Which manufacturer is the biggest prick? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Which manufacturer is the biggest prick?

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nobbie48

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Game playing with pricing and models available elsewhere but not here. Cartelling by limiting quantities to keep prices up, shutting down rider oriented dealerships because they don't fit the corporate image.

We see a really nice bike but only available in Europe, the USA or orient.
 
nobbie48 said:
We see a really nice bike but only available in Europe, the USA or orient.
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Maybe it just does not make financial sense for them to bring it to smaller market like Canada.
In about half the US you can ride pretty much year round, so paying $20,000 or more for a bike makes more sense than Canada where we can ride comfortably 6 months a year.
 
Manufacturers aren't charities, they will take whatever actions make sense for them to hopefully make more money. Be it through selling more bikes, building more faithful clients, etc.

Saying that, the dumbest move was when Honda pulled their lineup from independent dealers to create their powerhouse concept. I'm sure it was a great idea in the boardroom, didn't transfer over into the real world.
 
Klaatu said:
Maybe it just does not make financial sense for them to bring it to smaller market like Canada.
In about half the US you can ride pretty much year round, so paying $20,000 or more for a bike makes more sense than Canada where we can ride comfortably 6 months a year.
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There is the government hassle with them approving bikes.

Parts and Service:

As far as parts go the purchaser of a rare bike would have to be advised that parts would not be stocked domestically. It's a toy so a couple of day delay is no big deal.

Service shouldn't be a problem for a competent techie.

I was looking at the 125's which are lowish buck but decent for city dwellers. In off road form not bad for the gravel roads either.
 
Brian P said:
All of the Japanese manufacturers build interesting small-displacement bikes that aren't available here.

Right now ... I'm looking at you, Kawasaki, for not bringing us the ZX25R, because I want one.
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How much would you pay ? It would end up being as much as, if not more than the current 636.
If you want one that bad then personally import it, because that's the only way you'll see one.
 
Canada is a regional sales office for motorcycles. The Japanese distributors (and some others) stay in business with ATVs, snowmobiles, side-by-sides, watercraft, outboards and outdoor power equipment. Unless its imported into the U.S. the hassles of M.O.T. approval is just too much work.
Ducati, BMW, KTM, H-D and the like sell much smaller volumes but at higher prices.
You pick - you're the consumer.
 
nobbie48 said:
We see a really nice bike but only available in Europe, the USA or orient.
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Sometimes the dealerships know their market better than the customers do.

I remember when Yamaha released the MT-01 everywhere but North America, there was a huge outcry from the motorcycle community. Everyone wanted one. All the moto media said they were missing a huge financial opportunity.

So Yamaha released it in Canada for 2006.

It tanked. They had to discount them to the point of practically giving them away at the end.

It was promptly discontinued the next year.
 
Lightcycle said:
Sometimes the dealerships know their market better than the customers do.

I remember when Yamaha released the MT-01 everywhere but North America, there was a huge outcry from the motorcycle community. Everyone wanted one. All the moto media said they were missing a huge financial opportunity.

So Yamaha released it in Canada for 2006.

It tanked. They had to discount them to the point of practically giving them away at the end.

It was promptly discontinued the next year.
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Everybody wants something until they can get it - there have been a lot of marketing disasters over the years.
About 8 years ago I asked Canadian Kawasaki about importing the W800. I was told, why bother if we're only going to sell maybe 50 across Canada.
Then the U.S. got on board and voila.
 
why a prick , because they dont want to burn full a pile of dosh to maybe?? to see you buy a bike ?? pleasev
 
Honda.

Their prices for replacement parts is rediculous, as is their accessories. And you'd figure after decades of high failure rates, they'd figure out how to build reliable regulator / rectifiers and cam chain tensioners. I guess they're too lucrative to improve upon.

And that whole Powerhouse thing was just idiotic.
 
spitRR said:
Honda.

Their prices for replacement parts is rediculous, as is their accessories. And you'd figure after decades of high failure rates, they'd figure out how to build reliable regulator / rectifiers and cam chain tensioners. I guess they're too lucrative to improve upon.

And that whole Powerhouse thing was just idiotic.
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I forgot about the RRs
 
don't blame manufacturers for a market that is nonexistant ..
 
KTM (and maybe some others) builds bikes with certain features installed but disabled by software until you pay the dealer to turn them on. I understand this from a business perspective, but it really bothers me that my bike has certain capabilities that are intentionally disabled.
 
J_F said:
Honda arrogance has never been a good fit for me
have never owned anything from that brand
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I find the Honda dealers to be extreme at price gouging. I've told this story before, I needed a DR8 (fairly standard bike plug) that sells in a 2 pack at CTC for about $7, and a M5x16 bolt that sells for about $1 at any hardware store. I was running late and the local Honda Powerhouse dealer was the only place I could get to when I needed these parts. They charged me $13 for 1 NKG spark plug (packaged in a red Honda box, and $4 for an M5 bolt. $20 bucks didn't kill me, but paying 4x the normal retail price annoyed me.

Recently I went there to get a carb kit and air filter for my little Honda gennie -- $67 for the carb kit and and $27 for the filter -- out the door for $110. I choked then went to Amazon where I got a new aftermarket kit that included a carb, air filter, gas filter, gaskets, plug, gas line for $26 including tax, delivered in 6 hours to my door. My gennie runs like a champ.
 
Mad Mike said:
I find the Honda dealers to be extreme at price gouging. I've told this story before, I needed a DR8 (fairly standard bike plug) that sells in a 2 pack at CTC for about $7, and a M5x16 bolt that sells for about $1 at any hardware store. I was running late and the local Honda Powerhouse dealer was the only place I could get to when I needed these parts. They charged me $13 for 1 NKG spark plug (packaged in a red Honda box, and $4 for an M5 bolt. $20 bucks didn't kill me, but paying 4x the normal retail price annoyed me.

Recently I went there to get a carb kit and air filter for my little Honda gennie -- $67 for the carb kit and and $27 for the filter -- out the door for $110. I choked then went to Amazon where I got a new aftermarket kit that included a carb, air filter, gas filter, gaskets, plug, gas line for $26 including tax, delivered in 6 hours to my door. My gennie runs like a champ.
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You're buying the spark plug as an OEM branded replacement part that has been marked up 300%
or
Like you say you can buy 2 somethings that looks the same and comes in a plastic bubble pack, then you can fire one of them in the garbage because you discover one actually works better then the other one :|

It's like buying light bulbs that have the filament in the right place, or buying the seconds at a third of the price and have the filament somewhere other then the right place.
 
Douglas. Went belly up, and my buddy can't get parts shipped over the pond now.
Rumour has it that at one point some moulds were made here, but later shipped to the U.K., since there are more bikes there.

Kawasaki. Couldn't get parts for my older bike. Could get parts easily for a different Kawasaki.

Only owned Kawasaki, Honda, and Suzuki, so far. Honda was easy to get older parts for.
 
I dont know if this makes them a 'prick' but I always found honda bikes to be very vanilla, and overpriced
But I guess when your as big as honda, you get to do whatever the **** you want
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