WK bikes, the British importer of the Chinese CF Moto 650, are to enter the bike in the 2013 lightweight TT. I hope they do well.
That's exactly what we said about the japs all those years ago. But they still killed the brit bike industry, didn't they..?
True, but as a nation of plagarists I wouldent think they will ever reach Japanese levels of innovation , different mindset I would have thought.
Exactly. I've done about 20,000 miles on Chinese commuter bikes, in all weather, and mainly flat out. Never failed to complete a journey, so they can't be that bad. In my recent crash test the yamasaki (which is inferior to the sanya) actually did very well - every bit as good as its main stream rivals.
I'm not worried about innovation, to be honest. All I want to see is cheap, reliable and stylish bikes on sale to lure a younger audience, otherwise motorcycling in this continent is destined for a short life.
Hyosung already do this, yet they seem largely ignored. They do seem to lack decent marketing though..
Quite so. Marketing is required, which is why this TT campaign is so important to CF Moto. Hopefully they'll realise the potential for sales in Europe on the back of a decent TT showing and give WK Bikes as much support as they need.
Yup, marketing is EVERYTHING! you can have a fairly poor product, but market and sell it well and people will buy it (Ford are a perfect example) You can have the best product in the world, but with poor or no marketing its game over.
...If it's anything like my chinese scooter, it'll rattle all the bolts out and the exhaust will drop off within the first two miles.
Scooters do seem to be of variable quality to a degree, but part of the problem is that without proper dealer networks there is no set procedures for pdi of new bikes. You would be amazed how many faults are picked up at pdi, especially high volume items where individual testing is not carried out. When i left school I worked in a Ford dealership for a short while. We had a new maverick delivered with the most astonishing bottom end rattle. No big end shells fitted, not one. What was even more disturbing is that despite the engine having been run several times with no oil pressure, and the crank having sustained several nicks from rods flailing around, they just shoved shells in it and hoped they out lasted the warranty. Iirc the mechanics estimated the engine would be good for no more than 30,000 miles before it failed. With my Chinese bikes I always cracked off and re tightened every bolt. Over tight bolts were just as common as loose ones. I also changed a few fasteners for better quality ones. Never had anything fall off.
no the brit bike industry killed itself, lack of innovation, lack of investment, poor quality, outdated designs and management more intend on short term dividends and bonus's than managing company and building a better product
The problem Hyosung have is that much of their dealer network appears to be bombsite places run out of old petrol stations. When I was 33 bhp restricted I quite fancied a Comet 250, as it was about the same money as a used and tired ER-5 or CB500. Could I find a dealer that didn't look like Arthur Daley? No. A real shame as much of Hyosung's stuff is based on proven Suzuki technology - and as the perception they're Chinese rather than Korean. I wonder why they've never entered a Comet 650 into the Minitwins for publicity value? The WK is essentially a last generation Kawasaki ER-6, which is a strong bike. I wish them all the best. There's very little for the new entrant to big bikes below a 600cc four, so some competition for Suzuki and Kawasaki's twins is most welcome.
Absolutely. The Hyosung GT650 is also a cracking bike, and as close to a modern day Ducati 750ss as you can get. Would on fact make an ideal 'second fiddle' for day to day riding. Unfortunately with poor dealers and no promotion, who's going to buy one?
I think, but don't quote me, that Hyosung are the top selling road bike marque in NZ nowadays, and there is/was a Hyosung race series going.
They'd still be going strong if it weren't for Soichiro Honda and his cheap reliable bikes, although admittedly they'd still be churning out shite...The jap bikes were seen as laughable, unreliable, unmanly rustbuckets when they first started appearing. But slowly people started to realise that they weren't leaking oil everywhere and didn't need servicing every other weekend, and so the jap bike invasion started. There's absolutely no reason to suggest the Chinese can't do the same, because the japs have started concentrating on higher end models and leaving the door wide open in the sub-600 sector. Many people here would have started their biking apprenticeship on 250's, and most of them on jap 250's. The reason for that is the brit manufacturers did the same as the japs are doing now - they left the door open on lower end models, just churning out bog basic plonkers, leaving the japs to corner the learner market. And even though the japs have recently made some inroads into producing bikes to suit the new licensing categories, the bikes they are offering are really only old bikes (or designs) with fresh clothes. Who's to say that the forthcoming Bajaj Pulsar 375 won't be much more fun to ride than a CBR500? I'm betting it will be.
