Anyone who knows anything about bikes knows this: Bikes are all about sexy.
Power, handling, economy - whatever other reasons we have are all secondary. The bike has to look hot. And for those few super-perverse ones (like myself), a hot mess of duct tape, Krylon, rust and dirt looks pretty hot too.
One of the reasons why Chinese bikes have not taken off here is that most of them are styled like "sooo yesterday". Of course there are other reasons: limited dealer networks, bad reliability reputation, etc.
But Fugliness is the maker-breaker factor. With Suzuki now having 2 factories in China, you can be sure that China's well-honed industrial espionage moles are in full swing. What they learn from the Japanese will likely help improve manufacturing and quality control throughout the sector.
Once they improve reliability on the higher-power 250cc class powerplants, and on up into the 400-600cc motors - we'll see a horrendous shakeup in the global motorcycle industry. China's motorcycle manufacturing capacity is greater than the whole rest of the world combined... by a LARGE margin. They are like the U.S. in 1946 on steroids.
Very soon, these non-ugly semi-knockoff-styled machines are hitting our shores.
As a bike lover, and cash-strapped consumer, I'm pretty stoked.
I, for one, welcome with open arms our new Manchu Overlords.
Qlink USA here
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