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11/4/2012 12:35am
11/4/2012 12:35am
Edited Date/Time
11/6/2012 10:58am
Great to see Honda starting to take up the fight against ktm ! Both in mx and enduro.
It was many years ago that Honda had so many good riders as the brand will have in 2013:
US: Chad Reed, Justin Barcia, Trey Canard, Andrew Short, Kevin Windham....Dean Wilson ?
World MX: Max Nagl, Evgeny Bobryshev, David Philippaerts, Tanel Leok, Steve Ramon,
Enduro: David Knight
Also cool to see HRC starting up that new Dakar team.
In general it seems that Honda finally is starting to comeback and atleast try to reach the old days , like the honda glory in the 80's and 90's
It was many years ago that Honda had so many good riders as the brand will have in 2013:
US: Chad Reed, Justin Barcia, Trey Canard, Andrew Short, Kevin Windham....Dean Wilson ?
World MX: Max Nagl, Evgeny Bobryshev, David Philippaerts, Tanel Leok, Steve Ramon,
Enduro: David Knight
Also cool to see HRC starting up that new Dakar team.
In general it seems that Honda finally is starting to comeback and atleast try to reach the old days , like the honda glory in the 80's and 90's
Dont think anyone can keep up with the development going in to the KTMs at the moment.
The Shop
KTM looks like the Honda of old. Good job by Honda, but it might be a case of too little too late.
In terms of building bikes to fit the consumers needs, Honda was knocked out in the first round.
They COULD do it, they have the resources and great platforms to start with, but they won't.
Honda are doing one good thing, trying to get people on bikes with versatility and great gas mileage, check out the new 700 street bike and the 250L. Not the new DT1, but an effort.
"Ready to Race".....umm, no.
Classic.
Btw, where's KTM's sub $5K Dual-Sport w/ 6 gears & buddy-pegs? And...when are THEY gonna race something like THAT at the Baja 1000?
I'm jus' sayin'...
KTM's continued investment all around the world is paying off. The japanese factories 3+ year models will struggle against a brand updating heavily every year.
Look at the 2013 KTM 350 gained something like 5 bhp in one year and putting out more power than a CRF450.
I'm a massive Nagl fan, but he isn't going to finish top 3 next year, Ramon was cruising for 2 years even before his neck injury, Tanel Leok and Philli are on the downslope too as is Knight in enduro.
They haven't won a MX2 GP since Marvin started stringing wins together, while his team weren't even paying him, where were Honda then? If they had stepped up support they would have had a world championship that year, instead it went to KTM.....
Barcia's my wildcard for a championship next year, i'll give Honda that but......
What do we, the consumer get from Honda, threats that they'll leave the show if 2 strokes are granted a level playing field, a dog of a 150 mini bike for youths.....
KTM are giving consumers what they want; choice and a bike that can be raced straight out the crate. Honda will continue to sell what they want us market.
Honda aren't taking shit to KTM, they don't even want too, it's near certainty they won't win a championship outside the states, and we're a market that barely figures in their 54 billion dollar company but hey that's cool cause they racing dakar and have 20 year old XR650L that you can race with your buddy hangin' pillion down to mexico......
Pit Row
And btw, the XR is an ancient machine, no wonder they can dump it in your hands for cheap...
The days Honda was king are over, drop the nostalgia titnted glasses. The big 4 have to share a big piece of their marketshare with KTM now, like it or not, that's the way things are now. It's time thye pump funds into drasticly redisigning their bikes, and not only offroad. The roadbikes are a joke these days compared to the Euro brands. Big, heavy and old design and even older engines. The innovative supremicy of the Japs are over...
but, thank god for the other oem's. out of that 54 billion, how much comes from mx? somebody threw out (a very loose) 10 million..... how much effort would you expect someone to put in to %.02 of their income? no, they aren't keeping up with KTM, no, they don't put forth the effort we would all love to see, but at least they're doing something. same goes for the rest of the big 4.
Honda could buy and sell KTM with just the PROFIT they made last year by selling 50cc bikes alone. Look it up.
KTM, by that respect exists solely by the good will of Honda, who is the first one to respect a worthy adversary and a good fight.
Honda had and could still have a world-beating 2-stroke bike program if they wanted, but they see the writing on the wall long before most, and KTM are just lucky they got sucked into the vacuum that was left by the "Big 4" leaving the segment.
2 strokes are on life support legality wise, and won't be around much longer due to tightening emission standards, and the damage to the environment.
Yeah, the Xr650 is an anchient design that happens to be bulletproof, and won the Baja 1000 like 20 fricken years in a row OVERALL, usually filling out MOST of the top 10. AND THE LEVERS DON'T COST $75 APEICE, OR THE CRANK $850. (and yes, everyone involved with motorsport worldwide knows EXACTLY what the Baja is and how tough it is, don't be rediculous).
You are naive if you think Honda isn't doing exactly what they want, and leaving the rest of the scraps for others to sqibble over.
When KTM wins a Formula 1 Championship, Moto Gp championship, World Superbike championship, builds and sells a jet airplane, or makes an autonomous robot that thinks for itself and recognises people and objects while negotiating the world with no human intervention, I'll be impressed. Now go back to making a couple a dirt bikes, nice job.
Ktm is an enthusiasts company at this point, and I doubt they are running a 10% profit margin like Honda does on their motorcycle division.
But Honda makes some weird decisions from time to time, that wind up making them fall behind, instead of forging ahead.
It seems they're doing it now with the 2013 450. Dual exhaust didn't sell the last time they tried, but yet, they're at it again. Why?
It's things like this that let a company like KTM catch, and then pass them in regards to off road bikes.
Should could woulda...If Honda wanted to be more competitive in offroad racing they would invest allot more. They just maximize their profits and invest in other sports while their machines still sell to the masses claiming them bikes are the best of the best. Innovation is not needed at all, the masses are still brainwashed so why invest in that? To bad for them the 90s marketing sharade is starting to fade. But i guess it keeps sticking in your head, marketing puppets tend to have that problem.
Win all Baja's, F1's, MotoGP, build jetplanes and robots. KTM does not give a shit about all that. They want the bike business and primely offroad racing. I wonder why Honda wins all Baja's... Maybe because the competition from other manufactueres is lackluster? Maybe because worldwide it aint not popular or known AT ALL, be realistic. It's an American niche sport, worldwide it is hardly known. And i never said it was not tough or impressive but marketing wise it's a VERY small piece off the off-road market. And that is exactly why KTM does not give a crap about it. If you want to be big in desert racing you win Dakar's. Where is Honda at the Dakar wins? Last one was in 1989...
2strokes where on life support when the 4strokes got released, same old fairy tail that is being repeated over and over.
But it again apears you're a puppet for marketing, big suprise.
XR650's are bulletproof because they are acient, logic result of not innovating. You just perfect the current design and spoonfeed it to the masses as the best thing after hot water. Oh oooo Honda is soooo superiour!
You are naive if you think Honda is just leaving all the scraps to the rest, saying that repeats the kind of fanboy you are. Part of the drooling mass that belive the big red wing is so superiour to the other brands. Kinda like a patriotic American that's blinded by his own foolishness. But yeah stay in the red bubble, seems like you are comfortable in there.
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