Whether we like it or not!

[badger_eng]

Great review / story Johnny, glad you are happy with the bike. They certainly are value for money and tbh, for what you pay brand new, who cares about the resale value / depreciation. In my view, it’s irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

I however, just can’t bring myself to KNOWINGLY buy anything Chinese 🤷‍♂️. Having spent quite a few years working there I found nothing good in that experience that would make me spend my personal cash to support the state. Yep, I know Chinese parts will be in that UK branded washing machine, Japanese car and American guitar but I’m never going to determine which part exactly and I’m not directly giving it to Mr Xi. This is my problem, not yours 😂😂.

The knock on effect of these cheap Chinese imports is having a big effect tho on the wider bike market in the U.K.
I recently bought my Suzuki GSX-S 1000GX+ for £12999 (I thought that was a bargain for a bike that came with an iPad, 6 axis IMU, semi active suspension and colour matched panniers), so much so, I traded in my Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX in for it whilst it was at the dealers for its annual service.
The same Suzuki I bought was over £2500 more expensive only a couple of months earlier before Suzuki reacted to the swarm of Chinese bikes now on the market. Look how competitive the pricing is now for top class models from Honda (Hornet and CB1000GT).

So whilst I can’t bring myself to buy a Chinese bike, car, phone etc…. they are still having a massive effect on my own personal spending power.

[Johnny4428]

Yes I get what you say about Mr Xi but I suppose we are all responsible for supporting him already. That’s quite annoying to see the price drop so much after you buy something. I did have a thought this  Chinese bikes would increase in price so that’s why I bought at a silly time of year really. Plus I had a budget and I didn’t trust myself to have £7k burning a hole and an entire winter of browsing. Resale value isn’t an issue with me, the only way I would sell is if I bought it and didn’t like it. I never was any good at selling bikes! 😜

[Yetanotherbike]

When I started riding all those years ago, British bikes were very much on the decline. If anyone here has ever read 'What ever happened to the British motorcycle industry' by Bert Hopwood, you'll know why. A very informative if not depressing read. Lack of investment, poor management, complacency, complete disregard for their customers, the list goes on and on.
The Japanese didn't steal our motorcycle industry, they were literally given it.
However 50-60 years on, the Japanese have not made the same mistake. They strive to improve with every model, they innovate and still offer good value for money. I see no need to put more money into China than we need to, when there is already a good provider of motorcycles and lets not forget European motorcycles too. Not sure whether I would describe Triumph as a British motorcycle these days.
Where possible I try and resist buying Chinese manufactured goods where I can, as a country they don't play fair.
Without getting into politics, I don't want to be funding a county that spies on us, subtly undermines our economy, supports Russia's war in Ukraine, threatening neighbouring countries etc etc
Easier said that done when your on a limited budget, but I wish people would think of long term consequences before buying things because they appear to be cheap. Everything has a price.

[badger_eng]

Maybe I worded it wrong Johnny, I paid £12999, it was £15600 prior to Suzuki’s repricing strategy. But yes, I feel for people who paid over £2.5k more than me.

Nothing personal against anyone who buys Chinese goods, it’s my one man battle against the state, nobody else’s 😂

I think they are making some real good quality motorcycles and at the price, they would have to turn anyone’s head. I just don’t believe in state sponsored dumping of anything is good for anyone on the other end and will fight it to the end. I’ve seen and experienced the worst side of what happens over there and try my utmost to de-fund.

The idea of a heated seat on a motorcycle blows my mind, I think where you live and ride will make journeys so much more sweet!

[badger_eng]

Hmmmmm….. maybe it’s a two man fight 🍻🍻

[Spitfire]

I well remember, switching over from my beloved British bikes to Japanese bikes, it was a revelation.
However I do have to thank the BSA, AJS and Matchless bikes that I previously owned for giving me an education in motorbike maintenance and repairs though.
It does make me chuckle when I read about a bike having an iPad, but then again even on my ancient F1 I use a Sat Nav so fair dos.
Hopefully the Japanese and other manufacturers will respond to the Chinese threat and not wither on the vine like the British companies did.

