[quote=“maunaloa”]I’m with TC. At 350cc, make it an upscale farmer’s bike, without the circular shift, and tune it for low end torque, esp. if it’s a single. That idea is pissin’ in the wind, I know. The target is a Ninja clone. Sort of like canned coffee. No one one dares make too different a taste.
But, to me, the real question is “who is National?”. A front for SYM, Kymco, or PGO?[/quote]
Problem with that idea is that a farmer doesn’t need a 350, nor does a commuter. >250cc bikes in Taiwan do not really get used as transport but as toys. Nothing wrong with that, but if you are going to market a >250cc bike then you are competing with other toys, and they have to make the buyer believe he’s going to look good on that thing. Farmers and commuters basically buy the cheapest thing that fits their needs. 125/150cc scooters for commuters and 125/150cc farmer bikes for, uh, farmers. That’s been the dynamic forever here and I don’t see a paradigm shift coming anytime soon. A 350cc farmer bike wouldn’t look different enough from the 125/150 group and that basically removes any kind of reason for the average consumer to buy one. I think the strategy here is to target the guy who would love to have a Ninja as a toy for the weekends but can’t afford it. They are going to offer him 90% of the style for maybe half the price. Whether or not anyone will bite is anyone’s guess, given the record of off-brand, wannabe high-end products here.
I have no idea who ‘National’ is and I doubt it’s anything to do with the existing, established brands. Those guys would have had their marketing machine geared up to sell the thing for a while now and would be using their brand cache to sell it, not hiding it behind some name no-one ever heard of. My money is on it being Chinese.
I have no idea who ‘National’ is and I doubt it’s anything to do with the existing, established brands. Those guys would have had their marketing machine geared up to sell the thing for a while now and would be using their brand cache to sell it, not hiding it behind some name no-one ever heard of. My money is on it being Chinese.[/quote]
They have two factories ready to produce. One in china making carberauted (sp?) bikes. And one here in Taiwan making the EFI version. There will also be a kit available that will knock it up to 500cc.
That is “it” in a nutshell. Waigos that want a DR350… or even a DR500 (!!) equivalent because they want to do solo tours in the mountains are all on flob, and there ain’t enough of us to make a market. The “weekend poser” market… well, that’s big.
A kit to bump it to 500cc, with EFI. Wild stuff. I hope they make it.
But is it a thumper or a twin?
I hope the swingarm is wider than it looks, because it appears the front and rear tire are interchangeable.
Red plates and expressway riding is highly over rated…unless you live inside Taipei. And then I see how it could be useful using those raised roads to avoid intersections.
[quote=“Mordeth”]
They have two factories ready to produce. One in china making carberauted (sp?) bikes. And one here in Taiwan making the EFI version. There will also be a kit available that will knock it up to 500cc.[/quote]
Uh huh. And where are the parts being made, if I may ask?
Duh… on the mainland until they can source them from Vietnam.
I’ve never heard of an OE kit to go from 350cc to 500cc. Same crankshaft, journals, gudgeon pins, connecting rods … ?? I’ll wait for the J.D. Powers New Owners survey.
[quote=“maunaloa”]Duh… on the mainland until they can source them from Vietnam.
I’ve never heard of an OE kit to go from 350cc to 500cc. Same crankshaft, journals, gudgeon pins, connecting rods … ?? I’ll wait for the J.D. Powers New Owners survey.[/quote]
Since they will likely never be able to sell them outside of Taiwan and China, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you…
It is possible to stretch from 350cc to 500cc if the 350 motor has a fairly ‘square’ bore / stroke ratio. It’s not optimum but it can ‘work’.
I don’t mind things being made in China per se, as long as there’s a German or Japanese responsible for QC, and the product is going to be sold in his country. Otherwise… thanks but no thanks.
[quote=“redwagon”]
I don’t mind things being made in China per se, as long as there’s a German or Japanese responsible for QC, and the product is going to be sold in his country.[/quote]
[quote=“redwagon”]
It is possible to stretch from 350cc to 500cc if the 350 motor has a fairly ‘square’ bore / stroke ratio. It’s not optimum but it can ‘work’.[/quote]
Sure, so you have a long-stroke single 500. What on earth that would do to big ends and crankshaft bearings designed for a square 350 pot? No thanks, especially seeing as that mother would be so under-engineered in the first place.
The kit had better include a complete crank case, crank, and cylinder before i’d put it on… and then you might as well just graft in a DR500 motor.
