Paging Black Mike

You seem to assume they must like what you like, but if that were the
case how would you explain why there's a good market for cruisers?

 

Bear says...

Who'd really want one?

 

Bear says...

How about turning this around, and maybe thinking that you've missed the
point. All those people who bought the things can't be wrong, but I
don't recall you purchasing a naked bike recently.

 

Bear says...

I haven't been wooshed at all, I disagree with almost everything you're
saying. that's a different thing entirely.

This is a pointless argument. Neither of us has any intention of buying
a naked bike, so what's the point of arguing about how much power it
should have. Someone has done the market research and then decided that
a certain bike has so much power/so much torque. He knows his job, you
know your job, I know my job. He's selling all the Fazer thous Yamaha
can make, so he's obviously doing his job right. I don't pretend to know
how to do his job and I wouldn't want it anyway. You obviously aspire to
being a marketing man for a bike manufacturer, fill yer boots.

Like I say to people who question what my boss sometimes does, "If you
think I'm going to call him up at his Monaco apartment or villa in Gran
Canaria from my shared and rented house in mid-Bedfordshire, and tell
him he's running his business wrong, then think again".

 

"Wear it with pride!"

 

Bear says...

I see your point, I don't agree with it. You obviously don't see mine.

I doubt that somehow. You'd get pissed off with it in 2 weeks.

Save me? I don't need saving, I have a point.

The can is there to get the bike through exhaust noise regs, it's a
fluke that it releases as much power as it does. I agree the B12 is
strangled and goes well unrestricted, but it reaches it's optimum power
output for the handling when you do. I'd say 115bhp is about all it
needs. If you make it too powerful you can put off a lot of potential
buyers who are after a lazy and grunty engine.

Not the boss of Honda Japan, but maybe the marketing man whose job
you're after.

 

Bear says...

I'm making my point, the one you somehow keep missing or choosing to
ignore in the hope I'll look stupid. I don't see how saying that someone
aspires to doing his job right and being paid a fortune for doing so can
be an insult. I'd be very happy to take home what a Yamaha marketing man
earns.

That marketing man does his job well enough to sell every Fazer Thou
that Yamaha make. He knows his marketplace better than anyone else. I
don't think you or I are in any position to tell him that he is doing
his job wrong. The same goes for the marketing man at Suzuki, and the
one at Honda, and the one at Kawasaki, and the one at <insert any number
of manufacturers names here>.

They all can't be wrong and you be the only one that's right. They've
obviously looked at what their customers want and built a bike to suit.
Customers do dictate what they will buy, just look at Ducatis recent
fall in fortunes over the 749/999 fiasco. A marketing man somewhere is
no doubt about to lose his head over that one.

 

*cough* Only once they'd dropped the price to a more realistic level *cough*

 

I fear that Ducati need to, rather quickly, take the full house 999
engine/brakes/ohlins etc. and slot it back into the 998 package with
that same build quality. Sell it in black and red and keep the price
around a 10R/Blade/Gixxer. I think that would sell rather well.

If they improved the plot with adjustable ergonomics like BMW, offered
a choice of full on monoposto or a proper comfortable pillion perch,
another gallon in the tank, better lights (HID?) and really sexy
alloys as standard their fortunes would be renewed.

Like BMW with the new 6 series and to some extent the new 5, Ducati
had a new design team in who have severely fucked up the company.

'Hog

 

I had one for an afternoon and ~50 miles. It didn't feel anything like
an R1.
I wonder what the engine differences actually are.

'Hog

 

So the entire induction cycle is different!! it couldn't get much
more different.

'Hog

 

and they have made it a bitch to get the power back. Either finding a
complete R1 injection/ignition system or having a tuning shop do a
flat slide conversion.

'Hog

 

Going back in the threads this was exactly my conclusion

'Hog

 

I had one for an afternoon and ~50 miles. It didn't feel anything like

The current Fazer 1000 uses the engine from a 1998/99 R1. Same cams,
same pistons, same conrods, etc. The only real differences are the use
of slightly smaller non-downdraught carbs and a slightly thicker head
gasket.

The Fazer Thou and R1 make pretty much the same power up to 10,000 rpm,
where the Fazer flattens off a bit.

With the aid of jet kit and a slip-on pipe, Fazer Thous will make a
genuine, measurable, 127-130 bhp at the back wheel. Not so far off the
measurable rear-wheel power of a standard 98/99 R1.

Maybe you rode a restricted French-market one? Or maybe you can really
feel that extra 10bhp in the last 1500 revs?

 

Huh my shonky old Bandit 12 make 144 rear wheel and cost a lot less.
Ultimately the main failing of the F1000 is it's cost new/used

'Hog

 

Ta Loz.

I'd found those images of the K5 1000. I particularly like the launch
shots, from a race track, I guess in Aus. somewhere.

Although they are not changing anything for '06, I'm sure they'll
change the colour scheme; which I'd like to see before I order one.

The 750, as discovered to be, looks very much like the R1; which I
can't get my head round. Not enough fairing for my liking.

Anybody heard of the launch date for the K6 yet?

 

Bear says...

My opinion mirrors that of current and past owners of Fazer Thous.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Bear

Look, this can be easily resolved. We will need to borrow an R1 and a
Fazer. I shall ride the R1, Bear will ride the Fazer.

We will ride over a suitable course.

If Bear is quicker he is wrong, if I am quicker, he is slower then me.

There.

<sits back to admire hand-crafted win-win situation>

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "Oh Bollocks" said Pooh, having forgotten his lines.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

Which has been???

'Hog

 

"On reflection . ."