Cruiser magazine article

Sidecar Flip said:

Tony:

When you get back stateside, Rick is on WJR. It's a syndicated program so it might be available in other markets too. Amy and I will probably do the Howell thing. I'll call you on that.

I've said time and again that the American motorcycle market is like a fickle woman. Excited by new to but bored at the same time with the attention span of a 5 year old. That's why I don't understand Triumph's foray into the HD clone market. If what Rick says is true and he's usually right on the money plus the declining share value of HD's common stock, then the once fertile ground of the HD inspired bike isn't producing a bountiful havvest and one more player only serves to further dillute the already dwindling potential customer base. Remember too that there are a number of other manufacturers in the same arena with established marques, better dealer network and lower prices. You can buy a cookie cutter Japanese cruiser with some serious displacement that's the mirror image of the HD for literally a fraction of what the icon sells for and they don't break either.

I just can't comprehend Bloor's strategy with the new HD clone. Way too many clones out there already.

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The HD crowd has always been envious of British bikes, which are not in the same class as the Japanese "buzz box", no matter how much they try to make them look like Harleys.

I Second The Motion

What RS said!

Back in 79'ish I bought my first Triumph in a basket and built it up from there. One led to another and another until about 10 years later I opened a small shop that built great custom Triumphs from pieces and parts I could scrounge. I ended up going from there into Harleys and built quite a few of them over the years. Evenually parts and basket cases became scarse and I sold out what I had to D&D in P-cola. Eventually I sold my FLH to get up a quick down payment on some property. 3 years later I went to buy an new bike and Harley had left me in the smoke. A bike that I sold for 6000 would now cost me over 20,000 to buy new!! I swore never again. I ended up buying a Road Star just for the noise it made I guess (and the 11,000 off the showroom price). Kept it for 5 years taking more than a few road trips around the country. Last month I had just about enough of the noise and vibration and went looking for something that was a little smother . . even went back and looked at the Road King as well as the Yamahondasakiuki brands. I actually saw a semi driving by with Triumph on the side when it hit me . . . I went to look at them and fell in love. It's not really the look of the bike but more the feel of it and the grin I get when I ride it. V-Twin riders can have them back, No Pork on this bike. Touring, Cruising, or scraping the pegs on the twisities . . . Its just a great bike. I really like the fact that it's where I started highway riding too. Cruiser can say what they want, Rocket is still top of the dogpile

boogerdave said:

Its just a great bike. I really like the fact that it's where I started highway riding too. Cruiser can say what they want, Rocket is still top of the dogpile

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I second your motion, Boogerdave.

I celebrated mine's third anniversary (she dates back to Oct. '04) a couple of weeks ago. And, like every year, she's gonna get a present. Bonneville-like platinium silver wings sprayed over the Jaguar Racing Green tank (and the rest of the bike) , with handlaid gold pinstripes in-between.

If it's not true love, it sure comes close to it, doesn't it?

Jamie

Rocket III vs Harley

In June, I sold my Harley (93 FLHS) and after many hours of sleepless nights, rationalizing and deep thought processes, I bought a used 2005 RIII (3,800 miles when I picked it up). I figured if I didn't like it, I would sell it and get another Harley (I truely like the way a Harley rides). So far, I haven't stopped smiling everytime I go for a ride on my RIII. I sat on a friends new Electra Glide yesterday, and I realized that I quickly forgot how small the Harley is compared to the RIII. I'm not saying that I won't ever go back to a Harley, but I am enjoying my bike more and more every day. I don't like what I read in the above article, because it now sounds like Triumph is trying to keep up with the other metric cruisers, of which I really don't like. The RIII is unique, and Triumph needs to keep it that way!

Even if the cruiser market is dwindling, a small piece of the the pie is huge for Triumph. Lets not forget the problems Indian has had. Marketing is all a numbers game and everyone has to keep those numbers up. How often do you see another rocket while you out yourself. I don't think that it's a bad thing to put this powerplant to use in another frame and build numbers. Triumph has not stopped production on the bike we are riding. Its just another model using a proven engine. The size and sheer power of this bike make it humbling at best. From the threads I have viewed on this post alone I think its safe to say that the people buying the rockets are typically 50ish and also subject to more gravitational pull than msot. There is a huge (no pun intended) portion of the market that may look at the slender tank, lowerseat height, smaller tires, and narrower body lines thinking its a more managable steed. I myself looked at the Rocket in 04, thinking nobody needs that much machine under them. Only to return in 06 to decide I didn't want to be a nobody.

dougl said:

The HD crowd has always been envious of British bikes, which are not in the same class as the Japanese "buzz box", no matter how much they try to make them look like Harleys.

