Anonymous (not verified)
Edited Date/Time
2/24/2019 5:05pm
Not long ago in old man years, KTM was not taken seriously by the mx community. Now, conventional wisdom is that KTM is light years ahead of every brand competing in AMA racing.
Are the Big 4 simply investing elsewhere in their products? Everyone has an opinion or preference, but is it possible that the bikes we have grown up on are fading?
Are the Big 4 simply investing elsewhere in their products? Everyone has an opinion or preference, but is it possible that the bikes we have grown up on are fading?
Since KTM is smaller it can innovate more quickly and without the cost that would be incurred by the Big 4.
So, right now, it makes sense if KTM is ahead of the curve.
The Shop
Also, as someone else mentioned, the Jap brands are into way more than just focusing on motocross bike. Yamaha has snowmobiles, wave runners, sport bikes, and the whole Star brand cruisers.
Point is, they are not light years ahead of the others.
Don't forget they get a shitload of money invested from the other Austrian company , REDBULL ?
The linkage debate, the handling characteristics etc were real obviously.
The big Japanese companies are much more linear. They already know what the product is going to look like 2, 3, 4, 5 years from now. They have some limited capacity to make last minute changes that have little impact to production (ECU maps, sprocket sizes, offset, etc.) but anything that would be considered a major change to the product has to undergo such a lengthy process to put into production that you may not see those improvements until the next model year.
Pit Row
Think about this, when was the last time anyone saw Mr. Honda/Yamaha at a supercross race?
Me today:
NERD?
Motivates you a lot when that's your only thing.
The big 4 are so diverse - and very likely breaking EVEN on motorcycles - such that bean counters say just maintain. The entire industry is asking HOW do we get back to higher sales. No one knows - because a lot has been tried.
On paper - dirtbikes are same price they have always been to purchase (inflation adjusted) - so that can't be it.
I would also argue that while on paper the ktm is best (it sort have always been) it's arguably NOT the best for most people.
I mean just imagine what california was like - high school teams, race nights every night of the week - large regional series - good paychecks. Large numbers meant great industry around that - parts support - local race support, shop involvement etc.
But without the numbers - none of this can exist. I think KTM has the offroad segment completely dominated which really helps their sales numbers vs the Japanese too. So their involvement in each segment is higher than the others.
As a company kawasaki is the smaller brand in whole. By Japanese standards they are probably not even in the top 25 companies in Japan. Ktm wouldnt even be in the top 100.
In the motorcycle industry things change quite drastically, but to answer your question yes the japanese brands invest elsewhere.
“KTM is light years ahead”
Jeez I read some shit on this forum.
I thought KHI was MASSIVE?!
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