Quote:
Originally Posted by Working_ZS
The Chinese aren't screwing around anymore, they're bringing guns to a knife fight, intending to win. They're not confining themselves to the cheap 150cc-230cc CB or CG clone dual sport arena these days. Instead, they're going after the 400cc and up playground, which due to cost appears to not be ChinaRider territory. Which is OK by me, I don't need to see my bike reviewed to confirm to me that I made a good purchase. I do that myself by riding the damn thing. Hell who knows, someday I might even buy a GoPro and review my bikes myself, but it's not a priority right now, though apparently my pre-ordered RX6 has front and rear cameras built in, soooo maybe that bike gets reviewed first...we'll have to play it by ear.
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To my mind, they're bringing a knife to a knife fight. The big downside to Chinese bikes is they're all about 50 pounds heavier than the competition, and get pretty awful mileage at sea level. (I'm getting 38-40mpg with my leoncino trail, as low as 35mpg on the SG400 when riding interstate. As high as 57 when hot-dogging in the mountains tho).
If they can drop the weight they'll be bringing a gun to a knife fight. Right now they've got a nice blade, but buyers crave good numbers on spec sheets. Spec sheets get people in the door of the dealership to look at the bike. Then emotions can kick in, and it becomes a sale.
My local dealership is combatting that by putting the big $19,000 Versys right next to the $6000 Benelli TRK502. People come to look at the Versys and see pretty much the same bike with half the horsepower and ask... is an extra 60 horsepower worth 13 thousand bucks to me? I mean, you can almost buy THREE Benelli TRK502 bikes for the cost of the Versys. So to make a long story short, they're selling pretty well it seems. They always have at least two on the floor, and they don't stay there long.
Charles.