I hope Mother Kaw takes notice

Has anybody out there read Fred Rau's op-ed piece in the current issue of Motorcycle Consumer News? Here are some interesting tidbits from it----

The world has changed. The U.S. is no longer a major market for mototrcycle sales as it once was.In 2009, North America (Canada+U.S.+Mexico) accounted for a whopping 1.7% of Honda motorcycle sales (204,000 of 11.4 million; new bikes only). This is pretty typical for Japanese motorcycle manufacturers. What company in its right mind would spend big money for r&d and marketing for a market that consumes less than two percent of sales?

And a little thought of my own- I wonder what impact resurrecting barnfinds has on this scenario?

Those are interesting #s. The question is, What constitutes a motorcycle. Southeast Asia is full of motorcycles, most under 250cc. The real question is what are the percentages of bikes over $6,000 sold in the US compared to the rest of the world.

TexasKZ wrote:

Has anybody out there read Fred Rau's op-ed piece in the current issue of Motorcycle Consumer News? Here are some interesting tidbits from it----

The world has changed. The U.S. is no longer a major market for mototrcycle sales as it once was.In 2009, North America (Canada+U.S.+Mexico) accounted for a whopping 1.7% of Honda motorcycle sales (204,000 of 11.4 million; new bikes only). This is pretty typical for Japanese motorcycle manufacturers. What company in its right mind would spend big money for r&d and marketing for a market that consumes less than two percent of sales?

And a little thought of my own- I wonder what impact resurrecting barnfinds has on this scenario?

The motorcycle industry should look at this important sales statistic from another angle. If so few new bikes are being sold in North America (N.A.) there is a HUGE untapped customer base. Getting these folks to buy bikes means finding out WHAT they will buy. Obviously that isn't only V-twins or insect bikes, or more new bikes would be sold in N.A. Perhaps conventional (standard) bikes of moderate size (400CC - 1000CC) would gain the interest of new customers and older riders who simply aren't interested in uncomfortable bikes that will go 190 MPH or poser Harley lookalikes. Back in the 60's and 70's tons of new bikes were sold in N.A. and most of them were UJM types. I believe there is still a market for such bikes but it will take getting them on the showroom floor AND promoting them on TV and in non-biker magazines to get the attention of folks who are not already involved in motorcyling. Ed

You Know- If I was going to buy a V twin I would buy a Harley. I like these bikes we ride because they are what they are. "Original"

trianglelaguna wrote:

not many brit bikes doing much since ww11....

a 910 brutale is where it's at my friend......

but then i bet you like to hug the v twin crowd and when no ones looking , you wear xchaps too:woohoo:

I guess someone ought to refresh my memory about where I personally insulted you, Craig. I expressed my opinion that I didn't think the bike was timeless, but you jump right over into the personal insults. I thought you had gotten over that. I was wrong.

Personally, I think your place ought to be where Greg is these days, on the outside looking in.

650ed and otakar,
I understand what y'all are saying, but I am not convinced. The folks on this board, me included, tend to look back to a Golden Age of motorcycling that supposedly occured in the late 1970s. No doubt those were heady days, and probably a larger percentage of the N.A. public owned motorcycles, but I bet the difference between then and now is not as great as we like to think.
Certainly this market has been more interested in 3/4 litre and larger bikes than is the case in most of the rest of the world. This is, imo, largely due to the fact that motorcycles are toys for us, not transportation. That situation is not likely to change until or unless there is a much larger change in the economy. Even in rural Mexico, which is essentially a third world area, many people can afford cars that provide greater seating capacity (crazy Asian families not withstanding) and greater weather protection. The popularity of tiny transports in Asia is also driven by a lack of space due to urban population density that is many times greater than in N.A. Even if the manufacturers made $100 profit on each little bike sold in Asia, and $2000 on each one sold in N.A., Asia is still the cash cow.
We often decry the lack of UJMs to choose from, but how many people on this forum actually ride one that has not been heavily modded to be something else? Thinking back over the last couple of decades, I seem to recall quite a few UJMs offered by all the companies. To wit - Yamaha Radian 400 & 600. Yamaha FZ 6 & 1. Honda Nighthawk 250, 400, 750. Suzuki SV650 and 1000. Kawi Zephyrs 750 and 1000. Kawi EN 500 (pre-Ninja) & ER 6n 650. All the retro UEMs from Ducati, Moto Guzzi and such. It is a long list of bikes that have had largely mediocre success despite some passionate fans. Yes, we have all pointed to the shortcomings of each of these, but honestly, don't most of us quietly complain as much about our beloved KZs by modding away thier weaknesses?

TexasKZ, I agree that the rest of the world uses bikes for basic transportation, and that usually means smaller displacement for economy sake. Most in N.A., including me, use them more for the pure joy of riding - toys - as you say.

My point was that there is an untapped market in N.A. and the manuafacturers could tap into it if they used a better strategy. I believe there are numerous folks who rode when they were younger that could be enticed to return to bikes IF they were exposed to new conventional bikes through ads, etc. that caught their attention. These are not folks who currently ride, work on bikes, or join forums like this one. Most of them haven't been in a bike shop for ten or more years so they wouldn't necessarily know if a company began producing a bike they might be interested in unless they saw it on TV or in TIME magazine (or some other crappy rag). Seeing a bike zip by on the street isn't enough. I've had folks I work with express an interest in returning to motorcycling and ask what small/medium size bikes are available. One person in particular wants to get a bike for himself and one for his wife, but nothing too big because she hasn't ridden before. I told him I have no idea if that type bike (something on the order of a KZ400 or similar size Honda) is still made, but suggested he look online.

I think you're right about new UJMs meeting mediocre success, but that may be due in large part to a lack of in-your-face advertising. I cannot remember the last time I've seen a motorcycle commercial on TV or an ad in a magazine that isn't a motorcycle magazine. I think the big 4 from Japan could do a better job of informing folks about their products.

As far as the folks on this forum modding thier bikes; these probaly aren't the folks who would buy a UJM. But I do think there is a latent demand for conventional bikes by folks who don't have an interest in wrenching bikes and don't currently own bikes. I could be wrong; it wouldn't be the first time. Ed

what your saying is very true of all the bikes i own only two are stock my 73 z1 and my zx-11 the rest have had the ever-loving piss modified out of them. so haven't probably 60-70 percent of the fans of gs's, cb's and kz's so why doesnt the factories sit back and pay attention to this instead of year after year of big buildup of their new latest and greatest go slow offering they come out with. and always their main selling point is (Tuned for the mid range) well i may be a lot of things but tuned for the midrange isnt one of those. make it look like the zr1100 a few pages back and give at least 140 horse and i'll buy it until then i'll put every few years a couple of thousand dollars and a few hours work and have close to the same bike. and a few years from then i can do it again.