Cheers

Dennis

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I owned NSU, Ariel, Triumph  plus a raft of scooters, as has been said my first taste of Japanese was Honda, followed by Suzuki and Yamaha.

The Honda was reliable with electric start, oil drip free, the only thing I did not like was it was too silent at the exhaust end. As well as the emerging Chinese bikes, India is making some nice looking bikes. Not sure where they are made, Royal Alloy Scooters look good value as well.

[taysidedragon]

I'm all for keeping new retail prices down as much as possible. Grey imports kept new bike prices down in the 80s and Chinese and Indian bikes are forcing other manufacturers to lower prices now.
This is not sustainable in the long term. The cheap bikes made with cheap labour and arguably poorer quality steel and parts are undercutting European manufacturers, making it difficult for them to make a profit and therefore stay in business. Import tariffs should be applied to Chinese and Indian bikes (and Chinese cars) to at least level the playing field a bit.
If we don't do that, then we could be left with just Chinese/Indian bikes to buy and the prices will no longer be cheap!

[Laverda Dave]

The unfortunate fact of life here is down to our wonderful western politicians (British and American in particular) who allowed our respective manufacturing base to be eroded away by greedy companies intent on making ever larger profits by manufacturing abroad and usually Asia, China or anywhere where labour is cheap. Our current political elite may be sprouting off about investing in British manufacturing but let's face it, it's way too late for that. We have very little British owned manufacturing companies left, our car industry is all foreign owned and any profits made by British workers for the likes of Nissan, Vauxhall, Toyota etc goes straight back to those countries, not Britain!

I have read 'Whatever Happened to the British Motorcycle Industry' three times in my lifetime and as  Yetanotherbije points out the British industry was killed off by apathy from the various owners and unfortunately by crippling strikes and piss poor motorcycles made on clapped out machinery dating back to before the war.

I am not a #@%$ fan by any means but he got one thing right, he's putting high tariffs on American companies who don't build their products in America. He's put the wind up Harley Davidson who outsourced building large parts of the bikes to Mexico and Asia. He's done the same to Boeing so good on him. Our politicians should do the same but who are currently more interested in allowing alcohol at football matches and holding a bus fare at £2 (for the very short term), it's madness!

The Chinese were not stupid and knew what they were doing by first coping really dated designs for motorcycles such as side valve pre-WW11 Zundap 750’s and later ohv BMW's that were themselves copied by Russia. The Chinese very quickly caught in (mostly by intellectual copyright theft). 10 years ago dealers wouldn't touch 125 Chinese bikes but it's a very different story now.

I don't agree with buying Chinese made goods either but if I were to live by that I wouldn't be buying anything at all from socks to washing machines to traveling on public transport (electric buses are Chinese and mostly made by BYD that operate in London whilst any new train built in Britain will have a great deal of Chinese made parts). Unfortunately having been at the sharp end of seeing the quality of some Chinese made components all I can say is they look nice but longevity may be another issue yet to be tested, unless you have previous experience of the Chinese built KTM twin engine and the near bankruptcy that caused KTM.

We should impose tariffs on Chinese and Indian built goods but that will never happen in the UK because the corporates won't allow it as they have money invested in these companies. There will also be the scaremongering from these corporations saying they won't invest in the UK etc, etc. Royal Enfield for instance have their R&D based in Leicestershire and would no doubt pull out of the UK should tariff be imposed. Instead the government bend over backwards to accommodate China in building a super sized embassy in London where they can spy on us even more and commit cyber crime (and share their information with Russia) and continue to allow India to import bikes whilst supporting Russia by buying the oil and gas they need to manufacture goods.
The world has gone mad and gets madder and more dangerous by the day.

[badger_eng]

And so say all of us (well me and a couple of others anyway)

As previously stated, I won’t knowingly buy anything Chinese made / branded but also as mentioned by others, it’s impossible not to with the infiltration (an apt word) of just about every component in consumer goods being manufactured by the all seeing Daddy State.

You pays your money and make your choices but all you are doing by buying direct is robbing your sons, daughters and grandkids of any small hope they may have for a reasonable future.
I’m happy to pay £50k for my Lexus (full of Chinese parts no doubt) than give £25k to Xi and his buddies for a similar spec car. I don’t see that as £25k wasted.