so you're all smiles hey!

your happy, new model, new perspective!

going to be reliable, change in reputation and a chance for your small business to grow with husaberg! things couldn't be better right?

wrong!

just two modells next year. thats it! you let your MX customers go (really) about 4-5 years ago and you don't do much SM because the bikes are unreliable. so you do enduro with three models (call it 4 with the 380).

so your entire business is resting on a new engine design and just two trail/enduro models...

the words squirrel and nuts come to mind..... coz you better put 'em away now!

why 570? 650 was fairly unique and had a special customer? so thats the USP, the only USP gone!

why no 250 - 300 - 350?

why not keep the 650SM going for a year as a standard range model (i believe they may be available to order?).

shouldn't dealers be told NOW what 2010 holds because i'd want to know that after a year of famine that the SMs would be coming!

and how many times do we have to say it....where is the small engine and starter model!!!!!

regards

Taffy

They should keep producing and tweaking the 650. For the 01 and up bikes offer only current model year parts, that is, if you have say an 02 400 and needed a part you would only have the option of purchasing the updated part once old stock is exhausted as virtually everything is interchangeable to a degree except for cylinders and a few other items. This would insure parts availability well into the future, resale and trade in values would be higher and Husaberg would have an Iconic big bore machine that has slowly built up a following. This could also be considered a hedge as the new models are not guaranteed to be a hit.

maybe only have a 380 and the 650?

i feel they MUST get to a MX and SM bike or both and that the range should be from 250cc up. i can imagine they sit in a board room and say that "a 250 doesn't suit our image. we are a big bike manufacturer and we ought to leave the small bikes to the japanese. real men ride a triumph!"

sorry. freudian slip there. mr edward turner would turn in his grave and say "just like the old days!"

to which i'd reply "yeh! what a way to go....down!"

regards

Taffy

I suspect that if the boys in sweden had their way, there would be one class in which all displacements were welcome, and they would make a 500+/- cc bike only.

I am not so sure we need a variety of engine capacities.What we do need is a strong,competitive,reliable bike that can be sold to both novice and expert rider.
We need the ability to have it road legal everywhere if required and we need a big fat catologue full of Husaberg accessories so riders can use it from MX to Paris Dakar.

NSman

an intereesting perspective. i've heard this before: the bike is but a mere skeleton from which bits shall get worn and upgrades and individuality needed....

i'm sure you have sold a 650 to someone simply because it's the only bike on the market like it!

regards

Taffy

One of the greatest boasts I have of my Husaberg is the power to weight ratio. I tell people my 650 weighs 239 pounds about 70 pounds lighter than an xr650 or kawi. It's about 30 pounds lighter than a DRz400. Maybe only 15 or 20 heavier than my crf450 motocross bike. You see my point. The pride of Husaberg being the lightest most powerful Dual sport Enduro will be gone without the 650. Maybe it a KTM thing where thay say we can't have these big powerful bikes anymore, their hurting our 530 people with all their boasting.

pollo said:

I tell people my 650 weighs 239 pounds

Click to expand...

239 pounds?! It would be hard to ride without gas, motor oil, fork oil, antifreeze, etc. You're at least 20 pounds shy of real world weight being anywhere close to ready to ride.

They feel 239 pounds, though

So what. Who cares around here anyway. I know it's dry weight. And thats what my manual says, 239.. Put 20 pounds of oil, fluids and watever else in all the other bikes in the world from their dry weight and my bergs still way lighter.

Well, maybe not every bike in the world, but a lot of em.

Most if not all bikes come with a dry weight in their specifications. You can't ride them like this though. I still tell them it s a 239 pound 650. Thats what it says and im going with it. If they want to know more i'll tell them.

i can imagine they sit in a board room and say that "a 250 doesn't suit our image. we are a big bike manufacturer and we ought to leave the small bikes to the japanese. real men ride a triumph!"

Click to expand...

