An open letter to the big four (4) Japanese motorcycle manufacturers--Please Read--

[bikerdoc]

So increasingly overseas motorcycle manufacturers are setting up shop inside the middle kingdoOm. Most if not all are doing so with a local based manufacturer creating a JV company. Aside from some of the local companies having gone and acquired overseas/international brands to leverage the local company up the totem pole.

Kawasaki with Loncin, Loncin with BMW, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Honda all with their JV partners variants here too. All very well and good, but will one of the big four (4) Japanese motorcycle manufacturers offer a more suitable product fit for purpose. The majority of the roads are not sealed, and even the ones that are, are often in a sorry state, with little to no maintenance being the usual mantra. Well sealed roads are often subjected to incessant overloaded trucks, that pound away at roads not designed for it. More full fairing model motorcycles is not what is needed in mainland China IMO (after 13 years living and riding here).

A mid displacement DS or ADV type product with center stand AND ABS, with the ability to fit a top box, are the order of the day and with a suitably loud set of horns, which is what the locals respond to. How about a Versys-KLE650, DL650, even a KLR650 (with EFI please). A CB500X would do very well here and be more suited to the local conditions as I discovered riding one in Northen Thailand for 2 months (Jan & Feb '14) - very versatile bike both on and off the beaten track. Yet, despite this not one overseas designed DS or ADV ride from any of the big four (4) are represented legally through official distribution channels, though there are lots of grey market/smuggled in models, often stolen from locales close by and shipped through the Southern borders of the mainland. Often the latter are running with illegal plates, no insurance, or worse.

BMW on the other hand have the G650GS single thumper, F700GS/F800GS as well as the R1200GS models available here, but all of them are still nearly double the MSRP compared to most developed countries MSRP's e.g. F700GS cny127,000 + 9% tax = ~145K (additional costs excluded).

It's great that there are now an increasing number of models coming into China after completing the CCC certification (quality certification) formalities, through official distributors and distribution channels, CB500F, CBR500R, CTX700, ER-6N, ER-6F, to name just a few, but not one (aside from BMW) are making their respective DS/ADV models available, KLE650, CB500X. Why?

For any motorcycle manufacturer, please send a rep who is prepared to roll up ones sleeves and get down to the grass roots level and really take a look around, travel widely, off of the expressways which motorcycles are forbidden to use by some local politics (another sore point that needs some active campaigning on), to more accurately determine what is most suited to the local market conditions... a Hayabusa @ cny200,000 (or similar) is not it!

YMMV.

Bikerdoc