Re: [ST] Triumph Cruiser

["Darwin Holmstrom" <dholmstrom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>> Paul Fox <pgf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> - 5/11/01 9:20 AM >>>
on the other hand, bmw has been quite successful with their 1200C.
on the other hand, triumph isn't bmw, and doesn't have the history
and continuous engine tradition that bmw does.

paul


The R1200C sold well its first year. I was surprised by its success, to the point where I stopped trying to figure out the cruiser market. But from what I hear, sales have tapered off since then. John Wyckoff told me he thinks the initial sales were fueled by the bike's appearance in that James Bond film.

But even with sales tapered off, I'm sure BMW cruiser sales are still higher than Triumph cruiser sales in the U.S. My guess is that there is still some traces of the old "better my sister in a whorehouse than my brother on a Honda" mentality in the cruiser market. A lot of people don't mind buying a Japanese cruiser as long as it doesn't look like the old Universal Japanese Motorcycles (ie. inline, multi-cylinder engine) that the Harley faithful used to bash with sledgehammers at Sturgis, back when you couldn't ride a Harley if you had little wienie arms that were too weak to pick up a sledgehammer. The Beemer looks different enough from old-style Japanese motorcycles for many cruiser buyers to accept it, while the Thunderbirds look an awful lot like Yamaha XS850 Specials, a favorite subject at many a Sturgis motorcycle bashing, if for no other reason than their engine architecture.

If Triumph chooses to retain that UJM-esque architecture, I doubt that their cruisers will resonate with the American cruiser crowd no matter how big their engines are. More power is not the answer. After all, the current Thunderbirds outperform the current Harleys, but if you were in the business of selling cruisers to Americans, which would you rather sell: Thunderbirds or Harleys?

I'm curious about the long-term success of Honda's VTX. It will sell well this year on novelty alone. If it succeeds in the future, it means cruiser buyers are less conservative and less conformist than I had thought. If sales taper off after the first year, it will mean that if you want to sell a lot of cruisers in the American market, you need to build cruisers that look like Harleys.

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