I only fairly recently quit the part time, occasional job I had with the local MBz dealership but, in the last couple of years the group had also taken on franchises for Chinese auto makers GWM/BYD so I got to drive a couple of them. Despite some - ermmmmmm - ‘challenging’ styling aspects of some of the vehicles, the general build quality, finish and features of the few vehicles I did drive were, to say the least, impressive. That’s particularly true of the BYD (‘Build Your Dreams’) models which, it seemed to me on a brief drive, stood up well to comparison to the German counterpart with which it was meant to contend.
So, I wasn’t greatly surprised when a close friend in America sent me this link to an article about Chinese motorcycle manufacturing :-
China’s 8-cylinder, 2-liter megatourer heralds a global motorcycle conquest (newatlas.com)
It would be SO easy to rip the proverbial piss out of some - many - aspects of the styling and execution of this particular model but, there is, I think, a serious, underlying note to consider here. I’m sure that anybody here old enough to have had experience of (or even an interest in) motorcycling in the early sixties might recall the open derision and almost contempt with which the burgeoning Japanese motorcycle imports were treated. Their products were laughably cheap and flimsy and seemed to be made of metal that would corrode almost overnight and, whilst the motor might run for ever, the wonderful atmosphere of, in particular, industrial areas (remember those? Yep, we HAD industries, then!) was seemingly capable of quickly dissolving anything but the best, well treated, well coated and well protected metal product carelessly exposed!
We ALL know how that particular story ends - certainly as far as the motorcycle industry is concerned. It seems to me entirely plausible that we’re seeing something of a contemporary rerun of a not dissimilar scenario in the motor car industry with China now poised to dominate car manufacturing and sales on a global scale.
Finally, anyone else intrigued by the front fork design on this particular behemoth?
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