You’re suddenly the CEO of your favourite bike manufacturer....part 2

Look up Horst leitner(sp?) he was designing prototypes for ktm and I believe ATK back in the day and had some cool/innovative ideas

I think if the factory would release new outdated models with limited production runs they would sell out in no time.
The rebuilding old bike market is currently stronger than the new bike market. Just look at the money people are dropping on the restoration process. It would very easily cover the cost of a new bike from the factory.
I myself thinks it would be cool to buy a New 93-96 CR250, 97-99 KX250, 99-08 RM250, or 00-04 YZ250.

Limited runs might be cost prohibitive so they’d have to jack up the msrp so you’d pay way too much for an outdated bike. IMO bringing back the RM or KX as they last were would be a mistake. The KX wasn’t a great bike when it left and the ergo’s on both are outdated. Market would be saturated with 3 outdated 2 strokes on the market, jmo

My “what if”...

They could plug an existing 2 Stroke into a current KX chassis and sell it at a lower cost; but, just because a few of us...including me...think we’d like one...doesn’t mean there’s an actual “booming” market for it. Why? This new bike would be in addition to the existing bikes in that segment and...
Even-though WE think it would be awesome, the market just isn’t that big.

Besides, bikes like their (Kawasaki) KLX line are flying out of dealerships...FINALLY!!!

So, if the market continues to grow -after- the boom it’s experienced duding this COVID Zombie Apocalypse...we could end up seeing some more “inexpensive” bikes; but, for reasons ranging from Global-Environmental Politics to Lack of Vision, they’ll probably be EPA legal & trail oriented and...
Drum Roll pls for Captain Obvious to repeat what we already know...
Many will be Electric before long.

There is no need to regurgitate outdated designs. The little boutique Euro manufacturer's are putting out fresh and competitive modern 2 strokes and 4 strokes. The Japanese business model apparently requires thousands of bikes to bother firing up the production lines.

You've got to order the parts from a supplier, and they have to create them. Might as well create current parts. With modern CAD designs, it appears the design process is a small fraction of the total cost of manufacturing. No doubt utilizing existing components such as plastics, frames, wheels and suspension would make it easier, but no sense producing something outdated.

KYB, Showa, Keihin, Nissin, Nippondenso etc. will produce whatever you are willing to pay for.

Right IMO

There needs to be some way of bringing costs down, the biggest of these is the bike.

This would all depend on what is the costliest part of a bike. Do away with all singing & dancing suspension, tame back the engine (maybe change the barrel somehow), these 2 could be done to improve reliability & cost of maintenance. To go with this how hard would it be to put a series of vid’s on y/tube for the basics??

Now the goodies part, make available upgrades for those that 1. Have the cash. 2. Think they are ready to progress.

All the m’fers need to agree to what they release - make factory editions real FE’s. Any technology that gives a real performance benefits can ONLY be added after say 2 years.

Now for the m’fers. They need to stick together and say to Feld/ MX Sports/ Infront Racing (SP) that if teams are not allowed to sell merch they will not race, and ALL proceeds going to teams!! To me this is a biggy (as normally puts are open so let the teams use this time).

Look forward to thoughts on this.

If I ran Yamaha, I would immediately re-issue some of their greatest 2 stroke MXers, like the 2006 YZ250 and YZ125. Maybe make an offroad version, as that is surpassing MX in participation.

For the kids, I'd re-launch the 1980 YZinger.

Then I'd probably reproduce a quirky vintage dual sport, like the 1985 BW200.

Haha, are you running Yamaha then?

In the old days manufacturers over produced and the tons of crates sat in their warehouses for years. Even discounted at blow out prices people did not want the old technology. It was so bad that Yamaha had to make a additive to clean the old evaporated gas from the carburetors so they would run without having to do a warranty carb cleaning on every one of them.

Now Factories only make what they can sell out of.

In the aerospace industry Airbus have all the old fixtures, tooling and drawings stored for planes they do not currently manufacture in case they need them for something as the planes they do not currently manufacture are still flying like the a340. They are kept for a certain amount of time.

