Major OEM Bike Development

CFMoto has had an interesting curve in the states. Most of their sharp rise domestically can be tracked back to the 'rona days when they were out-producing all the other manufacturers in the four wheel off road space, and doing it by a wide margin.

I was working for another competing OEM at the time. It was pretty wild watching the internal sentiment at that company change over the course of a couple years. Product managers went from laughing and acting like CF would fall off due to shit quality to realizing that their own product quality and marketing schemes couldn't compete.

I can't speak for the on-road motorcycles they make, but I can say that they prioritize production efficiency, margin, creature comforts, and aesthetics over actual performance and reliability on the four wheel products. They'll compete with Kove, not the established brands in moto. Stark probs shitting their pants though 🤣

I remember few years ago dreaming about two stroke efi. Now that we have them I don't want have nothing do with them.

Seems strange that they are limiting the number of people who can answer the survey.  

Usually in surveys you want as many responses as possible to maximize the sample size.

I thought the cfmoto e-bike project was on a hold? 
But my gut says something is-a brewin over at  Cfmoto… for the moto side of things 

Strictly a hunch feeling

Well, we know it’s not a new RMZ or a Kawi 2-stroke. So that leaves Honda, Kawi (4-stroke), and Yamaha (which I doubt needs any help designing a competitive bike).

collecting and selling emails is a big business now.  Do you have to enter your email?  Thats what they really want, not your opinions.  

I’m waiting for someone to jump up say fake out!!!!

If they were collecting emails I don't think they would be rejecting survey takers because they're full. 

If its a Chinese company, maybe its that new Hoto Factory Racing.  If they are gonna sell bikes in the United States, they might want to change that name.  They had a dakar team.  Go Hotos!

Anyone assuming it’s a Chinese brand clearly didn’t read the article…. 

Cannondale is back , Baby!!

I went through it and pretty much picked any bike I could connect to with my phone.

This is a telltale of a Chinese manufacturer. Do you think that if Honda could offer a CRF with works suspension for under 10k they wouldn't already be selling it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r40tvnT_5Q

They could probably get close but when people will pay 13k why would you sell it for 10. 

 For anybody who doesn't like clicking links, its a video showing the 250 and 450 MX bikes. The site is blocked for me, maybe somebody with a VPN could view it.  The little I could find on the brand in my quick search is that the founder was also the founder and CEO of Kove.  The bodywork looks like   slightly modified CRF plastic that is blue and white.  I couldn't find much info on the bikes in my quick search.  

I don't think the survey is this company though. I wouldn't call a brand new company a major OEM.  I know a lot of people are saying its not Yamaha, but Yamaha has a history of doing similar surveys while developing SXS's. 

Maybe Yamaha is trying to see if there is interest in a factory edition  bike and what people would be willing to pay etc.  The hypothetical bike option's do remind me of another OEM's survey I was able to take. I can't remember which brand that was though. I think it was KTM. 

 With the way the economy is and the way it has impacted powersports in the past, perhaps they are trying to get a feel for what the market is going to be like in the near future for different versions of their bikes?  Honda has had their Works, standard and the last generation bikes. Perhaps Yamaha or whoever it is is looking to see how much interest there is for different versions of the standard model? They are the only brand without a factory edition .  

 The limited number of people allowed in is similar to the Yamaha SXS  . If the bike in the image is a real bike, it looks most like a Yamaha style fork guard ,but the brake rotor  looks way too big to be real if it is supposed to be a full sized bike and not a kids bike.

zxmoto or cfmoto. 

Maybe not directly, but overall it seems like Japanese automakers somehow do a great job finding out what their customers want, and put those wants into their products pretty well. I don’t think that they just guess and get it right most of the time. 

I never said they don’t do market research, I said they don’t generally design by committee…

Yamaha has used a very similar survey that MXA's sister publication UTVA posted in a similar way and they when the new SXS was released they talked about the development and survey involvement.   The survey was used to get feedback on different trim levels that they ended up producing.  What options were valuable and what people would trade for what.  

The main design, R&D and all the options were developed  and then the survey used to spec out the base model, and the different special edition options. It wasn't a design by committee, it was input to determine the specs and options for each trim level. With Yamaha being the only brand without a factory edition , maybe they are feeling out the level of interest in a Yamaha Star racing FE model and what would come "stock" what would be GYTR  ad ons that would be purchased separately.  Again they have done this a couple times with SXS's in the past . 

I've done a few of these surveys over the last couple years and I guess it's good the OEMs are trying to get a feel for what people want but I also find it crazy that they're going this far into the weeds when the most obvious thing they could do to increase sales and satisfy a bunch of customers (making a 350) is staring them straight in the face and they won't do it. This survey won't even take your feedback if you ride one.  

People only want the most violent hard hitting 450.  Even someone who has never ridden a dirt bike wants “the fastest one”. And listen to the MXA or Keefer testers, they praise only the bikes that have the biggest hit type power.  So i doubt a 350 is gonna sell like some people think.  These guys are talking about 500 two strokes again like theyre so amazing.  

What are you listening to?? Keefer is always saying that he like a smooth powerband on a 450...