Posts
1889
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4/1/2008
Location
Warren, OH
US
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1942nd
Edited Date/Time
10/9/2015 8:17am
Has anyone besides me realized that KTM won 450SX, 250SX east, WXC GNCC, XC1 GNCC, and it's looking like XC2 GNCC is firmly in the hands of a certain Brit that goes by the name UK JT, who rides a DirtWise backed KTM? I'm thinking the "Big 4" need to do some rethinking of the current lineup and target market. I was at the Unadilla GNCC today racing (got 10th in 40+B...sucked but at least I finished). I noticed during both the morning race and the afternoon race that most of the bikes were KTM...might as well be spec racing. There were 880 or so in the morning adult race and over 300 in the afternoon race....that's 1100+ bikes, probably 75% KTM...it's like a sea of orange. That represents serious $$, and the Japanese manufacturers should take note...they're getting their collective hat handed to them by KTM.
I guess the U.S and even New Zealand is different in regards to being easier to ride a MX bike in general off-road riding areas.
For us here in Aus, Yamaha are the only Japanes manufacture that have taken the effort to continually updating their top end high performance road legal off road dirt bikes.
The WR and FX (which I am pretty sure was more targeted towards NZ anyway) are both great bikes and pretty much a MX bike with the ADR compliant parts needed in Aus.
Honda has not updated their X range for years, Suzuki at least have the RM-X road legal here in Aus now and Kawasaki the KLX, but the Kawi, Honda and Suzuki are all based off older MX bikes.
The Shop
Now that being said, wait til 5 or 10 years from now when the kids who came up on KTM are the ones buying the bikes.....And I am sure you will see the japs take notice. And if they do, that is good for us......
I've owned at least one each of the big 6 over the years, even huskies before ktm owned them. I'm not brand loyal at all. You make something I want, I'm gonna buy it no matter who makes it. I can't take people who talk shit on every other bike and think whatever bike they have is the best of the best. What about that kid on the 98 kx125 that just blew your doors off when you're on a brand new 450? Live outside the box people!
Not knocking any OEM at all, but with the right people in the right places, and a big enough pile of money my Road Toad one-hundo could finish towards the front.
kidding...
Happy riders= fast riders.
Good for KTM.
Meanwhile, back at Honda...
Their net profit is small, because they are a small company...and they are kicking the shit out of the multi billion dollar jap brands. Which is kind of embarrassing, all that money and resources and they cannot seem to get it right.
yet 3 of the big 4 jap brands have all released new side by side models in the last year, except Suzuki, who are asleep at the wheel currently,
Pit Row
and there is no way a bike was developed for the NZ market, esp when Yamaha here is run as part of the australian distributor,
and your right, we can ride a MX bike nearly anywhere you can ride a EXC/WR, there is very little point in having a full road legal dirtbike like you need in Aussie,
the RMX is based on the latest injected RMZ450 as well, and goes alright, but your right about the KLX and CRF X, are based of the last of the carb's 450 mxers,
The big advantage the Japanese bikes have is they are cheap to work on. Not to mention they have 2 strokes of many sizes, which make it easier for non-pro's to work on.
That will change as the amount of KTMs in the market continue to grow. Lets face it, people see all those Orange bikes, they remember. They see those bikes winning everywhere, they remember, and the number of KTM's sold will continue to grow.
When the dollars are high enough for the Japanese to "get out of bed" it will be too late.
The Japanese are paying attention to the KTM's grenading and not finishing races.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=283&v=qlqotM-qE2M
One other thing. The Japanese have seemed to be asleep as you say because they have been busy making millions going after the emerging markets. They are now back to focusing on the North American market and the huge gains you saw from Polaris, KTM and even BRP and BMW will be challenged going forward. Think about it, all they have to do is dig out the steel frames from the mid 90's, throw on a hydraulic clutch, electric starter and the suspension they used 10 years ago. Paint that bitch some weird color and they can charge $10k plus per bike. With that kind margin, they can easily be 200lbs. And they will get the ama to lower the min weight for them.
Just joking, don't go defending KTM on me, I think they are great bikes.
and they still look to moto gp, which is why yamaha and honda spend so much money there,
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