09 Hondas

 


I ride a Honda and the last 3 bikes I've owned have been Hondas and I
have to agree with the precedig statement. The only thing I see is
fewer recalls from year to year with Hondas.

A guy on another forum was at a Honda unveiling show of some kind and
saw the new 09 models (talking cruisers here). He said the only
changes were colors; still no EFI on anything but the VTX1800 series,
no belt drive on any models, still no fuel gauge,

I'm a fan of Honda - I can get to most parts myself; it's easy to add
on aftermarket stuff; they're reliable and are fun to ride, but
innovative they're not.bThey sorta pop out about every 6 years or so
with something new and then hold steady.

Greg

 

oasysco wrote:

From everything I've read, the all-new CBR1000RR is a world-beater in
the highly contested field of open-class sportbikes.  It doesn't appear
anything near its price can touch it.  Personally I'd love to see a
direct shootout between it and a Ducati 1098 S which costs about 80% more.

In defense of the Goldwing, who has bested it for what it is?

Overall though I agree with you, if motorcycles were Linux
distributions, Honda would be Debian - wonderfully stable but annoyingly
stagnant at times.

 



They had this plan, with the VTX1800cc engine to do what Harley does;
build multiple bikes around it all using the same basic engine, frame
and interchangeable parts. it would provide for lower cost of
manufacturing and attract many more aftermarket suppliers to build
parts.

It was a good plan. They got to step two.. "build the 2nd model" and
then stopped dead in their tracks.

The doors were wide open to use the 1800VTX engine and walk all over
HD.. instead they sat stagnant. Now, Yamaha is the leader in
non-Harley cruisers, Honda shares also ran honors with Yamaha,
Kawasaki and Suzuki in the sportbike realm and the Goldwing as good as
it is getting long-in-the-tooth.

The new CBR1000RR is an example of something that maybe is a world
beater, but gee, do we have to wait for one per decade?

I think a lot of this has to do with Honda pulling the Honda USA reins
back in and bring everything back to the "mother country" but that's
just me and admittedly pure speculation, with nothing to stand behind
it except previous better performance when Honda USA had some control
over what got marketed and sold in the US.

 

wrote:


That would never happen. HD riders aren't motorcyclists as much as
they are poseurs.  There is a hard core of real riders, but the
nouveau riders are simply using their 2nd mortgage money to play keep
up with the joneses (their criminal neighbors).

Honda did immitate "American Style" and they have had some success.
But they don't appeal to the hard core HD riders at all.  Just as HD
doesn't appeal to many (if any) motocyclists who ride for sport.


This is never bad when you are doing what Honda is doing, maximizing
profits in a dying industry.  Even though Honda remains the top
sellers of motocycles by a wide margin, their top markets are now
China and India with the USA becoming increasingly unimportant.

Honda will cease US production of the VTX series and the Gold Wing in
the USA next year.  HD sales devoid of easy credit are off some 40 to
60% depending on which figures you read.

HD Credit is showing massive losses.
========================
Classic Rider
www.2wheelclassics.com
========================

 

wrote:

The news is thta as of last Spetember (or maybe it's this Sept) VTX
production stopped in Marysville.