FRICTION ZONE: ARCH MOTORCYCLE
in 2018? GH: We have a big job ahead of us. In the wake of EICMA and introducing these new models, we need to fully industrialize them and get them manufactured. The other really big daunting thing in front of us this year is Euro 4 homologation. Most people don't understand how complicated it is unless they have some experience with it, but unlike the U.S., Europe has one standard for all motorcycle manufacturers that want to sell road registered motorcycles. It doesn't matter if you're a company that's going to try to sell 10 motorcycles a year in Europe or you’re somebody selling a hundred and fifty thousand motorcycles a year in Europe. It's the same standard and much of it isn't friendly towards a small manufacturer. For example, you don't have 37 vendors for antilock brake systems and the few companies you have are use to dealing with volumetric manufacturers, companies like Continental and Bosch handle the work. The financial effort and testing involved to get an acceptable ABS system to meet the requirement alone precludes most companies from doing it. It all has to do with the economy of scale. And then you have all the stuff that goes along with it. Those are the two big things. And we also want to continue to push our design department. Our goal would be to introduce something else next year at one of the big shows. I have some ideas but I don’t want to say too much because there’s no need to put your foot in your 186 | SPORTBIKESINCMAG.COM