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Following a cancer diagnosis, award-winning filmmaker Peter Starr found the key to his long-term healthy survival was “living a purposeful life”. Much of his world was centred around motorcycling so he constructed the next part of his life to redefining and reinventing his motorcycling passion by planning to ride in 12 countries where he had never been before, or at least had never ridden a motorcycle there.
Now the renowned film-maker shares those stories in a brilliant publication Motorcycle Traveler.
Starr’s first adventure was to Taiwan in 2011, then further on and off-road trips followed to Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Poland, Ecuador, Canada, Scotland, Wales/Isle of Man, Romania and Thailand. Being a film maker, he also had considerable experience with a still camera, something that is immediately obvious from the quality of photographs contained in this coffee table large format book.
In this publication, Starr has communicated the marvels and curiosities that await a motorcycle tourist. Beautifully illustrated with photographs that are a fitting compendium to the fluency of the manuscript, in many ways this is a fitting follow-up to Starr’s previous book Taking It To The Limit – 20 Years of Making Motorcycle Movies, and hopefully the harbinger of many more books to come from the author.
Motorcycle Traveler is accompanied with a free DVD showing clips from many of Starr’s most popular films. The book, with 50 signed copies available, costs £45 and is available from www.mortonsbooks.co.uk
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Indian Motorcycle UK dealer awards congratulate achievements as the brand enjoys record growth.
UNITED KINGDOM – Indian Motorcycle dealers from across the region gathered at the brand’s first in-person business conference since 2019. Representatives from the UK’s 19 dealership locations were rewarded with first-class accommodation and hospitality while taking the opportunity to explore the all-new Kensington based Indian Motorcycle Brand Experience Centre, located within the imposing ground floor footprint of the Hilton London Olympia.
Despite the trading challenges of the previous two years, Indian Motorcycle UK has seen expansion of its dealer network sites and record sales growth across all key market sectors for the sixth year running; motorcycle unit sales have increased by +26% YOY 2021 vs 2020 and Parts, Garments & Accessories sales increased by +35% in the same trading period.
Andy Simpson, National Sales Manager, Indian Motorcycle: “We are happy to report buoyant growth in the Indian Motorcycle UK business, our committed dealer network continues to invest heavily in the FTR, Scout, Chief and our premium touring platforms to maximise the local market opportunity. Our loyal partners are capitalising on Indian Motorcycle’s market leading new product offering, assisted by robust sales and marketing support, and yet we are still to fulfil our full retail potential as our network continues to expand with carefully selected retailers – The future is bright for Indian Motorcycle dealers, and we enjoy celebrating that success with our network.”
Key to the networking event were the Indian Motorcycle 2021 Dealership Awards, presented by Andy Simpson, to celebrate the achievements and commitments to the Indian Motorcycle brand across all aspects of business delivery.
2021 Award Winners
INDIAN MOTORCYCLE CANTERBURY (ROBINSONS FOUNDRY)
IMR / IMRG Outstanding contribution, for support and development of their dealership rider community. Presented to Dave Martin.
INDIAN MOTORCYCLE POOLE (MOORESPEED RACING)
Outstanding customer care. Presented to Colin Moore
INDIAN MOTORCYCLE BURY ST EDMUNDS (KRAZY HORSE)
Outstanding destination dealer. Presented to Paul Beamish.
INDIAN MOTORCYCLE LONDON (KRAZY HORSE)
Outstanding contribution to the Indian MC brand. Presented to Rocco Micallef.
INDIAN MOTORCYCLE SOUTH WEST (THOR MOTORCYCLES)
Outstanding sales performance. Presented to Rebecca Hicks
LEVI TUSOON – INDIAN MOTORCYCLE EDINBURGH (SALTIRE MOTORCYCLES)
Outstanding dealership ambassador, awarded to an exceptional dealership employee or representative. Presented to Levi Tusoon.
For more information on Indian Motorcycle visit IndianMotorcycle.co.uk and follow along on Facebook and Instagram.
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Published by award-winning filmmaker, Peter Starr, Taking it to the Limit offers readers an insight into how over 40 successful motorcycle racing films were made in a 20 year time period, including the award-winning film, Take It To The Limit.
Taking it to the Limit includes previously unpublished stories about some of the world’s greatest motorcycle stars, some of which include Kenny Roberts, Barry Sheene and the story of Mike Hailwood’s initial return to the Isle of Man in September 1977. The era covered by Taking it to the Limit is one of those that is generally lauded as a “Golden Age”. The stars, the films and now the book, collectively, is one of the most unique tomes to be offered on that era of motorcycle racing.
The iconic film, Take it to the Limit, won premier awards at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Houston International Film Festival in 1980, the year of its release. Peter Starr, the producer of this film and author of Taking It To The Limit is an inductee of the American Motorcyclist Association Hall of Fame and has gathered a remarkable collection of stories in this book that will fill many of the gaps still left in the coverage of that era.
