Oxford Products

Oxford Products - Worldwide Distributor Meeting

British apparel and accessories specialist Oxford Products is to stage its 2025 Worldwide Distributor Meeting at its 150,000 sq ft (14,000 sq m) campus at Witney, Oxford on May 14.

Founded in 1973 (Oxford Products marked its 50th anniversary two years ago) Managing Director Henry Rivers Fletcher told IDN that the meeting will preview another record number of new products which will be landing across all their ranges in 2025.

"We’ll start off in our HQ showrooms with an in-depth look at our latest collections, presented and explained by the same people who designed and developed the products in our R&D facility.

"The day will include a tour of our Design, Research & Development Centre where the latest testing equipment will be in action, before once again getting hands-on with all the new products in an open Q&A session."

The latest products in Oxford's Atlas range of luggage will be available in March 2025, including an advanced tail harness, tank harness, B-10 backpack and waist packs.

The Oxford products facilities are worth a visit as the company has been investing heavily in initiatives to make their operations as sustainable and as compatible as possible with a 'circular economy' as possible.

Recent years have seen Oxford's annual WDM become an increasingly popular fixture in its partners' business cycle - and it doesn't hurt that the company is located just 25 km from Oxford, one of Europe's most historic cities. 

Home to the world renowned 'Dreaming Spires' of Oxford University, The Ashmolean Museum and the world-famous Bodleian Libraries, Witney, home of the Oxford Products HQ is just 110 km NW of London Heathrow Airport.

www.oxprod.com

Hero

Hero extends Harley-Davidson deal

By Ben Purvis

Harley-Davidson struck a licencing deal with Indian bike-making behemoth Hero back in 2020 that allowed Hero to develop, manufacture and market a Harley-badged motorcycle in its home market. Now that deal is being extended to cover additional bikes and international sales in certain markets.

The original Hero-made Harley was the X440, launched in 2023 and sold alongside other Harley-Davidson models in India, where Hero also took on the US brand's sales network after H-D decided to close its own Indian subsidiary back in 2020. 

Now the deal with Harley has been expanded to include more Hero-developed machines, with the Indian company issuing a press release stating: "The Company has extended its partnership with Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. in order to expand the Harley-Davidson X440 into new variants as well as to develop a new motorcycle for both domestic and select international markets."

The addition of 'select' international markets will be of interest to Harley-Davidson dealers who have been crying out for a more affordable, entry-level model to tempt customers into the fold. The recent success in Europe of bikes like Triumph's Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X, as well as bikes like Royal Enfield's affordable singles, shows that there's a strong market for such bikes, with many of the customers being existing riders either trading down from larger bikes or adding an additional machine to their garage. The Triumphs, like the Royal Enfields, are made in India, and were developed with the help of KTM business partner Bajaj. Their success shows that customers aren't afraid to spend their money on Indian-made machines.

While Hero's focus has been on India, where it sold the vast majority of the 5.9 million bikes it made in 2024, the brand has started to turn an eye to international markets - already having an R&D facility in Munich, Germany, and announcing its intention to expand into Europe and the UK in the second half of 2025. It makes its own variant of the Harley X440, the Mavrick 440, sharing an identical SOHC, air-cooled single and a similar chassis. If that bike proves to be an export success, it's clear that the Harley X440 could also be appealing to customers outside India.

The additional variants of the X440 will use the same engine but the company's announcement that it will also develop a 'new motorcycle' suggest it has another power unit on the way - perhaps one that will fill the void in the range between the X440 single and Harley's smallest homegrown engine, the 975 cc V-twin in the Nightster now being produced for all global markets in Thailand. 

Kove

Kove Lancer 600 

By Ben Purvis

The Kove brand hasn't been around long but it's already got a range of motorcycles from 250cc to 800cc with an array of different configurations and target markets as well as a growing international presence with importers around Europe and in the UK.

The company's current bikes include the four-cylinder 450RR sports bike and its naked 450R sibling, the 800X adventure bike, the 450 Rally and a brace of motocross machines, the MX450 and MX250, but it doesn't have a presence in the cruiser market. That's about to change with the upcoming launch of the Kove Lancer 600, a V-twin machine that's already type-approved and expected to make its official debut imminently.

The new bike has a 578 cc liquid-cooled V-twin engine that puts out 45 kW (60 hp), sitting in a steel tube chassis with upside-down forks and a twin-shock rear end. The styling is reminiscent of the cruisers from fellow Chinese brand Benda, with side indents on a fuel tank that's split down its centre by a console that houses the filler cap, along with a circular headlight featuring two LED lamps separated by a horizontal bar. 

The engine is Kove's own work, and drives the rear wheel through a belt final drive and a conventional transmission - despite a growing number of Chinese-made cruisers are appearing with semi-automatic and even CVT gearboxes.

Equipment includes an 18-inch front wheel and 16-inch rear, with 120/70 and 160/60 tyres respectively, as well as Taisco-branded radial front brakes with ABS from Chinese brand Ningbo.

