which comes with the module, but then they must download an app and choose how to unlock the module so the vest actually works: either plonk down another $400 to own the whole shebang outright—bringing the total vest cost to $800—or, as Plummer put it in the video, opt for the “subscription-based model” of $12 per month or $120 per year.

In the video, Plummer promotes this as a good option for people who don’t ride year-round and therefore may only need a functioning vest a couple of months a year. But when Motherboard asked Klim about what would happen if, say, the customer forgot to turn the subscription back on and got into a crash, a customer service representative confirmed “then, no, it will not go off.” Likewise, if the customer’s card is declined, they will have a 30-day grace period to update their payment information before the vest stops working, according to Klim communication manager Lukas Eddy.

“When it comes to missing payments and airbag functionality, In&motion’s payment notifications and 30-day grace period are reasonable—at some point, if a person stops paying for a service, that service has to be suspended, just like your utilities or a cell phone plan,” Eddy wrote to Motherboard in an email. “Further, if someone pauses their subscription and forgets to restart it, they won’t actually be able to get their In&box into ride-ready status when they go to turn it on. If they then choose to ignore the indicators and ride with the In&box inactive, that’s on them and we can expect it not to inflate in the event of a crash.”

Considering all the truly impressive technology that goes into the Ai-1 airbag vest, the prospect of someone getting seriously maimed or even killed in a motorcycle crash because their subscription to their life-preserving physical barrier got turned off occupies a particularly morbid corner of Internet-of-Things dystopian horror. Sadly, it is also not that distant from what automakers have been doing for decades by making safety features premium offerings that cost extra, and what they will likely do now that over the air updates are rapidly spreading to every new vehicle.

Car companies are increasingly seeing dollar signs at the prospect of paywalling features that need to be unlocked via a software update. It is so easy for me to imagine automakers paywalling airbags just like this motorcycle vest does if it wasn’t federal law they must provide them. So think of the paywalled motorcycle airbag vest as just another glimpse into how much worse our late capitalism horror show would be without previous generations of lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum understanding the importance of regulation.

Update: This article was updated with comments from a Klim representative provided to Motherboard after publication. It also corrected a statement a Klim customer representative told Motherboard that the vest would be deactivated after a week of non-payment. A Klim spokesperson said customers will have 30 days.