I’d like to think that motorcycle manufactures have kept the manufacturing equipment for the 2 stroke bikes they no longer produce.. maybe the last year of bike they produced they still have the tooling. But I’m not sure on that.. it would be a huge waste if they destroyed them after stopping production so surely they keep them for x number of years?
I’m sure they still have all the drawings for the parts and could start producing them again no problem if they did have the tooling.

How much of a Kawi or Honda etc actually made in house I wonder, and how much is sourced through other suppliers and then assembled by The manufacturer. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t actually make quite a bit of parts on the bikes

From a manufacturer's standpoint - and remember, I've worked for two of them - here's how it goes:

Manufacturers have a business plan which is created, refined and revised by quite a few college-educated people who work for the factory. It is their target to sell every single one of the bikes they produce. Make too many? That's bad. Not enough? Also bad. They use the numbers from last year as a starting point, but consider the market trends, the variations in dollars to euros to yen in every combination, and whatever corporate intelligence they have on other brands' new models to decide how many of each model to make. For the most part, the manufacturer gets pre-orders from all its country subsidiaries and ships that product to them. Hopefully, the number produced is sufficient to once again send all those bikes to the subsidiary; no more, no less. To illustrate, this would be Yamaha Motor Corporation selling 2,000 YZ250Fs to Yamaha Motor US. YMUS owns them now and they do not go back.
Next, those bikes get sold to the dealer network. Hopefully, YMUS can sell all those units to the dealers. Once they are sold, they do not go back. (Maybe traded to another dealer, however.) If YMUS fails to sell them to the dealer network, they have a surplus and may provide incentives to clear out the bikes before next year's models come in. Sometimes, they will have a surplus of a few model years, but not very often. (And certainly not in 2021.)

As far as reintroducing an old model, that's possible, but only if the manufacturer has saved all the tooling necessary. Sometimes they destroy old tooling for tax purposes and to make room for new machines. I could imagine a reintroduction of a 2018 YZ450F, for instance, but probably not a 2009 YZ450F. As far as an older 2-stroke, like an RM250 or a KX125, I'd say the odds are nearly zero.

They develop new models by deciding what they want to build: an all-new model or a refresh of an existing one (usually a cosmetic refresh or the addition of a few features. Think "same bike, but with e-start," or "new plastics.") Most manufacturers have that planned out years in advance. They do not decide today what to release this fall. The Japanese OEMs are already producing their 2022 models, probably have a dozen or so 2023 prototype units built, and will run a second wave of pre-production models for final testing this fall. There are engineers already designing the next all-new model, which will take 2-3 years of work to create from scratch if it is an all-new design. The KTM group may be a little more flexible with their production timeline but I do not know.

Frames, cylinders, hubs, swingarms and some other metal parts are often made by the OEM. Almost everything else is sublet out to production houses and other businesses. Here's an idea of what you get when you buy a Suzuki. Not all models, of course:
Suspension - Showa
Radiator, spark plugs, ignition - Nippondenso
Rims, chain - Takasago
Brakes - Brembo or nissin
Bearings - NSK
Plastic - outsourced... not sure who
Seat pan and foam - outsourced

Take a close look at every part you remove from your bike next time. Odds are good it is stamped or engraved with a supplier's information.

The manufacturer who can make the first production E bike that can run a supercross main event wins.

This isn’t really a opinion but more of a prediction of what I think will happen.

The outdoor Moto scene will possibly fizzle off or tracks will become smaller (unless battery range increases). Electric bikes make a whole new track format possible with more areas to do racing since there would be no sound.

Electric torque and how the bikes are operated will bring on a new generation of riders. And hopefully more younger riders.

Moto could be looked at as it was back in the 90’s. It would be looked at as a the first sport to fully convert to electric and be a pioneer. Bringing attention.

Supercross stadiums will be crowd noise filled just like football.

All just speculation. And yes I have a carb’d 300 Sherco 2 banger

The new line-up will also see a return to gold rims.