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For students of vendor longevity , raise a glass for Central Wheel Components of Birmingham , England . Founded in 1897 , the company has celebrated 120 years of continuous operation . The company stocks more than 15,000 motorcycle wheel rims and 500,000 spokes and nipples at any one time , most manufactured in-house . Its SM Pro Platinum rim is widely recognised as the world ’ s strongest and lightest aftermarket MX / off-road rim . These days the company is based at Coleshill , England , near the UK ’ s National Motorcycle Museum .
The Dakar Rally has been provisionally slated for Peru ( only ) in January 2019 , with countries such as Argentina , Bolivia , Chile and others either increasingly less enthusiastic or being over-eager about hosting the event . The Rally found its way to south America in 2009 after cancellation of the 2008 race when it required rescuing from the difficulties it faced in Africa . Speculation is rife that it may well now return to something akin to its Paris-Dakar route origins in 2020 .
CF Moto and KTM broke ground on the building of their new joint venture production facility in China in March . CF Moto GM Minjie Lai is quoted as saying the joint venture will bring CF Moto ’ s R & D and manufacturing capability “ to a whole new level . CF Moto will benefit from KTM ’ s advanced technology and experience ; KTM recognise how our manufacturing capacity , supply chain management and channel development could help them to implement their global strategy ”.
Record attendance at 10th edition Ducati World Week
Ducati is saying that it welcomed a record 91,596 three-day attendance to its 10th biennial World Ducati Week at the Misano World Circuit “ Marco Simoncelli ” on July 20-22 – at least 10,000 more ‘ Ducatisti ’ than ever before . The participants travelled to Italy ’ s Adriatic Riviera from five continents , representing 73 countries . While 60 % of the riders were Italian , the remaining 40 % are evidence of the power and appeal of the Ducati brand around the world – including two Chinese riders who rode their Multistrada 1200 Enduros 7,575 km through 10 countries from Xinjiang ( China ) to Bologna in just seven days . Features included an exclusive " preview room " for a first chance to see one of Ducati ' s new motorcycles for 2019 , meetings and autograph sessions with Ducati riders , riding courses and test rides , taxi drives on the track with high-performance Audi Group Lamborghini , Audi and Seat cars , technical courses at Ducati University , performances by stuntmen , track laps , the colourful " Land of Joy " of the Ducati Scrambler world , the Monster Village ( celebrating the iconic bike ' s 25th anniversary ), an area dedicated to the Panigale and the Multistrada Experience , featuring Carlin Dunne ' s Multistrada 1260 ‘ Pikes Peak ’, winner of this year ’ s iconic ‘ Race To The Clouds ’ in Colorado four weeks earlier . Ducati took over a total of about 90,000 square metres inside the Circuit , 75,000 in the paddock and more than 15,000 dedicated to the off-road area and Ducati Scrambler Flat Race & School and DRE Safety . The " Race of Champions " on July 21st was preceded by a spectacular flyover of the Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team . The race featured 12 Ducati MotoGP and SBK Champions competing on the Misano circuit , riding specially prepared with race configuration Panigale V4 Specials . The race was won by Michele Pirro , followed by Rabat , Forés , Miller , Melandri , Rinaldi , then Dovizioso , Siméon , Petrucci , Lorenzo , Abraham and Bayliss to complete the exceptional line-up of “ Champions ". Ducati also decided to give fans all over the world the chance to buy the 13 " Race Of Champions " Panigales through a public auction on eBay . All Ducati employees were actively involved in planning the event and the weekend saw more than 250 people from the company ( managers , engineers , technicians and employees ) on duty as organisational staff . For the “ Ducatisti Statisti ” out there , more than 10,250 laps were completed on the track by cars and motorcycles ; 43,000 photos were taken by staff photographers ( 900 GB of photos ); 72 hours of video were shot ; 147 Ducati Owners Clubs were represented from 33 countries , and over 1,200 test rides were taken on 40 available bikes . The 45 page dedicated event website generated a total of 612,000 page views since going online , 17 million Instagram impressions were recorded with a 13 million reach , the “ Race of Champions ” live stream reached 631,477 people , 1,124,053 people were reached by the Ducati Scrambler digital channels with 103,450 people interacting , the official followers count exceeded 800,000 with 22,898,694 Facebook impressions , a 14,949,151 reach , and 13,105 App downloads - oh , and Sky Television gave the event two hours of live broadcast too .