Why is it the makers spend millions on bikes and thousands of hours developing motorcycles and when they are released there are numerous compinies that offer upgrades and mods. I guess what i am asking is why do the big 4 go through the hours and $ if they are not making the best bike they can. I know about reliability and rideability but even putting a better pipe on a bike like the bus makes for quite a few hp. It seems strange to me that they dont have more of an aggresive mod system in house to make the bikes faster and stronger b4 the street. If this doesnt make sense its ok, i dont tend to make much sense either.
it that major Motorcycle development
- Thread starter yamwon
- Start date
Given the various tastes of individuals out there, it seems impractical for the manufacturers to do this. As an example, I don't like chrome (not on a Busa anyway), but there's a ton of chrome accessories for those (wierd/sick/perverted) Busa owners out there that do.
It's the same thing with automobiles as well.
I think it works out to benefit the consumer. If Suzuki were the only ones making mods, they could charge whatever they wanted.
I think it works out to benefit the consumer. If Suzuki were the only ones making mods, they could charge whatever they wanted.
Well you have a very valid point, but you need to look at all sides of the puzzle. Although performance is pretty important, it's not the #1 reason to design a product.
Reliability is very important also. Sure, maybe the stock exhaust system doesnt produce the maximum amount of horsepower, but it keeps the noise down (EPA), and maintains it's basic look years after purchased. It may not work the best when looking for horsepower gains, but when you consider durability and and noise control, it works pretty well.
The key word is balance. Remember how much of a wheelie monster the 1997 TL1000s was? I had the pleasure of riding one of these motorcycles, picture a busa with about 240 horsepower and no timing retard in gears 1 through 3, thats what this bike felt like. This bike was sick. You could flip that bike in any gear with a little too much throttle, and guess what?
No one wanted it, scared the sh*t out of people
Balance is everything. Manufacturers have to consider things such as durability, comfort, reliability, control, and horsepower.
For every 1 busa owner with 500hp in his bike, you have probably 5,000 who left the bike pretty much stock, and are happy with it that way.
Bolt this on here, port this, change that, disconnect this, plug in that, add this, tweak that, shave a little here, remove that. Thats the fun part! Do you want the manufacturers to do this for you?
Mike
Reliability is very important also. Sure, maybe the stock exhaust system doesnt produce the maximum amount of horsepower, but it keeps the noise down (EPA), and maintains it's basic look years after purchased. It may not work the best when looking for horsepower gains, but when you consider durability and and noise control, it works pretty well.
The key word is balance. Remember how much of a wheelie monster the 1997 TL1000s was? I had the pleasure of riding one of these motorcycles, picture a busa with about 240 horsepower and no timing retard in gears 1 through 3, thats what this bike felt like. This bike was sick. You could flip that bike in any gear with a little too much throttle, and guess what?
No one wanted it, scared the sh*t out of people
Balance is everything. Manufacturers have to consider things such as durability, comfort, reliability, control, and horsepower.
For every 1 busa owner with 500hp in his bike, you have probably 5,000 who left the bike pretty much stock, and are happy with it that way.
Bolt this on here, port this, change that, disconnect this, plug in that, add this, tweak that, shave a little here, remove that. Thats the fun part! Do you want the manufacturers to do this for you?
Mike
Cost, plain and simple. The manufacturers know they can put on an Akrapovic pipe and gain 3HP but they can build their own exhaust for $200 rather than pay $1000 for someone else's. It doesn't matter what pipe they put on, someone is going to ditch it for something different. They could build the bikes out of titanium alloy to make them lighter and stronger, but its a crap load more expensive. It is exactly what Mikeyusf said balance and compromise, if not you would have to pay $20K for a Busa. I would rather pay the $11K and chose what I dont like about the bike to replace. Of course a carbon fiber frame would be kind of cool and some carbon wheels...
all good points . Bottom line,"you cant please all of the people,all of the time." An' sure,they spend all that $ on testing . They just do a shiddy job of it.
example: letting a bike out onto the street that might nuke the engine by usin' the starter(Busa).
