Bigger is not always better
By TMX Archives on 13th Nov 08
JD takes his hat off to small manufacturers who give us the diversity that the sport thrives on... Let's hear it for the little guys!
Factories I mean. It seems nothing short of amazing to me that in these days of the buying (and selling) power of the big guys, of tight margins and of course of the famous economies of scale, that the small volume motorcycle manufacturers continue to fly in the face of convention and not only survive but seemingly prosper.
How can the likes of Gas Gas, Sherco, Scorpa and TM not only stand alongside the manufacturing giants like the four Japanese plus KTM and even beat them at their own game? I would once have included the likes of Husaberg and Husky in with the minnows' but of course the 'bergs are now KTM-owned while Husky has been through a parcel-passing game over the last few years before now looking settled under the BMW wing. In one way, Husqvarna is the really interesting pick of the bunch to watch over the next few years and see in which direction BMW leads them.
It is of course a fact that the small manufacturing bit only appears to work for the off-road game. You don't see any small independant road bike manufacturers any more.
It was the size and diversity of the TM range featured this week that got me thinking about this. Well, that and the Gas Gas trials test that we are running just a month after the 2009 enduro test from the same manufacturer.
There would at least be a convincing argument for the small, low-volume, specialist industry if the machines being manufactured were retailed at suitable premium prices.
But they aren't. In the case of Gas Gas their Enduro range is actually at the bargain-end of the market. And as you know, the same little factory churns out a range of highly competitive, innovatively designed trials models. When you consider the sheers size and the money behind the R and D departments of the Honda's of this world, and compare it to the size of, say, Gas Gas it would make you laugh.
One thing is certain, when only one man is in charge of a project it is a fair bet that things happen a damned sight faster than if 300 are involved. Although there are exceptions. A good few years ago, one of the Spanish factories involved themselves in a project to design and build an 80cc two-stroke for the road bike market. An aluminium chassis was produced of such size that, trust me, into which you could have fitted an across-the-frame four cylinder motor with room to spare. However, it was the little two-stroke motor that is the subject of this short story. A single guy, who shall remain nameless to protect him if he is still sane, was in charge of this buzzing little baby and he and the engine were installed in a dyno room in what must surely have been day and night, running the little stroker through the gears, diligently noting power output, reliability, etc, etc. It would be left screaming flat-out for hours at a time (the engine that is!) while its performance was monitored and our man would endlessly scan his dials watching for every blip.
Now this did not happen over just a few weeks, or even a few months, it went on for - well, at least two years.
I know this because I visited the factory relatively frequently at the time and becoming increasingly intrigued by this phenomenon, was one day bold enough to enquire after its progress. Our man eventually dragged his bulging eyes away from the dyno dials, unplugged his ears from the manically revving motor and passed on the following info.
The problem was, said our interpreter, he was measuring the performance against the 80cc Japanese opposition of the day. And by the time he had tweaked his litle prototype up to the going rate guess what the others had released their next year's version, which was of increased performance, and that put him back to square one.
It eventually dawned that, given that it would take months to get his prototype into production, he was obviously never ever going to catch-up with the Japanese and the project was scrapped.
There's just one (albeit extreme) example of how difficult it is to even get onto the road bike manufacturing roundabout, never mind compete with the establishment on price.Yet, to steer back to the original theme, our minnows of the off-road world not only compete on performance, they also do the seemingly impossible and compete on price...and long may they continue to do so. They provide much needed diversity and the sport would be a lot poorer without their enthusiasm. I take my hat off to them .