From: svoboda@rtsg.mot.com (David Svoboda)
Subject: Re: XLH vs Big Twin
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 23:43:46 GMT

In article <1992Dec09.030005.23120@gecko.uucp> ed@Tekelec.gecko.uucp (Ed Campbell) writes:
|
|>So go ahead, Ed, convince me that my bike is such a piece of 
|>trash that it can't possible take me on a two-week, 6000 mile 
|>trip across the country without falling apart, and possibly
|>killing me.  I'm listening.
|
|   Do it regularly for 50 years or so and I promise to be impressed.

I too would be impressed with ANY bike that would do that. 300K plus
commuting (which I also do on my bike), plus another 15K miles per
year of shorter trips (weekend getaways) would be a bit much for
any bike.  Hell, for any car.  Any airplane.

|About 15 years ago I rode to Kansas city and back on a new Suzuki to
|win a bet. Within 300 miles I was wishing for any other bike, even
|the Velocette thumper I had once. Before and since then, I have been
|on much longer rides on a variety of bikes including BMW's, Triumphs, 
|and hardtail and swingarm Harleys, and none was as miserable as
|that.

What was wrong with it?  Was it *NEW*?  Motors need to be broken
in, you know.  Maybe you just picked the wrong bike (did you pick
it, or was the bet that the other guy would pick the most
uncomfortable Japanese bike he could find.)

Let's see, 15 years, 1977.  I have ridden some mid-to late 70's
Japanese motorcycles.  Some of them had problems, but wasn't that
right about the time when the Japanese motorcycle companies were 
trouncing Harley, and Triumph, and Norton, on account of power,
handling, and reliability?  AMF springs to mind, and even Harley
engineers will admit the 70's weren't so verygood on quality.

And it seems to me that there are quite a few of those old UJMs
still buzzing about.  I had one for years, and it only finally
was put to rest when a riding buddy totalled it on a curve.

The thing is, Japanese companies have this thing about improvement.
Perhaps the Suzi you rode on was a beast, but you can bet that
things have improved.  That's the Japanese mentality.  There is no
hesitation to try different things, and sooner or later even a
million monkeys can pound out Hamlet.

|     I don't totally hate all Japanese bikes. I consider their 350
|to 450 comuter style twins to be a great starter bike. I don't care
|much for some of their design techniques

Which?

|, especially the lack of
|safety factors, 

Like ABS?  Like sticky tires?  Like disk brakes?  

What safety factors?

|and I especially don't like their marketing practices.
|      As I have posted before, there is something wrong when I can
|buy a bike (or any other product) made in Japan or any other country
|for 20 to 40 percent less than the guy who lives down the street from
|the factory. You know the steriotype tourist with 15 cameras? This
|is because he can buy them here and take them back for less than they
|sell for where they were made.

Is this your assumption, or do you have proof of that?  Can you quote 
prices at least, please?  Be sure to include European prices, too.

A company can sell below cost for a certain period of time, to capture
market share (American companies do this, too, on a regular basis),
but some time they have to scale up the price and make a profit.  I
contend that there is no possible way that Kawasaki would have a
motorcycle assembly plant in Lincoln, Nebraska, that was a money sink,
there for the explicit purpose of putting Harley Davidson (the only
American competitor) out of business, when in fact Harley Davidson
is on no danger from them.  Japanese businessmen aren't stupid.  The
plant would close in two days if killing HD was the aim, cause it
isn't working.

Do you think their aim is to make US industry in general fold?  Well,
with the relativley small numbers of motorcycles, and few dollars
that flow to Japan on account of motorcycles (as opposed to, for
instance, semiconductors), motorcycles are a particularly poor tool
to accomplish that.

For that matter, why the hell does Harley Davidson charge so much
for a bloody leather jacket (that's made outside our borders anyway),
when I can buy a locally made one, just as good, but without the
HD emblem, made ten miles north of here?  It's because they can get
it.  That's a market economy, and that's why bikes (HD included)
are more expensive in Japan.  They can get it.

Ed, this is getting really long, and I would really like to talk
this over with you, so perhaps email would be appropriate.

Dave Svoboda (svoboda@void.rtsg.mot.com)    | "I just can't take
90 Concours 1000 (Mmmmmmmmmm!)              |  this weird shit
84 RZ 350 (Ring Ding) (Woops!)              |  before breakfast!"
AMA 583905  DoD #0330  COG 939  (Chicago)   |   -- Evo Woman