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The TM on the other hand...
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I know the bike in the picture is a 4 stroke. But how cool it is to see Dowdy on a 2 stroke TM?
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Never mind after some extensive research (ie: google search) it appears that Coppins has retired from GP racing and is racing the 2011 season in Australia for Yamaha. Then just bring over Julien Bill.
Everybody who raced a TM said that was a great bike, but need's lots of maintenance.
And Aprilia... I was working on a Suzuki / Aprilia dealer and we repaired 5 engines in less thant two months. And the total amount of RXV's 450 and 550 that we sold was 6. No kidding, that bike was extremely expensive, the factory said us that need to replace pistons every 20 hours of use. I remember the seat completely hot on the summer, that bike was unreliable. At least they changed the swingarm. Most people said that was a previous test for a moto2 engines. What a waste of money that bike...
I wonder if that series is really gonna happen......as far as the 200 being made,
there should be a first year exception on a prototype by the AMA. I'm
pretty sure Henry and Yamaha did their first year on the 400 that way.
Doug was the only guy on the planet with one.
Seem's you'd sell at least 200 of 'em if they did good in a series like that.
As far as riding one, who gives a what-ev-a.
That Aprilla is beautiful.
Everytime I see that freak of a bike, I feel sorry for them and their investors lack of being in tune with the market.
I mean, here we bitch and moan about four strokes being to expensive, and these mofos decides to make it even worse?
Pit Row
The day I see James or either Ryan line up in a SX or MX, then I'll believe it. I wasn't to sold on them, especially after seeing Coppins performance at Lakewood on the Aprilia.
http://www.amaproracing.com/assets/2010-AMAPro-MX-Homologation.pdf
Approved model list. Interesting that Husqvarna has their 2010 250F approved but not the 2011. This tells me that Husqvarna wants to be on the Pro racing starting lines.
http://www.amaproracing.com/assets/AMAPro-MX-CompBulletin-2010-01.pdf
The exemption rule that Yamaha used with Doug Henry & Cannondale used with Jeff Gibson has expired so this no longer applies.
I bought the first 4-stroke TM MXer in north america in 2002, it was a good bike, although a bit quirky. I'd buy another TM in a heartbeat, they are really built top notch. I do wish they would have stuck with the chromoly frame though.
The main downfalls to these companies, as an owner, is the lack of resources and information out there about them. You're pretty much on your own when it comes to bike setup, and there's little to no aftermarket support. Although the TM comes with so many trick parts already, there's little left to be desired. Parts were always quick and easy to get, and priced well. I'm sure that hasn't changed, the distributor is still the same.
I have never been on a Aprilia or a TM but I would imagine they have a good product or they wouldn't still be in business. They may not be on the same level as the big 4 and they may not even be trying to be on that level, but for you to classify them as shit and crap is ignorant.
Don't let the baby blue fool you, they're a wolf in sheeps clothing, I preferred the early 2000's darker blue look like my '02. The bikes are made for and aimed at pro racing, not novice bikes that need thousands in hop-ups to make them competitive Take a look at one up close in person and you'll appreciate them a lot more.
lotsa power. fun bike.
dealers/mechanics hate them because the italians do things differently, so its not the same cookie cutter jap format to wrench on. god forbid a grease monkey has to leave his comfort zone and learn something new. its been the same issue with ktm for a looong time and a large reason why they catch so much flak. they do things differently, whereas the big 4 japanese brands are all pretty much knock-offs of each other so if you can wrench on one, you can wrench on all.
the euros are used to multiple brands doing things differently, being that gasgas, tm, and the rest are all from various countrys/cultures. american consumers i dont think would be so against the unique brands but dealers want no part and steer consumers away from it for that reason. makes it hard for some of these smaller mfg's to get in with dealers here in the usa. and a large reason why ktm just ended up setting up their own dealer network, and in the long run, its worked out very well for them.
there's no problem with the aprilia except for the fact that it is different.
as for a small mfg like tm being able to afford a top rider.....tell ducati they cant afford anyone. they are small potatoes compared to the japanese brands, yet they can afford rossi because they bring in outside sponsorship. tm finds a big sponsor, they can run any team they want. better yet, simply aligning themselves with a private team that has good sponsorship is an easy fix (twotwo, l&m, jgr, H&H, etc)....not saying its going to happen soon, but factory support is factory support and the business model of factorys backing private teams is the future rather than the old model of doing everything in-house.
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