Poor bike selection U.S.

[It'sNotTheBike]

Originally Posted by Mr. Canoehead

For a guy with a the name "It's Not the Bike" you sure have drunk the KTM Koolaid! :loll

Yeah, well ... when I pee for some reason it is orange and not yellow, I
am not sure why ...

I have ridden a lot of bikes and I buy what I like. I used to ride Huskies back
when they were still Huskies, and I rode an R90S and an RD-350 and
a small Honda VFR and a few other bikes too. And I loved them all.

But honestly I don't care what anyone else rides. I think everyone should ride whatever
makes them happy and whatever that is, it is an awesome bike if they like it.



.

[It'sNotTheBike]

Originally Posted by Mr. Canoehead

Having said all that, where is my KTM 690Adv?

It is waiting for you to build it


I wanted one too and I got tired of waiting so I made my own "690 Adventure".


I installed Rally Raid tanks and fairing with 990 headlight, Touratech rear racks,
Renazco seat, and various other bits and it is more fun and handles better than
the 640 Adventure I used to own. I am still skeptical about the absence of a
kick starter and the fuel injection instead of a carb, but things change and I am
powerless to stop that so I decided to "improvise, adapt, and overcome" ( like
Clint Eastwood said in "Heartbreak Ridge" ). I am considering rigging a dual
battery system which isolates one battery which is used for starting only, and
regarding the fuel injection there are measures which can be taken which will
increase the reliability of the injection system ( most of those steps are somewhere
in the huge 690 Wunderfest thread ).


I love the 690. It is not an off road race bike nor is it a comfortable road bike,
and it does vibrate more than most twins, but if I could only own one bike for
everything, this would be it. All bikes are compromises and this one is for me
the best compromise I have ever ridden.


.

[TeepS]

Originally Posted by bleedgrn

Why can't the market ride the peak of the trend that the rest of the world enjoys.

It's called making a profit, or in the case of ADV Bikes, not making a profit.

[bleedgrn]

Originally Posted by burmbuster

Ever thought of the middle weight bikes? Sounds like thats what you want. Ride a T800 XC or a F800GS. Both are great bikes.

Yes actually. I was leaning towards the T 800XC but the cost of ownership and the initial price ($14K) was inhibiting. I love motorbikes. I want one in my life, but I also have other many expensive hobbies that I enjoy. I found trying to find something to fit my budget challenging in that there were compromises with what was available. If you had a standard recipe for what made a adventure motorcycle great what would that include:

Twin cylinders, suspension travel, Available farkles, spoked wheels, durability. All these criteria should be available across the price spectrum. I get that the "adventure models" are not the largest segment of the Japanese market share, but wouldn't it make sense to offer exactly what most people are looking for. I believe this is the fastest growing bike market. I used to like cruisers but was tired of annoying everyone around me with obnoxious pipes as well as being stuck to asphalt surfaces. Sport bikes, specifically crotch rockets are rapidly shrinking. Some of our local shops don't even carry them any more because the only segment that wants them is 19-25 year olds who can't afford to buy and insure them.

[It'sNotTheBike]

Originally Posted by bleedgrn

I get that the "adventure models" are not the largest segment of the Japanese market share, but wouldn't it make sense to offer exactly what most people are looking for.

I suspect that what is likely to happen in the US market is the opposite of the
situation in the movie "Field of Dreams" :


"If they come, it will be built"


In other words, as the size of the adventure bike market increases in the US,
the Japanese will see the opportunity and then build bikes which cater to that market.


But with the world economic climate being what it is at the moment ( thanks for that, banksters,
unethical mortgage brokers, and oil speculators ) it could be a few years before this happens.

Since I know I am not going to live forever I decided to buy a bike I could actually have now
even though I'd rather have a super reliable Yamaha WR650R which weighed 290 pounds wet
and had a 350 watt alternator and 6 gallon fuel capacity and integrated luggage racks and LED
headlights and, well, it's fun to dream but most of us know that to have such a machine we must
build it ourselves. So I did. It is fun to build up a bike, and it brings a certain satisfaction to
make it into your personal vision of what it should be, so I have to say I have enjoyed the
process. And it was cheaper than some other hobbies, for example boats or aviation, by a huge
margin.



.

[phoenixdoglover]

I am residing in Oman right now. I would dearly love to be back in the US with the selection of bikes we have there.

Here's a quick rundown on the adventure bike market here:

1) BMW - no dealer
2) KTM - no delaer
3) Husqvarna - no dealer
4) Kawasaki - local dealer, no KLR's
5) Harley - oddly, the dealer has 2 KLR650's left over from 2010 "experiment"
6) Suzuki - no dealer (folded last year, no V-Stroms anyway)
7) Yamaha - local dealer, no Tenere, Super or otherwise
8) Honda - local dealer, no NC700x, or Crosstourer, or....
9) Triumph - no dealer
10) Ducati - no dealer

Could the local dealers import some adventure bikes? Yes. Will they special order, even with a price 20% higher than US MSRP? No.

Only recourse is to shop in Dubai, import the bike, and then hope it is fault free.

So spare me your belly-aching!

[kingofZroad]

Originally Posted by It'sNotTheBike

I suspect that what is likely to happen in the US market is the opposite of the
situation in the movie "Field of Dreams" :


"If they come, it will be built"


In other words, as the size of the adventure bike market increases in the US,
the Japanese will see the opportunity and then build bikes which cater to that market.


