From the other side

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but a particular song lyric by Adele has been stuck in my head for a while. Although it seems fitting as we are rapidly approaching the other side of 2015, and with it, our first ever Year in Review issue where we take a look at some of the top news, features and commentary from our expert columnists.

With unemployment at its lowest since before the recession and people spending money on riding again (although, maybe not as freely as we would all like), we think that 2015 has been a solid year. In fact, the most recent data from the Motorcycle Industry Council points to an overall industry that is generating $23 billion in annual sales from about 3 percent of the population. Just think what we could generate from increasing the number of riders by a single point. We are on the other side of
2015, and with this we will look back at the year.

Before you turn the page, we’ll do our best version of one of those “Rockin’” New Year’s shows that looks back at the whole year hours before the new one begins. This Year In Review issue is the first editorial issue we have ever produced in December. Every year for the last 40 years, MPN has been busy putting together the most comprehensive Buyer’s Guide in the industry, leaving us little time to do much else. But we decided the end of the year was too important to miss all of the editorial opportunities that come up. We will provide some insight into what happened over the last 12 months as you peruse the pages, and don’t forget to check out the Buyer’s Guide as well, which is included with this special issue. We are working hard to give you the most up-to-date resource information in the industry to better serve you, our loyal readers, and help you grow your businesses.

On a final note, we want to congratulate Jamin Jones of Appalachian Offroad MC in Cross Lanes, West Virginia for winning the final MPN-Beta Tool Giveaway tool cabinet! Jamin’s shop is the third-largest seller of KTMs in the country and is situated on 35 acres of surrounding trails. Jamin says he’s very familiar with Beta since they have been a factory tool supplier to KTM in the past. He uses his Beta torque wrench regularly because it is one of the few available in Newton Meters (NM).

Now without further ado we’ll just dive into it. Will 2016 be even better than 2015? Our industry experts weigh in and try to answer some of the burning questions before we start over again in January. Of course, predicting the future is a little like trying to forecast the weather – you hit it sometimes but it’s impossible to get it right all of the time.