Lmfao remind me to never ask you for financial investment advice if you would consider a high end two stroke for the American market!
How did that work out for that company that made jet bikes? They sold one to jay Leno and maybe 2 others?
There ya go! Boom, someone said it. Buell even had the absolute marketing genius behind HD and still couldn't market that bike. Is it a great bike? Absolutely. But clearly a great bike isn't enough to compete at the necessary levels in performance, pricing, and sales.
It was an American made bike, not necessarily the American market. The point was more if you're going to join the game at this stage you'd better come with something really unique or you're gonna get swallowed alive. Chances are you will get swallowed up anyway.
exactly what i was thinking, and i was thinking Britten while i was thinking it. people sweat that bike because it was radical in design and because it freakin won! (and had a glory story behind its creation as well that people can ooo and awe about). the Suter works because of how many people just romanticize the 500-2T era. there's enough boccarps out there to buy 100 of those and tuck them away somewhere climate controlled, even if it doesn't top anything modern. hell i'd buy one if i had that kinda cash lying around. if a Moto2 bike was slower than some guy's Supersport R6 around the track... do you think any of those chassis companies would be in business? you could just show up to the best competition in the world with a prepped streetbike. on some level, the bespoke stuff has to justify its cost some how. either its flat out better performing, it latches on to some form of nostalgia for a large enough buying population, or it has some sort of lifestyle associated with it. a new company, that a large portion of the sportbike population probably hasn't even heard of, that can't beat any of the other companies, that's more or as much money, that has no pedigree or nostalgia behind it... ain't gonna cut the mustard. that kind of following Harley has... that kind of thing has to be cultivated over generations. you can't just create that. if Harley was brand new today... and the whole outlaw biker/cafe biker era of the 50's/60's/70's never happened, i'd be willing to be that people would be like, "so you want $30k for this heavy, slow, piece of shit made bike? are you insane?" they get away with it because of the history. you can't try and reinvent that at this stage of the game, especially in the sportbike class where performance is the number 1 objective.
Not surprised they're finished but it is ashame. I really enjoyed riding the bike at Macau and had my best results and lap times on it there. It handled and performed surprisingly well at the TT the one year I rode it there even though I didn't put in my fastest laps. Never good to see a company full of plenty of good people go under in any case.
All I can say is that my 1125R was the most fun bike and the easiest bike to ride fast -- not racing -- that I've owned, and I've owned a lot. If it wasn't necessary to take things significantly easier, I would still have it.
I liked the company and ideas. The bike was different. If it was cheaper they made have had a chance at being a decent small maker. But this constant up and down sh*t has to stop. Either get real funding before you start or stop.
No. It used to be a locals only race they held but they did away with that a few years before they did away with the 600's eventually too. There isn't really anything impressive about a certain brand/make of bike finishing Macau. The TT on the other hand is a different story...any bike that can finish a Superbike race there is reliable in my book!
