Harley hopes to rev up riders on tour: Local riders will travel to China to provoke interest in the motorcycles.

Sep 24, 2008 (York Daily Record - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- HOG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Sep. 24--A delegation of Harley-Davidson riders, many from York County, will soon be cruising across China to help sell Harley as a leisure activity.

It could put 90 million pairs of eyes on Harley-Davidsons, participants said. And with increased interest could come pressure to relax regulations that hinder Harley's growth in the country.

Heavyweight motorcycles are seen by some officials in China as polluting machines that create more traffic on already clogged highways and streets, Harley has said.

Wayne Block, one of the riders, was until recently CEO of SpiderWeb Communications, which was hired in 2006 for a job in Shandong Province, China.

Block said in Shandong, he saw a lot of people hungry for western ideas and leisure and who have money to spend for the first time.

And, he said, his Chinese business partners saw something they liked in Harley-Davidson when they visited the United States.

Block has since begun riding motorcycles for the first time since his early 20s and helped found Knighthawk Tours to possibly start booking more Harley-riding tours across China.

Riders on this maiden voyage will get a police escort and a posse of support vehicles following them and will operate with special permission from officials.

Riding motorcycles is banned outright in all but the most outlying areas of many cities in China, said Claudia Garber, spokeswoman for Harley-Davidson's Asia/Pacific and Latin America operations.

"Why

would anyone buy it if they can't ride it?" Garber said.

Harley understands it is in for a long period before leisure motorcycle riding develops enough interest to break down the barriers, Garber said.

But it is nonetheless investing in a third dealership opening in China in October. And, the company is providing the motorcycles for this fall's ride.

Jim Tanzola, whose father-in-law Ralph Swenson was one of the Harley executives who purchased Harley-Davidson and built it back to prominence in the 1980s, helped coordinate with Harley corporate.

The ride is his first trip to China, and he is looking forward to seeing the Great Wall and other features of Chinese history and society.

"I like to see how other people live in other cultures," he said.

bburkey@ydr.com; 771-2035

THE PATH

The Ride to Confucius is named for the Chinese philosopher who is from the Shandong region.

Riders will leave Laugerman's Harley-Davidson early Thursday and arrive in Beijing on Friday, spending time in the capital before departing for Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province.

The ride departs Jinan on Monday and ends Oct. 4 in Quingdao, a city along China's coast.

More information, including rider blogs, will be available at www.knighthawktours.com.

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