Riceburner
Well-known member
YZF600R was longer than R6. 1996-2007 completely identical except for paint. 2006+7 had only the Cali version though. Strip those part off and it's identical to other years.
Longest production unchanged motorcycle?
- Thread starter inreb
- Start date
The Honda Rebel 250 was available from 1985 until it was recently dropped.
Bikerider
Well-known member
but the DR is unchanged since 1996. That's almost 20 years with no changes but graphics
The NR750? That was a limited production run and Honda lost money on every one they sold.
The V-Max had a pretty long run unchanged.
Honda Rune was only made for 2 years I think.
Honda Rune was only made for 2 years I think.
Enfield doesn't count as it is a motorized trash can and not a motorcycle
Riceburner
Well-known member
Was the Royal Enfield Bullet built continuously by the same manufacturer?
Nevermind...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield_Bullet
Nevermind...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield_Bullet
Yes that would be why the Royal Enfield brand is the largest manufacturer of motorcycle in the world............
They only hold that because they are made in India where people can't afford cars and there is a 60% import tariff on imported bikes. Basically one of few options in one of the world's most populated countries results in them producing the most.
yes , that's why there is Yamaha india, Honda india, Harley Davidson india, KTM, Bjaj-Kawasaki, Piaggio, , three others I cant remember, and yet we have Royal Enfield. It is the biggest market in the world, and you can fix an Enfield on the road side with a basic tool kit. Its also why they have had a 50+ yr production run on a single cyl wizzbang.
So are all those India versions of the manufacturers you listed actually made there? Just because they have dealers there doesn't mean they don't have huge markup.
I dunno, I was going off a quick article I read that said Harleys and Hondas were outpriced in India by Royal Enfield due to the import surcharges so they aren't very popular there.
LoneRonin
Well-known member
lol, says the guy on a 10 year old GS500...what a dummy. When was the last time you ever saw one let alone rode one??
There's a reason thousands of units were used by the British Army, RAF, Indian Army dating back from as early as the 1930's to the later years of WW2. Then a bunch were sold to India to use in the Indo-Pak wars, these bikes were ridden almost exclusively in mountainous regions by scouts and dispatch riders, I'm sure there lives depended on it especially given how treacherous the terrain is up there.
Just because something is old and out of date by our standards doesn't make it a piece of junk.
Last edited:
To get around the punishing import taxes they have assembly plants in India, and some manufacturing of parts. With global manufacturing they pull parts from all over Asia then bolt stuff together in a facility. Not unlike any other vehicle manufacturer that wants to stay in business these days, they are a subsidiary of the mother ship.
The low hanging fruit would certainly be Enfield, its seen no tooling changes in decades and most parts are Indian sourced, so it is cheap there.
The low hanging fruit would certainly be Enfield, its seen no tooling changes in decades and most parts are Indian sourced, so it is cheap there.
Goldwing - 40 years.
