AMA Pro Roadracing 2012 Non-Spoiler Catch-All Thread

[Tom W.]

It really is a fascinating pairing and it says something about the savvy and ambitions of both companies. You couldn't Imagine two more different companies.

USA vs. India

Tiny manufacturer vs. HUGE manufacturer

Expensive, exotic, high performance, inovative machines vs. Basic, simple, inexpensive transporrtation

Smallest bike 1200 cc vs. largest bike 250 cc

Hero needs to be more like EBR if they want to break into the lucrative US market and EBR needs to be more like Hero if they don't want to go the way of all the other start-ups that died on the vine.

[wpbarlow]

Originally Posted by Motorcyclist

...While H-D certainly has some exposure, I think the Japanese manufacturers are the most fearful of Indian and Chinese competition. It is funny how the tables turn, and the Japanese are now playing the role of the establishment British MC industry of the 60's.

Not quite-- the Japanese, unlike the Brits, aren't building shoddy products that are increasingly out of touch with what the market wants. At least the 1st world market. In other markets small/cheap/utility are the drivers, and they need to compete with home market manufacturers copying what they've done. The Japanese may have copied general formats. but brought a lot of original thinking and quality/reliability to the market 50 years ago: unlike the knock-off manner that's being done today.

[Motorcyclist]

Originally Posted by wpbarlow

Not quite-- the Japanese, unlike the Brits, aren't building shoddy products that are increasingly out of touch with what the market wants. At least the 1st world market. In other markets small/cheap/utility are the drivers, and they need to compete with home market manufacturers copying what they've done. The Japanese may have copied general formats. but brought a lot of original thinking and quality/reliability to the market 50 years ago: unlike the knock-off manner that's being done today.

True, but I guess my point is that the Japanese are the ones potentially under fire just by virtue of being the establishment. They have large, well developed companies and the bureaucracy and legacy costs that come with them. They still make great quality products, but they probably can't do it as cheaply as the home market companies. And when you as a consumer make $700 a year, cost is definitely the driving factor. There is also the nationalism aspect (especially with the hatred of the Japanese in China and other parts of the Far East), and I think the locals would tolerate a bit less quality if they could buy something at less cost from the home team.

I think a knock off of a sound Japanese design at 1/2 the price would sell like hotcakes (ricecakes?) in China.

[Tom W.]

Originally Posted by Motorcyclist

True, but I guess my point is that the Japanese are the ones potentially under fire just by virtue of being the establishment. They have large, well developed companies and the bureaucracy and legacy costs that come with them. They still make great quality products, but they probably can't do it as cheaply as the home market companies. And when you as a consumer make $700 a year, cost is definitely the driving factor. There is also the nationalism aspect (especially with the hatred of the Japanese in China and other parts of the Far East), and I think the locals would tolerate a bit less quality if they could buy something at less cost from the home team.

I think a knock off of a sound Japanese design at 1/2 the price would sell like hotcakes (ricecakes?) in China.

You're touching on the reason I'm becoming more fascinated by this the more I think about it. The seemingly obvious route for Hero would be to buy an FZ6R, tear it apart, reverse engineer it and start selling it for $4500.

But then they'd be competing purely on price, and most of us would probably view the actual FZ6R as a better bike.

But by partnering with EBR, Hero could get something truly fresh that can allow them to break into bigger markets not just as a maker of knock-offs but a company that can offer unique bikes at an attractive price.

If nothing else, by the end of the AMA season, it's a good bet there will be millions of riders who will have heard of an Indian brand they never knew of or thought about before they saw Danny Eslick and the Hero Logo on Speed TV.

[Tom W.]

[Shawnee Bill]

Originally Posted by Tom W.

You're touching on the reason I'm becoming more fascinated by this the more I think about it. The seemingly obvious route for Hero would be to buy an FZ6R, tear it apart, reverse engineer it and start selling it for $4500.

But then they'd be competing purely on price, and most of us would probably view the actual FZ6R as a better bike.

But by partnering with EBR, Hero could get something truly fresh that can allow them to break into bigger markets not just as a maker of knock-offs but a company that can offer unique bikes at an attractive price.

If nothing else, by the end of the AMA season, it's a good bet there will be millions of riders who will have heard of an Indian brand they never knew of or thought about before they saw Danny Eslick and the Hero Logo on Speed TV.

Could be but when I saw the 'Hero' name here my first thought was the Go-Pro Hero camera. I'm thinking it's going to take some doing to get the bike name 'Hero' known as not the same as the Go-Pro.
Even after reading through all this when I saw the bike pictures with hero in big letters Go-Pro popped into my head

.

[mdubya]

Meh. It'll never be competitive with that brake set up.

[HarveyMushman]

Originally Posted by mdubya

Meh. It'll never be competitive with that brake set up.

It used to be a problem but they've revised it and I believe Geoff May is on record saying it performs very well now.

[mdubya]

Originally Posted by HarveyMushman

It used to be a problem but they've revised it and I believe Geoff May is on record saying it performs very well now.

Meh.

[yooperbikemike]

ZEMKE JOINS DUCSHOP RACING

Jake Zemke to Compete in the 2012 AMA Pro Racing GoPro Daytona Sportbike Championship

ATLANTA (February 27, 2012) - Ducshop Racing (www.ducshop.com) is proud to announce plans for the 2012 AMA Pro GoPro Daytona Sportbike Championship Series that will commence at the Daytona Beach International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on March 15-17, 2012. Ducshop Racing will be fielding a two rider team in the season opener. Riders Jake Zemke and Dario Marchetti will enter the class on Ducati 848EVOs.

The 200 mile, 57 lap race will take place on Saturday, March 17th, with a scheduled start time of 1p.m. EST. The event will be broadcast live on SPEED, and you can follow the team at www.twitter.com/ducshop or Facebook at www.facebook.com/ducshop.

After Daytona, Ducshop Racing and Zemke will contest the remainder of the 2012 AMA Pro
GoPro Daytona Sportbike series. The team will head to their home track, Road Atlanta, for round 2 in the series on April 20-22, the Big Kahuna Atlanta.

[sgmarshall]

Good to see Zemke getting a ride!

[viajero]

Originally Posted by sgmarshall

Good to see Zemke getting a ride!

+1

Now, who else needs a ride?

[sgmarshall]

Tommy Hayden?
Jamie Hacking?
Eric Bostrom?

[DogBoy]

Steve Rapp?


Good news for Zemke.

[HarveyMushman]

Originally Posted by sgmarshall

Tommy Hayden?
Jamie Hacking?
Eric Bostrom?

Hacking and Bostrom are retired.