Well, I don´t think that they even have Boardroom...
Until today, Husaberg is the very,unwanted child in the KTM family, even in the factory they are somewhere behind a hidden door...
I don´t know the marketing plan for Husaberg the future, (model line up, dealers/distributor?)
but what I see is, that Husabergs are mainly bought by experienced and mature riders.
No Beginners.
And a don´ t think this is because the missing of a smaller engine.
Development Cost for the last years`? Almost zero,
so they´re actually the cash cow

As a matter of fact, there is a 250ccm Berg-engine available - just buy the " KTM" 250 4-stroke :shock:

What I see is that paddocks all over the world are "orange", so I think it´s time for KTM to establish a different colour bike to keep sales up,
or customers will leave for some other brand.

USP of the new model? Hey, to me, it looks like a Derbi Senda (50cc Moped) - but if it works

i wasn't thinkking of it from the niche point of view. the fact that the customers are mature shouldn't stop some people who are younger/shorter/less experienced from wanting a starter bike.

look around you. the idea is to make the 50cc bike look bigger - take the cagiva mito for instance.

fact is, when a dealer sees a customer he wants to be able to sell him a bike that suits his needs and all that will be missing is half the cc range and 2/3 or even 3/4 of the model range.

not good.

come over toi the UK gokia. we have just 2 dealers for 60 million people. 2. thats right. 2.

they are trying to get ktm dealers to stock both and only one of the dozens of dealers orange was prepared to try husaberg. the first question that dealer will have had is:

will this enhance my business. answer NO. only the 650 is special.
will it affect my reputation? YES. i now stock a bike with a bad name.
what will it cost? A LOT OF MONEY TO REPEAT STOCK A BIKE I ALREADY HAVE HERE CALLED KTM.

if i was a husaberg dealer i would not be happy to hold just 2 enduro models for the year.

regards

Taffy

'09 is a ****-up!

'09 is a ****-up!
well what do you reckon to the price of next years bikes?

£6,400. sheesh! now that is excluxive! i mean, this years was a giveaway at £3,800 and this is 65%, yep 65% more.

most small brand bikes are placed at £5,500 but to shift them they have had to cut deals at just under £5,000. so now the new model will have to come in whatever happens at under £6k me reckons. still £1,000 more than the rest and way more than a KTM!

good? yep! but howwwww good??????????

the factory wanted a short production run but must have overdone the USA market. not sure why but word came through months ago that they were going to have to ship them back to europe in order to out them. everyone has been trying to clear the 450.

did i say the 450?

oh crap! they must have got the ratio wrong! that's it!!!! all the 650s went months ago and that explains it! they made the wrong phucking bike!!!!

ok, ok! so now what's the '09 ratio. oh dear! 2/3rds are to be 450's! still we live and learn live and learn hey (chuckles to himself) we will learn one day...

and haven't they been having TROUBLE with them when racing them? and aren't they right on top of production now? so for this new engine WHO is TESTING them with any lead time? is a month long enough? or 2? or 3?

maybe in march yes! - but august? september??? mmmmm??? - not. so. good.

and that idea of outing the old stock? Uk dealers urged to get the stock out? mid west still advertising them like hell?

i wonder if the conversation went like this?
we need you to flog some late '08s
we want to save our money for the '09s?
yes but we are telling you to stock some '08s or you won't be getting '09s!!!!
but how will i turn around the money in time to buy the new models?
don't care, your problem! and BTW to have '09s you have to take 10(?) upfront ok and pay for the phuckers!!!!!

this on top of the fact that the factory had no idea that those fantastic prices were going to happen at the motorcycle show last december!!!! the austrians had no idea!!!! apparently KTM uk went and thought it right up!

the factory found out and told them that the RRP they had put on them up at was £200 less than they could supply them to the uk/make them; for!!! yet anyone who knows anything will tell you that you are either cut out to buy a husaberg or you're not. it's as simple as that! it was money simply thrown away.

and so the idea then became, "right, you get that shipment (or 2 or 3) and then that's it. you return the deposits for the rest! disapoint them.

