Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
I don't believe it's because they think they have to spend 30 or 40 k for a bike. If you don't have that kind of scratch, you buy what you can afford. I feel the metric bikes come across too much, like a cheap imitation of big American touring bikes. And their fit and finish back up that statement. Plastic chrome is cheesy. Their lower prices give off the vibe you get what you pay for, but makes it hard to justify buying a new bike, when used ones are 50% or less then a new bike. When you can buy a new 2 or 3 year old bikes in the crate, that doesn't exactly relate to good resale numbers. And when they drop a model, want and desire to own one of those models goes way down, as does factory and aftermarket support. Add that to the fact they change models so often it doesn't exactly create a feeling that the company has faith in their product.,,,
I'll give you your point about the cheesy plastic parts, but that certainly doesn't determine how well/poorly made a bike is throughout. If that's the only reason metrics don't sell, and American bikes do, then I guess the motorcycle buying public is more shallow than could be imagined. I also don't see how coming out with new models hurts sales. Maybe they don't want to become stale. To me, offering the same models every year gets old...who wants the same model bike now that was around 15 or 20 years ago?
Most of the motorcycle buying public is very shallow. They buy a motorcycle for some lame reasons, then put it in the garage, make payments for years, and don't ride them. That's why it's not hard to find 10 year old bikes with 5k miles on them ,for a song. There's a difference between being stale and being what the public wants to buy. For example starting in 1980 until today, how many metric bikes were made , then dropped from production ?. Many companies found success in the dirt bike market or the race bike market. But that success couldn't carry over into the cruiser or touring market. Having a 5 or 6 yr production run won't build a following of loyal repeat purchasers. And it's not like they drop one model and come out with a replacement model, it's like they never existed. When they flood the market with lower priced mass produced bikes that don't sell, their value and demand for them goes thru the floor.,,