Sportbikes – Whats our problem?

[wheelbender6]

The article at the link asks a good question.
At the end of World War II, the USA manufacured high tech machines as well as anyone.
The economy was roaring and its citizens were full of optimism.
America still produces top airplanes, warplanes and helicopters.
-So why can't the USA consistently manufacture sportbikes?
The economies and infrastructure of Germany, Italy and Japan were devastated after WWII, yet they export top sportbikes like crazy.
-Like the author of the article, I do recognize Harley as a manufacturer of great motorcycles.
The Britts make some great sportbikes, but they were on the winning side of WWII.
Buell made some great sportbikes during their partnership with Harley, but it didn't last.
-My reason for the USA bringing up the rear in sportbike production goes back beyond WWII.
I hang it on Henry Ford. That is not a criticism of Henry Ford. It is a recognition of what a huge impact he had on the USA.
-Henry Ford made automobiles affordable for the masses. Americans put their Harley's, Curtiss', Flying Merkels, Excelsiors, etc in the barn and drove Fords. The number of motorcycle manufacturers plummeted in the USA.
-That automobile revolution did not happen in Germany, Italy, Japan and England until years later. They kept on riding their motorcycles to get to work and more motorcycle manufacturers survived there.
I'm certainly not the first person to recognize how the rise of the automobile led to the decline of the motorcycle in the USA. I just may be the first to link it with the lack sportbike manufacturing here.
http://www.motorcycle.com/features/whatever-seems-problem.html

 

[Ludwig II]

It's considered that America generally lacks the sort of swooping, curving roads that make European oriented bikes what they are, and the road racing culture that goes with the great closed road events (7 miles of flat out straight in the NW200 as an example, mixed in with bumpy hedge and wall lined Irish roads).

I have to remark with regret and an apologetic tone that Harley Davidson is ridiculed in much of Europe for it's clinging to a vintage design; it was not always so, HD and Indian, as examples used 4 valves per cylinder in their early years. Bizarrely, not even the tuning specialists for HD seem to offer a 4 valve head conversion, which would transform them (tell me if I'm wrong). Where are the 6 speed close ratio gearboxes? The equivalents of the small manufacturers of high quality frames?

It isn't that America/HD lacks technical ability, I think, but rather there is a complacency about not needing any further development. This may be correct for those who want the Vintage Experience (no, not knocking, just putting it in context) but it doesn't serve the American customer who wants a sporting bike, one that can hit near 200mph with standard parts, and only does 155 because the manufacturers RESTRICT them, and offers the ability to storm a mountain or hill road with grace and precision.

America needs a businessman like John Bloor, who had no heritage with bikes. He was/is a property developer who saw clearly a market for a prestige named motorcycle made to modern standards, without any heritage apart from the Triumph name being attached.

 

[wheelbender6]

I used to wonder if Americans bought Harleys because they love the company or because they love cruiser style motorcycles. I think the sales figures of metric cruiser bikes suggest that it is both. Metric cruisers don't just come from Japan. Triumph has made American style cruisers for years. (They don't have a v-twin, but they otherwise resemble the big hogs). Moto Guzzi has jumped in and BMW produced a big cruiser for a while.
-If cornering and rear suspension travel are not important to you, a cruiser makes a pretty nice bike. I prefer the versatility of a standard or a naked bike.

 

[Ludwig II]

I say it repeatedly; I am waiting for HD to introduce a fuel infected sidevalve. They have springers and a fake rigid rear end, it's the next logical step, and they can manage emissions now much better than when they had crapuration.