Let a bike out that might have a sub-frame failure,even thou the bike is supposed to be a sport-TOURER .(Busa)
Let a bike out that has total camchain failure at 9000miles....early V45,65 Magna's . Thats how the VFR was born. Honda fugged up so badly with that models cam chains that they came out with "The All New" Honduh Interceptor,the Honduh VFR. With it's GEAR DRIVEN CAMS.
I get pissed about them bastids(motorcycle manufactures) and their SO-CALLED testing of bikes . I used the busa starter motor in my first example . Would it have been to hard to hire some kid at 3 bucks an' hour to sit there for a month and press the starter button on a Busa a couple thousand times to see what might happen ,while he watched friggin' T.V.
Bottom line the almighty dollar . Get 'em R&D'd,blue'd,built,tested(ha,ha,ha) an' shipped out to the unsuspecting masses before the other guys can do the same.
ahhhh....todays rant...I feel better....dont you.
Have a good day pee-pull.....Rubbed-the-wrong-way-down.
example: letting a bike out onto the street that might nuke the engine by usin' the starter(Busa).
Let a bike out that might have a sub-frame failure,even thou the bike is supposed to be a sport-TOURER .(Busa)
Let a bike out that has total camchain failure at 9000miles....early V45,65 Magna's . Thats how the VFR was born. Honda fugged up so badly with that models cam chains that they came out with "The All New" Honduh Interceptor,the Honduh VFR. With it's GEAR DRIVEN CAMS.
I get pissed about them bastids(motorcycle manufactures) and their SO-CALLED testing of bikes . I used the busa starter motor in my first example . Would it have been to hard to hire some kid at 3 bucks an' hour to sit there for a month and press the starter button on a Busa a couple thousand times to see what might happen ,while he watched friggin' T.V.
Bottom line the almighty dollar . Get 'em R&D'd,blue'd,built,tested(ha,ha,ha) an' shipped out to the unsuspecting masses before the other guys can do the same.
ahhhh....todays rant...I feel better....dont you.
Have a good day pee-pull.....Rubbed-the-wrong-way-down.
Once again it all comes down to cost, that kid they are paying $3 an hour needs medical, dental, 401K... then when he develops carpal tunnel syndrome from pushing the starter button 900 times a day and then gets the black lung they have to pay out for workman's comp. It's just impossible to test everything in every scenario. Could just be that their supplier has crappy quality control procedures or they have on person the assembly line who doesn't tighten a screw as much as they should. Too many variables to be sure. Who at Ford thought to rear end the Pinto to make sure it wouldn't explode?
I guess thats why Volvo's are such a BIG HIT these days,get it,big hit...hee hee hee. They hit 'em frm the back,the front, the side,I think they even drive over them with monster trucks like Gravedigger an' Bigfoot , just in case one of em' gets loose at a rally .
There all sorts of "what if's" I think the fugs could try just a tiny bit harder to build something better.
My 1953 ford p/u , all original , 400,000+ miles is still goin strong . It was probably tested for about 20 minutes by two guys named Wilbur and Billy-Bob . I dun ges fings dun need no testin' ifin there put ta-gether haff decent like.
have a good 1......RSD.
I have noticed in the past few years, most manufactures have transformed from 2 cans to 1. So, that is SOME progress. Also FI... Also damper. I've asked myself the same question and the answers are listed above.
I bought my Busa because of what it was totally stock. I might do the TRE resistor and nicer tires but have no plans to do anythign more to it. It does more than I can use now. Yeah, I might get spanked by the occasional 19 YO on an R1 but I don't care because if he wants to ride to KC with me WITH a rider, I'll be winning the comfort race.
I bought my Busa because of what it was totally stock. I might do the TRE resistor and nicer tires but have no plans to do anythign more to it. It does more than I can use now. Yeah, I might get spanked by the occasional 19 YO on an R1 but I don't care because if he wants to ride to KC with me WITH a rider, I'll be winning the comfort race.
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