Recent news concerning Big Dog, KC Creations, Global Motorsports and Harley Davidson has a common thread: continuing confusion in the v-twin production chopper/custom marketplace that won’t soon clear.

Custom Chrome’s revelation that original founder and announced saviour of the troubled distributor Nace Panzica was, in fact, only a stalking horse during the company’s reorganization raised eyebrows as former Euro boss then CCNA boss then Euro boss Holger Mohr is now in reality the head of the freshly capitalized company.

At about the same time, Big Dog cut loose company president and long time employee Nick Messer, along with v-p/engineering Jim Moorman, both out the door following earlier company wide layoffs. Owner Sheldon Coleman tied his comments regarding the firings to the economy, although it’s worth noting that marketing decisions like naming one of their newest models “Mutt” probably didn’t help the overall sales picture. (We’re left wondering if “Butt Crack” was already taken.)

A little further east we learn that chop builder – and Big Dog dealership – KC Creations has closed its doors via an industry announcement by owner Kim Suter.

Add to the above observable erosion in H-D’s credit bridge to the consumer, and the picture of an industry in transition becomes cloudier with each new hit.

Given the fact that even the worst offenders in the bike gas mileage category are equal to a Honda Civic on a really good day and it’s clear that the volatile components governing consumer acceptance of the custom v-twin market are undergoing significant change.

Good friend and industry icon Robin Hartfiel was abruptly let go yesterday by Athletic Business Publications, publishers of Motorcycle Product News where he’d hung his helmet as publisher/editor since leaving the same position at Dealernews in October of ’03 after 14 years of service to Advanstar.

A self-described Luddite who nonetheless knows how to crank out the occasionally curmugeonly and always well informed copy regardless of the platform, Hartfiel’s powersports insight is both deep and wide, assuring the next company that wins the inevitable bidding war for his services a Rolodex of contacts and a lifetime of accumulated product knowledge gleaned from covering the industry for both consumer and trade pubs.

Those same skills were responsible for breathing new life into a brand that was drifting when he grabbed the reins, quickly resulting in more sharply focused magazine that got the relationship with the dealer readership back on track.

Whither now MPN? Good question, as Hartfiel’s pool of knowledge is matched by only a few in the business and they don’t seem likely candidates for a move – or move back – to Madison. The decision, coming as it does at a time when print in general’s hemoraging ad pages, could at the least encourage defections from an advertising audience in a down market that’s already nervous and in retreat.