But with the world economic climate being what it is at the moment ( thanks for that, banksters,
unethical mortgage brokers, and oil speculators ) it could be a few years before this happens.
Since I know I am not going to live forever I decided to buy a bike I could actually have now
even though I'd rather have a super reliable Yamaha WR650R which weighed 290 pounds wet
and had a 350 watt alternator and 6 gallon fuel capacity and integrated luggage racks and LED
headlights and, well, it's fun to dream but most of us know that to have such a machine we must
build it ourselves. So I did.



.

Well said!! Go buy a bike and RIDE!!!

[It'sNotTheBike]

Originally Posted by phoenixdoglover

Only recourse is to shop in Dubai, import the bike, and then hope it is fault free.

So spare me your belly-aching!

Your story reminds me of a saying I heard in Sunday school decades ago :


"I cried because I had no shoes until I saw the man who had no feet"


( the implied ending to the above story, or at least what I have always thought,
it would be, is that the person telling the story then decided to be thankful for
what he did have. Which in the case of most of us in the western world, who
always have a warm place to sleep and do not go to bed hungry, would be an
appropriate mindset. )




.

[bleedgrn]

Originally Posted by phoenixdoglover

I am residing in Oman right now. I would dearly love to be back in the US with the selection of bikes we have there.
Only recourse is to shop in Dubai, import the bike, and then hope it is fault free.
So spare me your belly-aching!

Sounds like living in Oman is a personal choice you made. Going to these locations there are obvious limitations on selection of imports. At least you probably enjoy cheap petro prices . This should not be the case in one of the largest marketplaces in the world.

[bleedgrn]

Originally Posted by It'sNotTheBike

Your story reminds me of a saying I heard in Sunday school decades ago :
( the implied ending to the above story, or at least what I have always thought,
it would be, is that the person telling the story then decided to be thankful for
what he did have. Which in the case of most of us in the western world, who
always have a warm place to sleep and do not go to bed hungry, would be an
appropriate mindset. )
.

Look, I know this sounds like whining and maybe it is. I actually feel very privileged to live where I do, have the means to indulge. I have been to many third world locations both in a military capacity as well as privately funding my own trip in a supportive role in Central America. I understand we are a very privileged society. There is also room for improvement and I would just like to see more options available that make sense.

[It'sNotTheBike]

Originally Posted by bleedgrn

This should not be the case in one of the largest marketplaces in the world.

The size of the marketplace is not the relevant term. If demand in that market is below the
threshold the manufacturer wants to see before entering the market the manufacturer will
not enter the market.


And yes I do in fact have an undergrad degree in economics, but I did not stay
at a Holiday Inn Express last night


.

[burmbuster]

Originally Posted by bleedgrn

Yes actually. I was leaning towards the T 800XC but the cost of ownership and the initial price ($14K) was inhibiting. I love motorbikes. I want one in my life, but I also have other many expensive hobbies that I enjoy. I found trying to find something to fit my budget challenging in that there were compromises with what was available. If you had a standard recipe for what made a adventure motorcycle great what would that include:

Twin cylinders, suspension travel, Available farkles, spoked wheels, durability. All these criteria should be available across the price spectrum. I get that the "adventure models" are not the largest segment of the Japanese market share, but wouldn't it make sense to offer exactly what most people are looking for. I believe this is the fastest growing bike market. I used to like cruisers but was tired of annoying everyone around me with obnoxious pipes as well as being stuck to asphalt surfaces. Sport bikes, specifically crotch rockets are rapidly shrinking. Some of our local shops don't even carry them any more because the only segment that wants them is 19-25 year olds who can't afford to buy and insure them.

Cost of ownership? That's a new one on me. This is my second Triumph and there is no more a cost of ownership for these bikes than there are for the jap bikes. I have never had any drivetrain issues or electrical issues.

[It'sNotTheBike]

Originally Posted by bleedgrn

There is also room for improvement and I would just like to see more options available that make sense.

Me, I'd like to see world peace and no more of these insane school and
workplace shootings. But I am not holding my breath waiting for that
because I am a realist.


Why wait on an ideal bike that may not appear for years when there is riding to be
done and fun to be had ?


You could buy a less than ideal bike now and sell it on that glorious day when
Honda or Yamaha finally smell the coffee and build the bike that all us fringe-market
Advrider people are wishing they would build. Or you can not ride for years while you
wait. The choice is yours.

Me, I want to have fun before my body quits working and I have to wear diapers or
some godawful thing so I am going to ride a bike which is far from perfect but
is still a lot of fun to ride.

And to borrow a line from Forrest Gump : "that's all I have to say about that".


.

[It'sNotTheBike]

What has happened in this thread caused me to remember a tidbit
from what is called "transactional analysis", which was and is a useful tool
for analyzing human behavior.


The tidbit is called "Why don't you / Yes, but". It involves a scenario in which
every suggestion made by one party is rejected by the other party who uses
a rationalization to justify a position which might in the cold light of logic not
actually make much sense. I don't mean any insult by writing this but in
honesty I think this phenomenon is happening in this thread.



Check out the web page below and see if it doesn't sound familiar in the context
of some of the discussion in this thread :


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transac..._You.2FYes_But


It's 35 degrees out, and I am going riding now

Auf wiedersehen !

.

[Rob Dirt]

I happen to agree with the original poster. If you look at websites like http://www.bikez.com/index.php, then you'll see all kinds of awesome bikes that we will never get.
For example, I'd buy a street legal 2-stroke like http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/hus...re125_2013.php, but they will never offer me one for sell.
I haven't read every post, but if Honda can crush KTM like a roach, then why is everybody riding orange? I've had a KTM 450exc since early 2006. I almost never saw any other KTMs back then. Now, 95% of the dirtbikes I ride with are orange. KTM is becoming huge because they offer dirtbikes that can be tagged. Why the hell isn't the Japs offering MX bikes street legal? I just don't get it, & I never will.