Cagiva NA in the '90's was the worst. Cagiva USA and the Ferraccis did the best. No minimums or certain order days for dealers and they got parts moving fast. There would be hiccups, when Italy had problems, but overall... excellent! BMW started the downward trend. First they went to Ventures, an outside company, then they moved to BMW Warehouse. They started with certain day of the week to order and minimum parts orders. It sure slowed down things for my small dealer. He ended up closing, because he couldn't meet Husky/BMW's corporate demands. My two Italian Huskys, are 12 and 22 years old and parts started to get scarce in the BMW years. Last year when I needed parts for my '09 WR165, even parts Halls had to order came fast. It must be getting worse...
Aprilia was the worst. If they did not have the part you needed in their US warehouse, and they had very few parts there, you had to order it from Italy and they would not ship any parts from Italy until they had enough to fill a sea shipping container. You can imagine how a customer who just bought a $17,000 Aprilia RSV1000 Mille R would react when you had to tell them that, yes, you could order them a right side middle fairing but it would be 90 days at the earliest before they could get it. We had Aprilia from 2000-2004 and it never got better, they were fantastic bikes but the parts support from Italy was basically nonexistent. As a dealer we could not even get service manuals, when we needed to get some info the service manager had to call the US headquarters and they would fax him the ONE page he needed. It was an absolute nightmare. The second two years we had them we couldnt even get any bikes, much less parts, but when we told them we did not want to be a dealer they refused to drop us.
"You will see modern classics..." So SP will define classic for us. Total BS. He rakes others over the coals but discounts the beauty of what I have to assume is Ducati, Triumph and soon to be SWM. I concur that the latter has to deal with an older platform as I assume one could not produce the latest motor for some reasons pertaining to their buyout agreement. To call a car or anything a classic as a new machine is a faulty logic. A classic is never a classic until it receives accolades for being a benchmark years after it's release and sales. That's just puffing or smoking and inhaling. 10 years from now we will see and decide what's a "classic". When one speaks of design you better wear a flak jacket as it's in the eye of the beholder, not in the eye of the salesman, ceo, etc... Classics are not always trendy and maybe he's confused the two. Heady times for sure for KTM. As the owner of a Ducati Sport Classic I am pleased to know it is constantly sold for more than it sold new and while some components came cheap such as the forks, they have been updated along with wheels. When folks look for a chassis to build their real customs it's one of the more desirable... It's a classic in name and after 9 years a classic regarding it's price/value in the marketplace. So we will see what is or is not a classic, but I'd take a Commando, Bonnie, Trident, 750 Super Sport, and many others that were individualistic and not a parts of a single platform gone wild under re badging. The only shared platform right now that will soon take classic status IMO is the 2000 first generation Audi TT from Freeman Thomas. It shared platform with the new Beetle which will never be a classic and goes to show design is where it's at.
I think when he says "Modern Classics" I think he means a "retro" bike with modern technology much like the Honda CB1100, Yamaha FZs, Ducati Monster and KTM Duke, not the he is claiming they are classic bikes per se. They are not necessarily retro in their styling, but retro in the sense that they are do it all road bikes like the early 70s bikes, they are not a very single function bike like a Gold Wing or a supersport bike.
I've owned and ridden, old and new Triumphs and Ducatis. They bandy about the Classic term a lot. In good and bad ways the new ones are different than the old ones. A new Bonneville may bring the Classic one to mind, but it sure isn't one. Trouble with all new street bikes... they are a third bigger than the old ones!
"Trouble with all new street bikes... they are a third bigger than the old ones!" The Triumphs and Ducati Scrambler yes the older Ducs no. The 70s Honda 4's and all the rest were 350 lb+ machines. Weight came down only in the late 80s and today with a 600 having the same weight as a 1000.
I was hoping they would release a single for the Scrambler. I always rode 350-550s. Never needed or wanted more except I drooled over friends Nortons, Triumphs, Laverda and Ducatis but out of my price range.
What I took away from the article is that SP comes across as fully engaged, analytical, detail oriented, and very thoughtful concerning short and long term goals for his enterprises. One can quibble with his slogans, but this appears to be a man very focused on the conditions/capabilities/markets in several continents and numerous countries. Would that USA elected officials have the same focus, foreign or domestic.
Master manipulator. I may just go out and buy a KTM 690 E and sell my Super Tenere just to spite him! Darn you SP! Great bikes and very astute marketing strategy. I can't believe how they evolve the models making current bike owners wanting the new versions.
wowo ... Say what you want but SP is sitting in the global driver seat of motorcycle-riding at this moment in time... Seems apparent that he likes Huskies more than ktms also -- Surprise(!)... No Indian Huskies and what is this new logo? What did it take to get SP, the Juggernaut, to add those 3 letters to his product symbol?
Taiwan is outsourcing to China... China is outsourcing to Vietnam... the world is a busy place. But you can't get those bastards in the middle east to put down Jihad long enough to build a damn thing !
They want Made in the USA. http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/made-china-increasingly-becoming-made-usa-n301621
