Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I was browsing Honda motorcycles and the first thing I see is this NT700V.

Sheesh, I need to subscribe to a magazine or something. I had no idea.

RhadamYgg

heh, too funny - it is listed on top of the page right now for New 2010 Motorcycle Models.

Looks like an interesting bike.

Looks like Honda is building a V-Strom (maybe a bit more up-scale, but whatever.... 5 speed? is it still 1985?)..... what is it, 5? years too late? 'Spose hoping for a sportier SV-like variant is just a pipe dream....

If Honda could pull it's corporate head out of it's engineering azz and let the boys in the shop build and release some more risky-but-innovative bikes, they could be amazing.

They been selling the NT700V for years, Just not here. There is alot we do get here..

You can get an informative look at Hondas that we don't get in the USA by just browsing http://ww1.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/ There's the Transalp, the 125 and 1000 Varaderos, the CBR125, CB1000R, CB1300F, CBF1000, etc, and of course the NT700V.

We get many of those bikes in Canada too which only makes it stranger taht they are not available in the States. I think the main issue is that there is a perception of what Americans will buy that precludes certain models from being sold in the US.

BuzZz wrote:Looks like Honda is building a V-Strom (maybe a bit more up-scale, but whatever.... 5 speed? is it still 1985?)..... what is it, 5? years too late? 'Spose hoping for a sportier SV-like variant is just a pipe dream....

If Honda could pull it's corporate head out of it's engineering azz and let the boys in the shop build and release some more risky-but-innovative bikes, they could be amazing.

You know... It is funny - the Honda Motorcycle division seems to be very reactive - and not pro-active.

But when they do get pro-active - they go wayyy overboard with the DN-01.

I don't know if this is the way they have been for years or what. Only during the time I've really been in to motorcycles.

You might counter with the fact that their sport bikes are ultra-high tech and up there as best in class bikes, etc. But that is a reactive no brainer. They improve their sport bikes because that is what their competition does and their competition improves their sport bike performance because that is what Honda did.

So they see that Suzuki sells a lot of bikes like Bandits, SV650S and they decide to go after this market share - after this segment has been around for years and the Suzuki offerings are very mature bikes and established in the market

Of course I see this at work a lot, so I ca'nt really blame them.

RhaADAMyGG

XB08 wrote:They been selling the NT700V for years, Just not here. There is alot we do get here..

I just read some reviews that said that. So at least it is a bike that isn't all-new and unknown.

RhadamYgg

jstark47 wrote:You can get an informative look at Hondas that we don't get in the USA by just browsing http://ww1.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/ There's the Transalp, the 125 and 1000 Varaderos, the CBR125, CB1000R, CB1300F, CBF1000, etc, and of course the NT700V.

I checked it out! Lots of interesting toys there.

You know, there was an initiative mentioned that Honda was going to either offer all their bikes with ABS or make them all have ABS. You don't really see that reflected in the USA lineup, but you can see it in the UK. Almost every model has a ABS version.

CBF600S ABS - looks like a nice bike. Well a lot of them look like nice bikes.

I'm not exactly sure how the DN-01 gets classified as a Touring bike.

RhadamYgg

Flesher wrote:We get many of those bikes in Canada too which only makes it stranger taht they are not available in the States. I think the main issue is that there is a perception of what Americans will buy that precludes certain models from being sold in the US.

You know - sometimes being a big company has its detriments. They put all sorts of marketing which has a lot of costs involved in bringing any existing model in to a market.

Honda could have a whole lot more variety in their offering if they did a straight minimal analysis. How much does it cost for them to clear a model for US sale vs number of bikes it would take to pay this off.

For example, if it costs 100K to clear a model - and you need to sell - your breakeven point - is 100 bikes (assuming they make $1000 per bike). If they sell more than 100 bikes they make a profit.

I wouldn't even bring the bikes here - except a few for demos. Someone wants it they order it and it gets shipped.

And I don't think they have to renew the process every year if the model is basically unchanged - so that would be 100 bikes over the lifetime of the unchanged model.

And what would be awesome about that would be a huge differentiation of bikes in the US.

RhadamYgg