UHE members, are you gutted that they had their deposits handed back?

don't be.

the FW that would have bought them would have ridden any bag o shyte that was cheap and like a good saracen, they would fight for the money and nothing else!

not the customers we need to mix with ol boy! wot wot wot!

how many of those early shipments joined us here? not many!!!!

so who are these wonderful people that decimated the UK scene?
who took away the importer one day and then took away his dealership status just 5 months later?
who didn't let him have dealer net status for more than the next 48 hours?
who got rid of two other husaberg dealers and left just mid west in the night of the long knives?

who are the people who took on trevor pope as a semi importer only for him to bedeck his whole website in phucking orange fer chrissakes!

KT phucking M that's who!!!!!!!!!!!

there are presently only three dealers in the whole of the "BRITISH ISLES"
mid west
trevor pope
htm

htm are on the north coast of norten irelan and all their customers to the north have names like carp and haddock!

trevor pope is in portsmouth and all the customers to the south of him have names like haddock, cod and plaice!!!!!

so ktm uk. well done.
you destroyed the knowledge and enthusiasm
you replaced it with nothing
you have three dealershps for 61 million people
you don't advertise nationally


oh dear! i lied. yep it's true. i lied. i'm a liar!

they did advertise.

they advertised regularly: they advertsied in DEALER NEWS for more husaberg dealers!

i'm not sh....ing you. that was it!

you see they thought that that ktm dealers were going to get moist between their legs, drop their knickers and let husaberg in!

alas to get to their lofty orange perch all these dealers have one thing in common! BUSINESS NOUS. the very fact that they got to be orange means that they're quite bloody cute anyway and from where they sit they aren't going to be stupid enough to be HUSABERG!!!!

the cheap bikes in december?
not telling mattighofen?
sacking dealers at 24 hours notice without a by-your-leave.
no adverts
unable to sign new dealers
no racing

these "business people" have got no idea about bikes, no idea about us, no idea what to do because they prove it everyday they go to work! they should be sacked for what they've done.

i wonder if they talk of "units" and "front end user" and so forth? the UK has been getting a rough deal for too long. it's a mess. the whole thing is a mess!

truly KTM uk - and one man in particular:
YOU ARE B.....Y W......S

or as i would tell me ol canook mucker;

"they're not BW, they're worse, they're F.... T......'s.

if your a brit and you agree. say it here. if you don't. tell us why here.

kindest regards

Taffy

RE:

tell us how you really feel, taf :cursin:

In the U.S., as you know, the dealer network has also been decimated. Motoxotica is still out as far as I know as is Ron Bishop Motorcycles. I just don't know what they are thinking. All I can say at this point is what the hell.

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=130

6400 pounds seems really high compared to the price I will be selling them for Taff.Unless you are including all tax,transport and pdi...then its not that far off full retail.

To be honest Taff most of my customers will be looking at this pricing in the NA way.If a WR450 is $160 for 60 mths and a new 570 Berg is $199 for 60 mths then really the Berg is only $39 a month

Id pay 65% more if it was a EFI 750 or 800 with ohlins TTX front and rear and lighter than my 08.

the 570 sounds good and its got more HP than the 650 right ? so they prolly reasoned they don't need a 650 if the 570 makes more power? or summink.

but 65% more for a 450 ???????

let me be clear

the retail for the '08s should have been £5,500 but they reduced the price last december on the eve of the show to £3,800 for the 450 and 550. the 650 was still up there at £5,500.

so in case you missed all this chat last christmas time: they took £1,700 off the retail price!!!!!!!!!!!

i was trying to sell shercos that week at the show and it was a waste of time because you either bought a husaberg if you liked non-mainstream or because it was surreal- you sat on your hands to see what happened!

so £5,500 up here is a good price to ask and if you are the market leader in KTM and husky you ask 5-7 or 5-8. so to ask £6,400 is just too much. i would say that they are really going to struggle.

that £6,400 is not officially the full price but we both know that they can't ask this for the bike and so it's just a starting point.

regards

Taffy