QJMotor

QJMotor adding three more cruiser models - V4 and parallel twins on the way 

By Ben Purvis

The latest batch of new model type-approval documents published by the Chinese government includes a trio of as-yet unlaunched QJMotor machines that are set to make the company's fast-growing model range even larger.

Only launched in 2020, QJMotor is now the flagship brand of parent company Qianjiang's group of manufacturers, with a vast array of models on the market in China - more than 100 of them at the last count. They're rapidly spreading around the globe, too, with QJMotor importers across Europe and even in the USA.

QJ600-12F

The new cruisers demonstrate the company's intention of filling ever imaginable niche. The company already offers three 600 cc-class cruisers - a V4, a V-twin and a parallel twin - so another three will bring the total to six, alongside a mind-boggling array of 125 cc, 200 cc, 250 cc, 300 cc, 350 cc, 400 cc, 500 cc, 550 cc, 700 cc and 900 cc cruisers in its range.

Of the new models, the most interesting is codenamed QJ600-12F and borrows the 67 hp, 561 cc V4 engine from the existing SRV600V. It also appears to use the same frame and tail bodywork as the SRV600V, but adds a fixed front fairing with a distinctive rectangular headlight. A range of different exhausts appear to be similar to those on the larger QJ Motor V4 in the SRV900V.

The second model is codenamed QJ600-12E and also uses the 561cc V4 engine and the same chassis, but with much more traditional, rounded styling including a circular headlight. Unusually, at least in the west, it has cowled forks that mimic the look of girder suspension. That's something of a trend at the moment in China, with models from rival companies Benda and Cyclone also adopting the same idea in recent months.

Both the new V4 bikes have the same 178km top speed and 1580mm wheelbase, with the faired model weight 5kg more than the naked 223 kg.

The third bike, codenamed QJ600-11D, takes a different approach, with a parallel twin engine instead of a V4, and a peak power of 60hp. It's engine, which actually measures 554cc, is shared with several other models in an array of capacities, and the frame appears to be similar to the QJ-made Harley-Davidson X500 that's sold in Asian markets, as well as the related Benelli Leoncino 500.

Souo

Souo flat eight tourer makes its western debut 

By Ben Purvis

When Chinese car-making giant Great Wall Motors launched its first two-wheeled machine last year it instantly became the biggest and most high-tech bike yet to emerge from the country and it sprang another surprise by giving the Souo S2000 its western hemisphere debut CES in Las Vegas in January.

In case you missed it, Souo is Great Wall's newly-minted motorcycle brand, and while China's other bike makers have worked their way up from small single-cylinder machines to bigger, multi-cylinder bikes, Souo has leapfrogged them all - as well as every other bike maker on the planet - by starting out with an eight-cylinder machine. 

The S2000 is clearly inspired by the Honda Gold Wing, something the company readily admits: its philosophy is to start with the most capable tourer on the market and then to take everything up a notch or two. As a result, it clocks in at 1,999 cc and 152 hp compared to the Gold Wing's 1,833 cc and 125 hp, with a flat-eight engine rather than the Honda's flat six, double overhead cams instead of a single cam per bank, and an eight-speed-plus-reverse dual-clutch semi-auto transmission where Honda uses seven speeds. 

All that is bolted to a cast alloy chassis with a Hossack-style girder front end, again similar to the Honda's, and garnished with tech including a huge 12.3-inch touchscreen display using the latest Snapdragon 8155 automotive CPU (it's first appearance in a bike), rear-facing radar sensors for blind-spot monitoring, electronic suspension and just about every other luxury that can be imagined on a bike.

Its appearance at CES in January came immediately after Souo passed the major milestone of delivering the first examples of the bike to customers. Initially the brand sold a batch of 288 bikes in China, with Great Wall CEO Wei Jianjun personally presenting the keys to some of the customers that opted to pick their machines up from the new brand's dedicated handover showroom. 

Although Souo hasn't made an official announcement about how it will go about offering the S2000 and future models, which will include a cruiser based on the same flat-eight engine, outside China, the company has stated that its ambitions are global. Its presence at CES in the States, where the Souo machines were displayed alongside an array of Great Wall cars and trucks that are already being offered internationally, was a clear indication that Souo - which means 'Soul' - is not planning to remain a China-only brand for long.

Voge

Voge joins the small four-cylinder sports bike market 

By Ben Purvis

Not long ago the small-capacity four-cylinder sports bike appeared to be dead. The Japanese 'big four' were letting their 600 cc supersports models decline, and the era of the exotic 400 cc fours of the 1980s and 1990s seemed consigned to the history books. 

Then Kawasaki revived the market with its Ninja ZX-4RR four cylinder, only to be followed by the even more surprising arrival of Chinese-made four-cylinders in the same market. CFMoto launched its 500SR in China - although it's yet to be released onto export markets - and Kove introduced its 450RR. Last year QJMotor showed its upcoming 400RR four-cylinder sports bike and now Voge is getting in on the game with its new RR500.

