I'm still floored none of the big four have brought an aluminum framed 450 street motard to the market using the motors they already have.
KTM, Husquavarna, Beta and the euros all had them and they sold like doodoo. Yeah, the KTM wasn't street legal but a few of the others were.
The thing with the Euro motards over here on a wide scale is the stigma about reliability, parts availability and of course pricing - hell, the KTM 690 SMC was listed over $10K I did find a leftover smc awhile back that I bought for about $8500 - which is about where it should've been priced to begin with, imo. I still think if one of the big four came out with a $7k +/- 450 motard the sales would be strong; current DRZ sales support this. How many people 'settle' for the 10 year old DRZ platform because it's the only thing out there with reasonable displacement for a single?
The thing that makes great sense. Makes me think about Honda's horizontal motors like the grom has. I thought those were old fashioned when I was a kid in the 70's. I mean the old Z50 had that motor, my XR75 had a "modern" vertical engine, so did my 73 Honda CL125. LOL
Has anybody checked to see if the Asian and Euro markets are getting new machines? Curious to know if there are new products to market but just not coming to the US.
Selling the platform in greater numbers (as both a dirt and street bike) would certainly help the bottom line, as would lowering certain specs as necessary. For example, would a street motard need as high-spec suspension as a 2013 woods bike, or could it function just as well with an older generation setup?
Is Kawasaki the only manufacturer that's come out with model updates lately? The 10r needed it and the new package seems to be a winner. The 6r I thought had been good but now they have it as a 636 again.
As an average customer, would you rather buy a $7000+ 450cc single that looks like a dirtbike, or a $6000 500cc twin that looks like a sportbike? Ever wonder why Yamaha brought out their supermotard as a 250cc instead of a 450cc?
As an average customer, I'd want the bike that performed the best for what it was and put the biggest smile on my face over the long term. Those 500cc twins are nice for their purpose, but I think there's gonna be some bored folks on them down the road looking to trade up. In the meantime, the customer on the motard will be laughing their ass off with shenanigans and exploring roads/places they wouldn't consider riding a sportbike on. As for Yammi's 250 motard, the first thing that came to many a mind was "Why only a 250?". That kind of displacement will barely keep up with a minivan in the slow lane.
That was also the first question asked when the 250 motard was introduced at the dealer show. My rep just said, "Look at the price. The 250 is right at $7000; the 450cc would have been close to $9000. Where's the market?"
Which is EXACTLY what the manufacturers count on when they introduce an 'entry level' bike. The LAST thing they want is for their customers to only buy a new bike every decade.
I wonder if Yamaha has plans to put the 800 triple into a sportbike like MV has done? If done lite enough, that could be a killer formula.
How can Honda make a fully faired parallel twin and sell if for under $6k but Yamaha can't sell a single cylinder dirtbike with a headlight and street tires for less than $7k? I'm not sure if it's an inflation or exchange rate issue or if I'm just getting cheap. I bought my first bike 10 years ago with 14 miles on it for $6300 and it was a top of the line 600. That bike is probably $11k now.
I know a fellow who keeps up just fine with his WR250X on streetbike rides through the Ozark countryside.
Isn't the Honda a parts bin bike with some new stickers and tweaks? No idea, I haven't paid any attention to it.
Which sounds lovely, and would get you killed on the I10 riding threw phoenix. Of course thats because slow people in phx use the far left lanes, but thats another story... I don't get where dirtbike prices come from. They have less of everything it seems- less pistons, rods, displacement, valves, bodywork, smaller radiators, less metal used to make the engine cases etc, no gauges and associated sensors, less brake hardware. Lots of things that it would seem would make the things cheaper then they are.
