January 8, 201610 yr Beta had better Enduro bikes to start with. The new importer has been lucky as Beta is fairly well built bike. I really do not like his new setup as a true importer. Who in the USA would you call for real technical advise on a BETA? They refer you to the Dealers. Maybe I was spoiled being able to talk to Ron SR all those years. The only one, might be Ray Peters. On the Gas Gas issue, Snell has done more for Gasser riders from a repair stand point than anybody in the world. He would have always had parts if the Factory had not got behind in it`s financial dealings. This new owner sounds like he has good intentions. Might be hard for him to understand what the true market for trials is in the USA. Very much an underground sport. This is coming from a healthy trials club with quite a few members with motorcycle backgrounds for decades at the local full line shops. With employees known for years to be involved in trials, most other riders are clueless about our existence. Might end up like all the Honda shops. They all sell Montesa`s, but no parts or knowledge available. Yea I see your point and I think the Beta model here in North America isn't ideal. I can say that they do have a lot of bikes in the market but when you have a local healthy club who can't get support that is a problem. One thing you can pickup from the Interview is that they value the guy/girl who sells 2 bikes a year as much as the person who sells 25. That tells me that they know that there is an underground grassroots level to this sport that is important. One advantage of having a common importer or one stop shop for all of your needs is cross pollination. One disadvantage that i think we need to be scared about is having someone who doesn't care about anything other than selling a bike for profit. I too have been blessed by seeing healthy clubs with healthy support. We need more of those Peters, Comos, Snells, Lewis, Komers, Baumberts, ect... in this world. We also need to help them lead successful businesses. Hope that these owners can help guide that. --Biff
January 9, 201610 yr Re: profits on bike production I was under the impression that more money was made on the sale of spare parts than on bikes; which if an interview with Marc Tessier[ the owner of Sherco] several years ago is correct then Trials motorcycles are sold at break event[to the distributors/importers] or with a very small profit.In the interview he suggested that trials bikes back 3 or 4 years ago really needed to be sold at a rrp of around £7000.00 to have a reasonable margin. On economies of scale 7k would be right im sure.
January 9, 201610 yr As a ballpark figure to run a simple assembly plant with about 30 employees you are looking at £600k to £1m annual "wage" costs. Non wage costs will add about £300k to £600k That is a total of £900k to £1.6m. Divide that by 3000 bike and it gives an assembly cost of £300 to £533 er bike. Not implausible IF they sell 3000 which is probably why sherco have managed as well as they have.
February 7, 201610 yr Anyone had any info on the dates for the 300 Pro coming off the production line apart from the dates given in the interview with the new owner? Edited February 7, 201610 yr by jfc
February 8, 201610 yr I've been told by someone working at the factory that by the 12th of this month , the production line is planned to be producing 80 bikes per day. No further details.
February 8, 201610 yr I've been told by someone working at the factory that by the 12th of this month , the production line is planned to be producing 80 bikes per day. No further details. Who is going to buy 80 bikes a day?
February 8, 201610 yr Who is going to buy 80 bikes a day? Dabster, he hasn't had a new Gas Gas fix for a while. Wish I had time to make one worthwhile.
February 8, 201610 yr I suppose it depends how many days they plan to be producing. They may just do a set run of X# bikes then focus on tooling up for Enduro's or something...
February 9, 201610 yr 'Tis called 'batch building'...all small businesses do it. I would be surprised if a trials bike manufacturer would build any other way, especially when we're talking about low volume products. As ever I am willing to be corrected, just be gentle, I'm having a bad hair day. Edited February 9, 201610 yr by ham2
February 10, 201610 yr Sherco always build 50 at a time ( at least that was what we were told and saw when we visited caldes de montbui), but i doubt gg will build 80 a day every day. Well not for too long..... Edited February 10, 201610 yr by nigel dabster
February 10, 201610 yr Yes, that's what I meant by batch building...just not every day...the demand's not there, for any trials bike manufacturer.
February 10, 201610 yr Batch building eh ? Sounds like a fantastic economic option - let's have 40 people work flat out for 2 weeks building a 'batch' then have them sitting around scratching their butts until they are required in 2 months time to build the next 'batch' I can see that makes great financial sense... Seriously, If you have a dedicated workforce that is only making a batch of say 200 bikes then what do they do whilst waiting to make the next 200 bikes? Unless of course they are selling all 200 bikes at a time of course then that makes sense. Edited February 10, 201610 yr by atomant
February 10, 201610 yr Batch building eh ? Sounds like a fantastic economic option - let's have 40 people work flat out for 2 weeks building a 'batch' then have them sitting around scratching their butts until they are required in 2 months time to build the next 'batch' I can see that makes great financial sense... Um push a broom, stock shelves, tweak procedures, train, build other things. Its not like you snap fingers and can just start building bikes right this moment. There is a small motorcycle manufacture that I have visited several times here in Michigan and its not as easy as it sounds. You have supplier quality issues to discuss and they are probably trying to get as many jigs and high process time issues out of the way so when there is need they can build as many finished product as possible. I would think that building up engine assemblies and frames takes a lot of time. Bolting these things together (as we should all have some perspective on) isn't as long of a process. Also consider building and buying in bulk saves on cost both before and after a machine is built. In the world of economies to scale I can appreciate what GG is going through right now.... glimpse into something I had a front row seat with. https://youtu.be/acVuYHuO8GY --Biff
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