Aerial view -I just want to see a pic of UP's garage someday.
I can see it now when he decides to sell the house. The listing will say something like, "Enormous garage and workshop. House also has a kitchen and bedrooms, but who cares."
Chris
We're in the process of moving to a new home. Developers bought the old one. I tell people that it has a 3 car garage with room for work benches and all my tools. And it has two storage sheds, plus a covered patio to grill on in the winter. And oh yes, and it has a kitchen and some bedrooms. Gotta have our priorities right on what's necessary on a home.
I can see that you are trying very hard to understand.Well, I just don't understand why a feller would want more than one of the same motorcycle ....
To quote one of my favorite movies, "You work on commission, right? Big mistake...Big. HUGE!"
Emphasis on 'modest' ...That long thing perpendicular out of the back of the house is my modest garage ...
He probably puts them in his living room! Those living in the “holler” do things differently!!!!I just want to see a pic of UP's garage someday.
I can see it now when he decides to sell the house. The listing will say something like, "Enormous garage and workshop. House also has a kitchen and bedrooms, but who cares."
Chris
Oh julia!!!
How many of the grey-haired reality are buying new bikes? I'm part of the "reality" and buy a bike or two every year or two. Usually only one of those is new. However, if I had a Euro for every one I know who was like me, or even remotely similar, among the grey-hair riders I know, I'd still be broke
The problem with that report is, that it basically revolves around the German market, who's clients (like the 'murricans) drool over everything new and shiny
I've often thought the same thing... we have more motorcycle model choices for beginners and advanced riders alike and yet we have seemingly shrinking rider demographic. IMO, too many choices can dilute manufacturer resources and results in more mediocre bikes and fewer exceptional ones. And I personally don't buy motorcycles to be mediocre...
The timing of reading @DesmoRonin's comments in post #108 above and deleting an email from Motorcycle.com came to close together to pass on commenting. The email was titled "Has KTM Finally Cracked the ADV Sport-Touring Code?". I clicked on the link to see if they were writing about anything that interested me...nope. Not at all.
KTM's pictures show it on a racetrack doing wheelies. Not on an open road. The reality check for me on this mad horsepower race is the acceleration times. This KTM that is supposedly the greatest in sport-touring gets from 0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds. My F900XR with 70 hp less, gets there at the same time. In the real world, on the roads I travel, there is no advantage to having a high performance car engine on two-wheels...except the frustration of not being able to use it fully.
I disagree with this too. Who reads magazines nowadays? Sadly, fewer and fewer as the number of magazine sales continues to drop. It's tough to see as I love physical print. And without readers/advertisers, the magazine cannot exist. Even the (sometimes evolved) digizines are smaller, and I suspect most readers have simply switched to other platforms. On digital platforms, many of the smaller "publications" have to rely on Google Adsense revenue, and this is usually catered to the demographic of individual visiting the site. If that demographic is younger as it generally is, the ads will cater to them and not necessarily the actual "potential" consumer group you suggest. And don't expect YouTube to be any different... as the Number Two website in the world behind Google as Number One, the ads are also tuned to the visiting viewer. If that viewer is younger as is also generally the case, the ad will reflect a younger marketing campaign as the digital marketing gurus respond to their analytics. And who do you think owns YouTube? (Hint: it's the only website that is larger than them).The problem with that report is, that it basically revolves around the German market, who's clients (like the 'murricans) drool over everything new and shiny
The core issue however seems correct:
MFG's D&D and marketing depts suffer incurable youth addiction, by which they miss the actual potential consumer group by miles...
I think that's spot on. Rider magazine sends me an email monthly "magazine". After awhile, I started noticing that only certain brands and types of motorcycles were reviewed. Then I wondered if that had any correlation to the advertising.
Everyone's story/why/path is going to be different. And I perhaps have a slightly skewed perspective as I've ridden and own some pretty extreme performance bikes that not even most reviewers get to ride. I think the younger journalists/reviewers do need to mature, but I imagine it's pretty tough to appeal to the older demographic going out while resonating with the younger generation coming in. I also think that trend towards platform engineering makes it more difficult to write in a manner that differentiates engine characteristics compared to the way it used to be. And unless that platform is stellar, I don't think it does much to properly attract new buyers to a particular manufacturer.The timing of reading @DesmoRonin's comments in post #108 above and deleting an email from Motorcycle.com came to close together to pass on commenting. The email was titled "Has KTM Finally Cracked the ADV Sport-Touring Code?". I clicked on the link to see if they were writing about anything that interested me...nope. Not at all.
Probably as a result of having young reviewers who are jaded by the latest and greatest and fastest bikes around. If you just rode a bike with 200 hp and the next bike you review only has 150 hp...it'll seem like a step down. Oh, and by the way...the reviewers can ride these bikes and never have to fork over their own money to do so. It leads to reviews that are meaningless.
Reality on the road (at least for me) is different. When I went from my NT700V with 60 hp to the F800GT with 90 hp, one thing I realized was that the BMW would put me in positions where I'd count on that extra performance to bail me out of dumb stupid situations, like passing where I really shouldn't. The Honda had me planning my passes more. The BMW had me taking more riskier passes because it had more performance. And I realized that one day I'd take one to many risky passes...
I am totally bored and turned off by bikes like this KTM. $23,600 and 173 hp. You've got to be kidding me.
Kevin Ash did excellent reviews. He reviewed bikes with a focus not on the race track, but on the streets. He even would include things like measuring the height of the mirrors to determine how well suited the bike would be for filtering. There was realism in his reviews.
The fault to me in manufacturers building bikes that no one buys lies in both the manufacturer's missing the mark...and the motorcycle reviewers as well.
Chris
I suspect too that some of the independent "publications"... blog/vlogs, personal websites, etc. use AI or AI assistance. Press release copy, verbatim or paraphrasing, is much more common as you mention. I usually have press credentials at EICMA and similar, but I rarely bother asking for press kits nowadays as I'm confident that I will run across one in a matter of days online.
I had a friend yrs ago who had around 6-10 bikes all the time. Lived in a 2 bedroom bungalow. His prized possessions( vintage bikes) lived in the house all winter. Second bedroom was reserved for working on the bikes. Visitors had choice of sharing couch with his pit bull or the floor. (Safer on the floor)
There is a over pricing, including interest and jnsurance. Ill stick to low mileage pre owned. Been lucky, sort of, so far.
