Get creative and build a look a like. Take a big Vtwin (whichever one Yamaha based this on would be ideal) , swap out the seat, exhaust and fuel tank for a similar style and voila.
Well, the 1700cc big twin Yamaha motor was obviously designed to give a 'look' similar to the H-D big twin. And in that respect, I think Yamaha succeeded. Fact is, I actually like the looks of the big Yamaha motor
better than the Harley BT motor.
But when it comes to transforming Harleys into cafe bikes or street fighters, Sportsters seem to be the more popular platform. There's even a Yahoo group called Cafe Sportsters. And some of those guys have done interesting things to their bikes. I found this one at a Japanese site, of all places.
And then there's this outfit in France called Wakan that's doing some very interesting stuff with the Sportster motor as its power plant.
But turning Harley Big Twins into cafe bikes and street fighters has been done, and some of them do look cool.
Still, when all's said and done, you wind up with a cool looking bike that has 50-year-old tech for its motor. At least the Yamaha's a more recent design, even if it does look retro.
Yamaha doesn't feel it will sell here. Yes, they see the numbers and offer accordingly. I honestly can't blame them. It would probably just sit in dealers showrooms and collect dust. Remember that it took a robust letter writting campaign to get the FJR here, and then it was only offered under the PDP program for 3 years! Fortunately that bike continues to sell even though Yamaha has not advertised it at all.
[ . . . ]
At the 2007 Tokyo Show Yamaha had a concept, The Sakura, which was a V-twin based retro paying homage to the XS1 and in a survey it was the most desirable bike they had on display. Hands down. What happened? I think the US has made it's own bed.
Ah yes, the XS-V1 Sakura. I remember when it debuted. Whatever happened to it, I wonder? More world economy bad news, perhaps?
Look, regarding the FJR, you're sorta making my own argument for me. I mean, how expensive would it be for Yamaha to do the same with the MT-01? It's already in production. And if it's for sale in Europe, it shouldn't be too hard to update it for the US market. I mean, Europe's smog and safety laws are probably at least as stringent nowadays as they are in the US. So Yamaha could offer the MT-01 here to a few select dealers and see what sort of reaction they'd get. I'll wager it'll be positive. According to one Canadian site I found, its MSRP isn't particularly out of line with other machines that might fit into its class. Hehe, with that class, as coach Bum Phillips used to say about running back Earl Campbell, "He may not be in a class of his own, but it sure don't take long to call role." As for factory-produced big-twin street fighters, I can think of only one other: the obscenely expensive Confederate motorcycles.
http://www.confederate.com/cm4/f131hellcat.php
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except that i dont see a medium term success story for asia either..looking at the 'baltic dry index' which registers the ammount of raw material being shipped around the world i dont see much of a future for chinese manufacturing and that will have a rapid overall effect on asian finances
- i like the XS-V1 but think a better designation would be GT-V1 in line with the 70's ducatis
Hehe -- scary thing is I actually know about the 'baltic dry index'. Probably not as much as you, but then Google is a wonderful thing.
I like much of the XS-V1, except for a couple of style points. Don't care for the way they designed the left exhaust pipe's route, for one thing. But that's picking nits. What I do like about it is it has a 1000cc
air cooled motor. I prefer air-cooled bikes and plan to restrict my ownership to air-cooled machines for as long as I can.
Yeah, the world economy may be on the verge of tanking. Despite what the pundits rattle on about, I think that if the US economy tanks, China's will follow quickly behind. They may have lots of other markets for their products, but the US's is probably still the largest and any way you want to slice it, is responsible for a huge amount of their trade revenues. But I don't want to get side-tracked on that. My premise and belief is simply that, if Yamaha were to offer the MT-01 in the states, they would make money off it. And that's the ultimate bottom line for a big corporation, isn't it?
I've been in love with the MT-01 ever since first seeing the prototype that was on display at the 1999 Tokyo motor show. It's been in production for five years and is available in Japan, Europe, Canada, Australia, even India, for pete's sake! But not the US. Why is this, I ask? Does Yamaha honestly believe there are only two kinds of riders in the US? Squids and Harley riders (or Harlley wannabees)? What about the large and growing street fighter crowd? This bike was custom made for the street fighter fans.
