Posts
4234
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Fenton, MI
US
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 8:05am
It flies in the face of logic that the team who has won the '10 SX title and '09 & '10 MX titles is the very same factory team who is closest to the verge of collapse in pro mx and sx.
Is this all still tied to the fallout from the case recall on the '08 RMZ450?
Is this all still tied to the fallout from the case recall on the '08 RMZ450?
The Shop
Free shipping: VITALMX
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Who ever you put on the bikes to go racing, Honda and Yam will still dominate the market.
Imagine what sales could be in a year when bike import to the US has dropped by 47%...
I know it's petty, but guns, cameras, and dirt bikes should all look like they're built to last. I've never got that feeling from Suzuki or Kawi... and I had a Kawi 750SX for years...
Oh, and I think the factory Suzukis are a thing of beauty. I just wish they'd ship with a little better materials.
Back in the day we didn't have the internet and tons of MX tests to show exactly what were the pros and cons of every little bit of the bike. We know now that some of the bikes that line up on the gate are worth almost $100,000.... So we understand that no matter what bike we buy it is not going to be what the pros are riding.
Yamaha had a recall of 54000 R6's!
No money to be made from pro level racing.
It's where they make all their money in the competition dirt bike division (which isn't a whole lot of their business). The motorcycle division makes their beans on street bikes and ATV sales, along with accessories from both.
I bought a brand new Suzuki 85 to replace a 4 yr old YZ 80 and was majorly disappointed by Suzuki's quality, more then likely will never buy another Suzuki too.
How much do you think it cost Suzuki to field Dungey this year and pay him per his bonus structure? I bet at least 6 mil and I bet I am low.
Bike, $7000 net profit, lets be generous and say they clear after everything is said and done $2000. If you sold 50,000 RMZ450's thats 10 mil. You think hell yeah.... corporate made that. Thousand of people get paid with that. Plus, no way they sold 50,000 and no way they made $2000 per unti. See the delima? Its an MX bike... they dont use those to pay the mx team exclusively. Alot of people, shareholders, ect get a piece.
Biggest problem for suzuki though, every single one of us, even the suzuki faithful, knows the bike is a second rate bike durability wise and this isnt a new problem. For the better part of 3 decades reliability has been a plague of Suz. Name the last time you heard of footpegs breaking off frames of any other brand. There are too many to list for Suz over the years. Easily twice as many as any other brand.
The bikes, new, imo are awesome. the bikes 5 months down the rode, I dont trust them at all and im not the only one. Think on this... would you feel better and more confident buying a 2 year old honda or yam or a Suz. The defense rests. And after seeing the strides Suz make with the RMZ and having rode a few, they are great and I would almost buy one....except I cant get the picture out of my head of the photo Robert Reynard showed me of the fist size hole in the front cases of Robbies RMZ450 when it blew up at the San Antonio AX last year.
Pit Row
All I've ever owned myself is Suzuki: 1992 RM125, 2001 RM125, 2003 RM250 (worst bike ever), and a 2006 RM-Z450. I've also ridden the 2005 and 2007 RM-Z 450s... Sadly haven't gotten on one of the newer fuel injected models, but my next purchase will be the 2011 450.
Anyway, with all the bikes I've ridden over the years and I can safely tell anyone the Suzuki's arent bad... at all. And they're not unreliable. I put over 100 hours on my 2006 RM-Z before I sold it. I checked the valves while doing it's last oil change and they were still perfectly in spec. Tons of compression, no issues whatsoever on that bike. I think I got stuck in a false neutral (between gears) ONE TIME... this is something I've managed to do on a few other bikes though. I blame my size 13 boot.
And just put this out there, the most fun I've ever had on a dirtike was when I owned the 2001 RM125. That thing was ridiculously perfect in every way. It had a few mods (suspension, V-Force intake, FMF exhaust). I did jumps at tracks I never even considered attempting before. That bike made me feel superhuman every time I got on it. Then I got a 2003 RM250 and wanted to shoot myself. A person would have to spend $10 grand to fix the suspension that POS had...
Anybody else see the pattern? The next dude that will win a title for Suzuki has to have a first name that starts with D...
You've heard it here first: Dean Wilson to Suzuki in '12...
... on second thought, scratch that. One of the letter has to be an R.
If you can "properly" maintain them, there should be no problems at all. They should run for a very long time, in the hands of a weekend moto enthusiast. As far as RRs bike that cratered? Do you think that it was a stocker?
The ego factor is huge. Current models sell to guys who must have the bike with the absolute most attention getting features.
The first of this generation's four-strokes...the first EFI...Single Function Forks...reversed cylinders...shit, I remember when it was disc brakes...water cooling...single shocks.....
Trick shit that everyone wants to look at and talk about...that's what drives most current model sales. Racing is not sending those buyers into the showroom. Racing has a better chance of helping dealers develop leads for non-current and used, and increase turnover on private sale used bikes in hope of putting those sellers on something from a showroom somewhere.
Guys who buy the current stuff....they knew what they wanted when they walked in the door.
I'm glad you like them and are brand loyal, I however am not brand loyal if a bike is built with crappy parts I'm going to say it.
Secondly Suzuki fixed the case problem, at huge expense, as soon as it was recognized on the 08 rmz. Suzuki makes a reliable bike that handles awesome, power is great for 90% or more of the riders and they are a ton of fun to just ride. Suzuki is also extremely conservative they lost a ton of dealers in the credit collapse and they only brought in enough bikes to fill their preseason orders which was < 1000 MX units.
Suzuki is core MX however they can and will only spend and invest so much on MX. They do have options. Corporately they are doing ok and just got a huge injection of cash via VW.
The case issue of 08 is a non issue. Suzuki protecting themselves for the future is what has limited sales.
Besides, the "verge of collapse" might be a little melodramatic. They might just grab the '11 SX and MX titles. Let's not second guess Dungey again...
My 08 rmz 250 was a good bike, though I just didn't gel with the motor, so I sold it and bought an RM 250. Much better than the previous CR that I had.
I also ride a 2010 CBR 600 and love it, so i'm not brand biased. Theres at least 5 gsxr's here for every CBR too.
Suzuki gets an unjust bad rap.
But dont let me ruin the Suzuki hatefest you clowns have going.....
Post a reply to: The "case" that bleeds Suzuki out?