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I'll respectively disagree. In the 60's, because of the unreliable HD and AMF, the HD crowd was looking for a different bike and found Triumph, Norton and BSA, In the last 10 years it's been the upwardly mobile baby boomer crowd that has embraced the HD due in part to very creative and aggressive advertising on the part of Willie G and the Motor Company. Just looking at HD's stock slide tells you somethings amiss and I tend to agree with Rick. It's the baby boomer's maturing. In the 60's you rode a Harley if you were a 1%er. In the past ten years you rode a Harley if you were a lawyer that aspired to be a 1%er on weekends only. It's all about the intangible charisma of being 'Made in America' or an American Icon or being a member of the Harley Owners Group or Pride in your Ride or whatever other hogwash (no pun intended) that Willie and his ad company can dream up. I'd believe that Willie G is quite honored by the fact that his strategy and models are copied by other manufacturers worldwide. Absolutely nothing sells the original any better than a copy, especially when the copy emulates the original almost part for part.

It has nothing to do with Japanese buzz boxes. Japanese cruisers don't buzz anyway. Japanese ****** rockets do. My brother-in-law Bart has a Rocket. He also has a VTX and a Speedmaster. I don't consider his VTX a buzz box nor do I consider any of the Japanese cruisers buzz boxes. The Japanese saw a good market and took advantage of it like they always do. The Chinese aren't far behind either.

What I'm saying is the cruiser market here in the USA is basically saturated with numerous models by numerous manufacturers. That being said, why would Triumph who is a niche bike manufacturer and by all account probably always will be in the grand scheme of things, enter into a market where there are numerous other bikes of the same character. It don't make sense to me.

I bought my Rocket 2 1/2 years after I bought my Bonneville and I bought my Bonnie simply because I had a '68T120 and I yearned for another Brit bike and I didn't want to go the Norton Resto route. Of course my Bonnie turned into a three wheeler show bike and while I do ride it, I don't particularly like to take it out a lot. I have a lot of bucks tied up in it and it's basically irreplaceable. Besides it reminds me of the '68. I bought the Rocket after comparing the Classic side-by-side literally with a Classic, full dress. I went to the HD dealer, got a green Classic and rode it to the Triumph dealer. Parked it there and rode an R3Classic. Some points of the R3 were superior and some points of the HD were superior. I wasn't concerned with price. I was concerned with comfort and I felt more comfortable on the R3 and the power was a plus that the HD lacked. I've always been a Triumph fan ever since my '68 Prince of Darkness and night visitor Bonneville so I bought the R3. In retrospect, I probably should have bought the HD too.

When you distill it down, none of them are any more than machinery in different colors.

Gunshots said:

Even if the cruiser market is dwindling, a small piece of the the pie is huge for Triumph. Lets not forget the problems Indian has had. Marketing is all a numbers game and everyone has to keep those numbers up. How often do you see another rocket while you out yourself. I don't think that it's a bad thing to put this powerplant to use in another frame and build numbers. Triumph has not stopped production on the bike we are riding. Its just another model using a proven engine. The size and sheer power of this bike make it humbling at best. From the threads I have viewed on this post alone I think its safe to say that the people buying the rockets are typically 50ish and also subject to more gravitational pull than msot. There is a huge (no pun intended) portion of the market that may look at the slender tank, lowerseat height, smaller tires, and narrower body lines thinking its a more managable steed. I myself looked at the Rocket in 04, thinking nobody needs that much machine under them. Only to return in 06 to decide I didn't want to be a nobody.

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Indian was underfunded from the start just like Dreer and his Norton. It's a numbers game and Bloor has the numbers in his bank account to make that happen. That's the simple fact of that. ......How often to you see another Rocket? That's my point. How often do you see a HD wanna be or an HD.....plenty. They are like flies on a dog turd in the sun. All over. Why try to break into a market where the players are all there, all very experienced and there is so many of them. Besides, Triumph already has a cruiser, actually 2 cruisers, the America and the Speedmaster. I don't know about your gravitational pull, but mine is pretty intense and getting stronger the older I get.

Finally, you ain't a nobody, you are a Captain and don't forget it.

I tend to agree with Flip, I think that Triumph should have expounded on the model that they already have, i.e with hard bags, a TRUNK and other goodies. Nobody likes a copy cat. Now I think that most will think " Thier just trying to be like Harley". It will be interesting to see how it sells and if it will be back in 09.