500RR

Voge, the high-end marque from Loncin, is already familiar in Europe, suggesting the RR500 could make its way to the west when production is underway. It's the second four-cylinder machine from the company in quick succession, following the RR650S that was shown last year, competing in the burgeoning new market for 400 cc-500 cc fours.

It's an unusual-looking design with a high-mounted air intake on the nose above the headlights, but the on-paper specs look promising. At its heart lies a 475 cc four-cylinder engine, made by Loncin's engine division and codenamed 'LX460MR' - a title that indicates four cylinders and a 60 mm bore, which means the stroke must be 42 mm. Peak power is 76.4 hp, which is on a par with the slightly smaller Kawasaki ZX-4RR, while the Voge's weight is 192 kg wet, including fuel.

Another new arrival in the same part of the market is the Lulang 500RR, which was shown last year under the 'ZXJC' brand - 'ZX' for the company's founder, Zhang Xue, who also founded the Kove brand before leaving it early last year. 

New type-approval documents have been filed showing a toned-down version of that show bike, with the product name 'Lulang' and changes including a double-sided swingarm instead of the prototype's single-sider. It's lighter than the Voge RR500 at 175 kg, with an engine that's slightly smaller at 470 cc, with a 59 mm bore and 43 mm stroke for each of its four cylinders. Peak power is 75 hp for this version, down from a claimed 83 hp for the single-sided swingarm machine shown last year.

All these bikes could be overshadowed soon, though, as Honda is planning to get in on the four-cylinder baby sports bike game in the near future. The Japanese giant recently filed trademarks for the names 'CBR500 Four' and 'CBR400 Four' - suggesting it has two versions of a new sports bike under development, clearly in the 'CBR' mould and with four cylinders, as the names indicate. 

The 400 cc version is likely to be for the Japanese market, where there's a different licence required to ride bikes over 400 cc, while the CBR500 Four is expected to be exported to the rest of the world. Honda alluded to the new bikes during a presentation at the Chongqing Motorcycle Show last September, indicating that China is a key market for these machines.

Pirelli

Pirelli - Diablo 'PowerCruiser' sport touring tire

Pirelli had added to its Diablo tire range with the Diablo PowerCruiser. A new range of high-performance Custom-Touring tires designed for custom motorcycles - "especially for the sportiest models such as performance baggers, club style and power cruisers that offer remarkable levels of acceleration and riding pleasure."

"The Diablo PowerCruiser is part of the Diablo family because it embodies Pirelli's sporting DNA, this time applying it to the field of customization. It has been created to meet the needs of these motorcycles, which require specific tyres capable of offering high performance and sportiness, with the aim of becoming the new benchmark in its segment in terms of grip and handling, even in wet conditions."

The range is 'dense', both in construction technology and sizes and includes radial and conventional specifications with dimensions ranging from 100 mm to 260 mm. "Therefore, each size is specifically developed in terms of structure, materials, compounds and profile design according to the motorcycle, adopting different specifications and solutions for specific models."

Leveraging its Supersport and Racing experience, Pirelli says that the Diablo PowerCruiser is "very easy to handle and with high levels of grip - capable of withstanding strong dynamic stresses, both in lean and in braking and acceleration. 

"The structures change the stiffness according to the riding style. In Touring driving mode (lower levels of deformation) the tyre offers a comfortable, smooth and predictable ride. When the style is sportier, they increase feedback as the tire deformation increases, to ensure greater steering precision, more lateral support and better control. 

"This behaviour represents the perfect balance between comfort and support, giving riders confidence - on both highway cruising and sportier rides. The radial sizes feature a 0-degree steel belt that contributes to a well-controlled deformation of the footprint, resulting in better tire conformability at all lean angles and better stress distribution across the contact patch - providing an advantage in terms of grip and wear regularity."

The rear radial sizes are bi-compound and enriched with silica, combined with 'Cap & Base' technology that offers a softer lateral compound for grip when tilting, supported by a harder compound substrate also positioned at the level of the central band that guarantees performance consistency and thermal balance. The size of the compound's center tread varies depending on the tire size and contact patch, to ensure the best possible force distribution and thus provide the best possible driving feel and even wear. 

The 'Cap & Base' compound pattern "provides excellent performance during sporty riding while the use of silica provides a wider operating temperature range that promotes a high level of grip, even in wet conditions and consistent performance." Fast heating and adhesion is achieved thanks to an innovative and specially developed blend of resins, plasticizers and silica present in the composition of the compounds. In addition, Pirelli's proprietary and patented mixing process maximizes the dispersion of all components in the polymer matrix to achieve a high level of homogeneity.

The profiles are multi-spoke and sharper than those typically used in the Custom-Touring segment to provide greater handling and very quick changes of direction, while the slicker shoulders provide better grip and line in corners. "The optimized sidewall height provides excellent traction both when accelerating in a straight line and when exiting corners. The balance between the front and rear contours allows for excellent ride control and neutral motorcycle handling."