Couple good industry articles

[All250R]

I thought I'd rile you guys up with a couple good articles. Here is one of the important lines:
"Anyone who thinks that the big 4 are racers trying to build the best race bikes are sadly mistaken. They are business men looking for bottom line. We need to stop being cattle and speak out for what we want and the AMA needs to stop being on the take and start looking out for what’s best for the sport. ...Narrowing the spread was one of the arguments used by the AMA to “make racing closer and therefore better for the fans”. Socialized MX."

http://twostrokemotocross.com/2009/09/why-the-rules-to-equalize-displacement-in-pro-racing-will-be-tough-to-change/

http://twostrokemotocross.com/2009/09/four-stroke-revolution-or-clever-marketing-ploy/

[Saul76]

Things aren't looking so good overall for the sport with Honda pulling all factory support for the 2010 season.

[All250R]

Originally posted by Saul76
Things aren't looking so good overall for the sport with Honda pulling all factory support for the 2010 season. If they pull out of offroad motorcycle racing too honestly that would be more significant I want to speculate. For ATV's it would be nice to see the aftermarket frame days come back. I don't mind so much that there will be less fans and advertising. I'm a rider, not a spectator. I want more product options and less marketing departments telling people what to buy. I might view it as a positive. What do you guys think...

[Saul76]

I don't see anything positive coming from Honda pulling factory support. It did damage in the 80's and it will hurt in these modern times too.

[troybilt]

its 1990 all over again... :eek2:

Heard there was too many '09 450r's and Honda was postponing releasing 2010 450r's...


Edit: just read both articles interesting read...

...and I just bought a 450R 2 weeks ago, after reading that I want to sell it now... :grr:

[Swiper77]

Isn't this what us two strokers have been saying for years?

[CorvetteZ06]

great reading,,,,, would love to see KTM come out with a 250, or their 300 2 stroke in a quad frame. it sucks that Honda is so against 2 strokes... i feel like ripping off the "honda" part of my decals on my R and just keep the 250R part.

[troybilt]

Why, back in the 2000-2003 timeframe did many ATV racers build hybrids with the YFZ426 motor and others, etc...? vs. sticking with a 250/265 national motor? I was mostly out of ATV's at this time, and don't remember much about this "era".

[Honda 250r 001]

thats a good read! some good points in there.

[croat1]

Originally posted by troybilt
its 1990 all over again... :eek2:

Heard there was too many '09 450r's and Honda was postponing releasing 2010 450r's...


Edit: just read both articles interesting read...

...and I just bought a 450R 2 weeks ago, after reading that I want to sell it now... :grr:

sure looks like 1990 again. honda stopped producing the r in 89. i took them 10 years to put out a new "high performance quad".
a stinkin' 400ex. which (in my opinion) is just a slightly better 350x motor. bacically a copied 250r frame. the whole time they were still producing 2 stroke dirtbikes until 2007.

the whole time yamaha was still producing the blasters and banshees

i think my days of brand loyalty are over

[250Renvy]

Originally posted by croat1
sure looks like 1990 again. honda stopped producing the r in 89. i took them 10 years to put out a new "high performance quad".
a stinkin' 400ex. which (in my opinion) is just a slightly better 350x motor. bacically a copied 250r frame. the whole time they were still producing 2 stroke dirtbikes until 2007.

the whole time yamaha was still producing the blasters and banshees

i think my days of brand loyalty are over

The 250R is my all time favorite quad, however in light of recent events with the discontinuation of parts and such, what used to be honda only in my stable is a quest to go all but honda.

They just don't measure up. Had a 400ex now have a Z400, was going to buy a brand new 4x4 but went with Can-am. Now even my super build hybrid, I think I'd rather go Kawasaki.

[troybilt]

Originally posted by croat1
sure looks like 1990 again. honda stopped producing the r in 89. i took them 10 years to put out a new "high performance quad".
a stinkin' 400ex. which (in my opinion) is just a slightly better 350x motor. bacically a copied 250r frame. the whole time they were still producing 2 stroke dirtbikes until 2007.

the whole time yamaha was still producing the blasters and banshees

i think my days of brand loyalty are over

In the Jan 90, 3&4 wheel action 89 250R test, they were confident that there would be a 1990 trx250r. They even mention details of it. Then Honda derailed that train, and we all know how that ended up... History repeats itself. Almost exactly 20yrs later...

[Honda 250r 001]

Originally posted by troybilt
In the Jan 90, 3&4 wheel action 89 250R test, they were confident that there would be a 1990 trx250r. They even mention details of it. Then Honda derailed that train, and we all know how that ended up... History repeats itself. Almost exactly 20yrs later...

so what you guys are saying is that they might discontinue the 450r

[troybilt]

Originally posted by Honda 250r 001
so what you guys are saying is that they might discontinue the 450r

No not saying that, Honda's bowing out of the program certainly shares some likenesses to 1989, though... I heard they made some improvements to the 2010 450R, but weren't releasing it yet, this was due to the carry over inventory at dealers with '07-'09 450Rs. So they may still release those eventually. Who knows, that is all hearsay. However, I wouldn't be surprised either way if they did discontinue or not... Typically, we would have heard by now what Honda was releasing for 2010, but maybe they are holding off until late 2009 for the release, to shore up some inventory issues. Makes no difference to me, I'm not jumping off the bandwagon yet.

[troybilt]

If you click on the link on the second article, brings up another good read:

http://twostrokemotocross.com/2009/06/two-strokes-strike-back/

“Everyone, except Honda, is harbouring significant two-stroke thoughts”...
...“There are lots of very pro-two-stroke engineers at Honda, and they’ve done incredible work in the field, but within the firm it’s become regarded as disloyal to support two-strokes. Their influence is so massive it’s distorted the truth about the engineering.” ...