Earlier rumors of an impending purchase by Harley-Davidson of Italian bike maker MV Agusta turned out to be spot-on, as the American Motor Company has officially announced the deal today. The total price for MV, which also owns Cagiva, is reported at about $109 million, with $70 million of that sum required to pay off MV's debt. Claudio Castiglioni, who's family had previously owned the company privately, will remain on board and will serve as Chairman. Castiglioni stands to pocket an undisclosed sum in 2016 if he is able to meet certain stipulated profit goals.
This new deal is an interesting one on a few levels. First, HD already owns a sportbike brand, though its Buell subsidiary plays on a very different level than MV Agusta. The influx of cash from Harley should do wonders for MV's current range of sports and naked bikes, and may allow a greater number of customers access to the storied Italian marque. Consider the fact that Buell was a very small player with a number of quality problems before the Motor Company stepped in and fixed the situation. Additionally, the MV Agusta and Cagiva brands carry quite a strong legacy of high quality machines and will lend instant credibility in Europe and America to Harley's sporting credentials.
If leaked documentation, which you should avoid if you don't want to read any plot spoilers, regarding the upcoming Transformers sequel is accurate, it appears that Mr. Bay may be bringing a motorcycle-based female robot to the big screen. We've heard that the character known as Arcee was considered for the initial film but was discarded so as not to confuse the audience with multiple gendered robots. If the rendering seen above is any indication, though, we'd imagine that Arcee's pinky-purple coloring would get that point across right away. There are two female riders listed on a leaked Call Sheet for the upcoming movie, and it appears that they are to be riding the oddly-colored Buell in the film.
Also revealed in the leak is information that leads us to believe that a certain Decepticon may make an appearance as an SR-71, along with what could either be the shapely Audi R8 or the mystery car we showed you yesterday. If the German supercar did show up, it would end the all-GM lovefest and be rather interesting to see morph on-screen, as well. Consider our interest piqued, as if we already weren't.
Generally, when you see the boys in blue riding on two wheels, it's either on an air-cooled V-Twin Harley-Davidson or on a BMW road bike. Neither of these vehicles is appropriate when the road goes away, which could cause a few potential problems when giving chase. Buell, makers of the Ulysses, a bike which falls smack-dab into the center of the burgeoning Adventure Touring category, has decided to rectify the potential problem by offering a version of its on-or-off-road machine to the police. Differences between the Ulysses Police and the standard version amount to different standard side cases, a standard tall windshield, heated hand grips (which are available for the standard model as well), handlebar deflectors and an emergency response kit which includes the obligatory flashing lights and siren.
We wouldn't recommend trying a getaway under any circumstances, but the chances of shaking the Ulysses Police with its 103 horsepower V-Twin and off-road credentials seems pretty slim. As a bonus to the officers on board, the EPA rates the machine at 51 mpg urban/64 mpg highway. Seems like a pretty decent package, we'd say.