Taking it to the Limit is accompanied with a free DVD showing clips from many of Starr’s most popular films. The book, with 50 signed copies available, costs £45 and is available from www.mortonsbooks.co.uk
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About the author
 A former employee of Triumph Engineering in Meriden during the early 1960s, Starr emigrated to the USA in the mid-sixties, initially to continue his racing career but soon learned that his talents, and thick English accent, were better served as a radio rock ‘n’ roll disc jockey on various American Radio stations peddling the British Music Scene to an enthusiastic young audience. This was followed by a stint as a record producer in Hollywood where he worked with artists such as the Brit Spencer Davis.
This led to the opportunity to return to the motorcycle culture, and to make BAD ROCK the first of what turned out to be over 40 films on motorcycle sport. Starr’s motorcycle films have been honoured by 14 international film awards and, in addition to the AMA Hall of Fame, he has been inducted to the Trailblazers Hall of Fame and the HotShoe Hall of Fame. Currently Starr lives in Los Angeles where he produces documentaries and television commercials and serves as the medical research director of a Medical Foundation.
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Sunra UK has today announced the launch of its new ROBO-S UTILITY model; a specially equipped electric scooter aimed at offering businesses a cost effective and zero emission solution for delivery and utility needs. 
â— Zero emission and significant reductions in running costs
â— Fully removable and fast charging batteries
â— Flexible and practical carry and storage solutions
â— More than 200 litres of combined weatherproof carrying capacity
â— Heightened rider comfort and protection from the elements
Based on the proven ROBO-S model, that has received critical acclaim, most recently from Motorcycle News, who after a week-long test, declared “Petrol wouldn’t get a look in now”, the new UTILITY model offers the same ease of use and budget saving efficiencies with additional functionality and carrying capacity too.
Logan Black of Sunra UK explains, “We wanted to bring a cost effective EV solution to small business and fleet operators alike. While the ROBO-S is already being used for this application in standard form, our goal was to offer a machine off-the-shelf that fits the needs of this ever increasing segment of users.
“With the UTILITY model, we’ve developed and tested key accessories that can allow business users to deploy the ROBO-S for a variety of uses and jobs . The large rear rack can be used in isolation or with an array of different sized top-box options, while the addition of a large, full-size windshield and phone holder keep staff much better protected and connected too. We also plan to offer communication solutions, location trackers and extra weather protection from tried and tested partners.”
Offering a range of over 60 miles and a maximum speed of 50mph, the ROBO-S UTILITY offers business users a swift, yet efficient solution. And thanks to fast charging batteries that can be swapped in less than 60 seconds, the UTILITY can be used in any location, effectively keeping businesses moving for longer without the need to use fixed charging points.
With considerably reduced service requirements and costs, along with handy user-friendly features such as an additional 24 litres of underseat storage, finger-print recognition and its own alarm and immobiliser system, the ROBO-S UTILITY is a practical and dependable delivery solution. Add in HP and lease options, as well as bespoke service and maintenance packages, and the ROBO-S UTILITY offers one of the most complete cost effective solutions for fleet users and small businesses.
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Following an unprecedented year for new motorcycle registrations in 2021, where the industry saw a 9% increase overall and a staggering 146% increase in electric bike registrations, Sunra UK is pleased to announce collaborations across the UK with training schools turning to EV products for training. 
With the pandemic clearly impacting on commuter habits, the motorcycle industry as a whole certainly benefited from the increased adoption of powered two-wheelers, with the majority of registration increases coming from the smaller capacity and commuter segment.
With an obvious increase in CBT and rider training uptake, proactive training schools have been keen to adapt to the new generation of rider, utilising the benefits of EV models in the training environment, with some even taking advantage of zero emissions to offer an ‘any weather’ solution to training indoors.
Logan Black of Sunra UK commented, “While the registration figures in general are clearly great news for our industry, what’s really encouraging is the adoption of EV and as a result at many training schools too. A big part of the appeal appears to be down to our products being less intimidating than ICE counterparts, but of course there are many other advantages too, including lower cost and ease of use too.”
Sunra dealers, Saltire Motorcycles, based in Edinburgh are one such dealer who have turned to EV use for their training school in conjunction with Sunra, not only seeing the general benefits of electric in the training arena, but in also offering a unique approach with an indoor training school.
Jethro Sheppard of Saltire Motorcycles commented, “The use of EV models has really hit a sweet spot for our rider training services. Not only has it made it easier for training, but using Sunra instead of petrol-powered scooters has made a significant saving in running costs for the business too. it’s also a far less intimidating first step on the motorcycling ladder and having an indoor space for training too is an absolute game changer when it comes to initially training new riders also. For us there really are no negatives to EV in this environment and it’s great to see customers go through the training and choose an electric bike themselves too.”
As the uptake in electric scooters and motorcycles continues to grow, thanks partly to the increasing emergence of Clean Air Zones across many UK cities, Sunra UK is pleased to support an ever-growing network of training schools, with many dealers running their own schools as well as supplying into the training network too. The team at Sunra UK welcome discussion with any interested training schools.
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