The Powersports Industry & M/C Roadracing

Sean,
You do not know a lot about the economics of pro racing, but I can tell you, you don't have a clue of what was going on then. You were not in the paddock every weekend like I was talking with stake holders and seeing how they treated certain teams and people.

I can point to no less than 3 distributor's that told me to my face..... WE WANT TO BE THE BIGGEST NAME ON THE TRUCK! and we do not want outside money. They had ZERO interest in helping MJ when he was trying to build a program, just read the articles and interviews with him. These are MJ's words not mine..... and yes he had enough outside money where he was not footing the bill, and still could not win...

At one point in time the numbers were there, but the rules package for the series to live within their means was not. If you think sponsorship money is based ONLY on TV numbers and fan attendance than you do not understand sponsorship....

Its a fact the AMA was making the rules and AMA pro racing was run by representatives from the distributors. It was pure lack of foresight that I am talking about, the money (economy) was going to dry up at some point and since the distributors controlled everything and had ZERO outside money to help them in the lean times that's what killed pro racing.

It's simple economics, look at the OEM's (Chevy, Ford, Toyota) and how they handle car racing. Its much different.

The series had no back up plan for lean times, because the distributors, did not want a back up plan. They wanted to control everything and now that the economy is tough, they have less hope.

You cannot rely on one source of income (product- bike sales) and run a long sustainable business (racing). If you try that you will go out of business, at that's what happened,

So until you spend the amount of time I have in selling and obtaining outside money to go pro pro racing and actually doing it you can take that AMEN bullshit and shove it up your ass....

 

Sorry but he's spot on and tire manufacturers are notorious for it.

It's kinda hard to engage a customer when they're not walking through the door in the first place because they can buy everything on the internet at wholesale prices.

Like Critter said, selling all those tires at deep discounts to anybody with a credit line while screwing over the smaller players that couldn't afford it and didn't have the room to hold huge inventory wasn't a very smart move. Most of those jackasses drove the value of your product down while having a price war all the way to the bottom, while you guys put a hurting on the guys that were actually trying to support the industry and engage the customer.

And here we are now.

 

you guys that cant/wont buy a new bike have no grounds to complain when they stop making them! you, are the problem. I better not hear you fuckers cry it's "millenials" that killed it. you're also part of the problem with roadracing in the usa. look at the attendance at the tracks. it's sad. why would sponsors be interested in spending so much money on a team when 800 people show up to the races? I remember years ago at Mid-ohio it took you forever to walk from one side of the track to the other because so many people where there. in the later years right up to 2014 or so it was a ghost town.

 

I remember those days. Grab a cup of fries, before going over the bridge. OSP were complete pricks, coming in the rear entrance, which I don’t miss. Loved it, back then. Unfortunately for the motorcycle industry, I’m stuck in that era and loving my ‘98 VFR and ‘02 SV650S.

 

Thank you for proving my point, when the times were good the distributors hoarded all the focus on them, and then when times became lean, they had not outside money to support them.

 

I think he’s saying that track day orgs are doing races at the end of the day? I dunno…

 

News to me. I’ve been out of the trackday scene, ~12yrs.

 

Are you that little short guy that runs around from OEM to OEM at AIMexpo trying to sell software that will change the Powersports world?

 

Yep

 

I’m the problem.

 

No.

That is a result of choices.
The choice of sanctioning bodies to continually implement stricter and more restrictive rules making race bikes more and more stock based.

The choice of manufacturers continually building bikes that are closer to race ready and far less street friendly to win races. Too expensive to fix after small mishaps and uninsurable for the vast majority.

Consumers choices to buy something they can actually ride and enjoy.

Cousin Freddie made a reference Hayabusas and ZX-14s earlier. Those bikes sell very well because they are still more street friendly than any of the race replica stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, the use of OEM parts and pieces is absolutely necessary for racing to survive. The restrictions on those parts should be much less machine specific and much much more specification specific.

 

What distributors? Tucker Rocky, MTA, Parts Unlimited, Western Powersports? Sorry but no.

 

They called it the RayMA for a reason at one point.
https://hondainamerica.com/news/ame...or-vice-president-of-the-motorcycle-division/

 

Sorry but again no.
Motorcycle tires are sold to dealers/shops by powersports distributors. And to clarify things, here's the line up for the big three distributors.
Tucker sells Avon, BStone, Conti, Dunlop, & Metzeler
Western Powersports sells Pirelli, Michelin, & Shinko
Parts Unlimited sells Avon, BStone, Conti, Dunlop, Michelin, Metzeler, & Pirelli
And I'll make this point. If you're actually in the retail tire business and you run a good business model/plan you can be successful. If Jimmy's Yamaha has 2 tires, 5 helmets, and 3 leather jackets on the shelf he will not be successful. Granted good tire stores are hard to find in this business but you can't half ass consumers.

Finally look at those distributors above, and you'll note only one of them has actively help promote road racing here in the last 20 plus years.

 

well for starters suzuki is killing off the hayabusa. so I guess it's not a sales monster like you think.
second there are plenty of street bikes you can buy. however, with the lack of sales of sportbikes theres no reason why any company will keep developing them. it's why the R6 went a decade before it got any significant changes and they still kept the same engine.

if you guys want to keep racing sportbikes and watching it on TV you need to be supporting it. there wasn't a recent rise of deaths so there's less customers. it's you guys that bitch about it and don't support it. sorry if you guys don't like hearing it.

 

the dealership i worked at has 2 shipping containers full of tires. I changed more tires than anything. i didn't care because i worked hourly not flat rate. never work flat rate!
these guys are the most successful dealership in my city with 2 locations. no one else has ever been able to do that. they do it because they sell so many damn tires lol
the vast majority of riders do not want to change their own tires. and the prices at the dealership became very competitive to online retailers. for popular tires. for example we sold the dunlop Q3+ at $250 with tax with a 180 rear. that's the exact same sales price you find online. we made money by mounting it. cruiser guys outnumbered everyone else by 7 to 1 say what you want about harley riders but they were keeping that place going the most.

 

Really?
So to
Support our sport I am supposed to go buy a new bike that I cannot physically live with.
I’ll get right on that.

 

Wait a bit of common sense displayed on the Beeb?