The best ever 4-stroke vertical twin?
in [Motorcycles]
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From: tomorrow on 26 Jul 2010 14:43 On Jul 26, 1:33 pm, "Bob Myers" <nospample...(a)address.invalid> wrote: > Tim wrote: > > Well, year after year, the smallest Monster (600, then 620, now > > 696/796) is Ducati's biggest seller. > > Being Ducati's biggest seller is a somewhat different thing than > being Suzuki's biggest seller, I would think. Not that the SV > was, but - well, you get my point. I take your point, but even with Ducati being a smaller volume seller than Suzuki, that doesn't mean that the SV is (currently and/or recently) a bigger seller than the Monster, either. I do know that Ducati has sold well over 100,000 Monsters since the model's introduction, although that of course includes the big-bore and the 4V [1] models as well. Heck, I've read over and over that the 600cc sportbikes are the Japanese factory's mid-displacement sales leaders, and I see a lot of them at the racetrack, and a lot on the road, but I can't think of a single model of any of them that I see more of on the road than I do small-bore Monsters. All of the 600cc hyperbikes combined, yes, absolutely, but each model individually, I'm not sure. And yet I see MANY, MANY more of each 600cc sportbike model on the road than I do SV650's. Of course, this is only in northern Virginia and eastern West Virginia and Daytona Beach, Florida, and in rides up to Pennsylvania and Maryland. Perhaps Monsters are much rarer elsewhere! [1] Not that there are more than a smattering of those on the roads. Research: There are currently 27 Monsters for sale on eBay Motors, 8 of which are under 750cc and one of which is the 800cc S2R, which probably fits the description of "small bore" Monster. There are 29 SVs, but 18 of them are 650's. There are 3 Gladiuses, but all three are brand new in dealer's showrooms.
From: Mark Olson on 26 Jul 2010 15:27 tomorrow(a)erols.com wrote: > Of course, this is only in northern Virginia and eastern West Virginia > and Daytona Beach, Florida, and in rides up to Pennsylvania and > Maryland. Perhaps Monsters are much rarer elsewhere! There is no reason to think the distribution of Monsters is in any way uniform across the USA, any more than there is to assume to the same about SVs. I do know there aren't very many (3) Ducati dealerships in my state, but they're practically on every street corner, compared to some states (e.g. North Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia) where there isn't a single Ducati dealership[1]. OTOH, Virginia has four, Florida has eleven, and PA has six. [1] According to the Ducati USA website, there may be other states that have no Ducati dealers. I am pretty sure Suzuki has multiple dealers in all 50 states.
From: tomorrow on 26 Jul 2010 15:32 On Jul 26, 3:27 pm, Mark Olson <ols...(a)tiny.invalid> wrote: > tomor...(a)erols.com wrote: > > Of course, this is only in northern Virginia and eastern West Virginia > > and Daytona Beach, Florida, and in rides up to Pennsylvania and > > Maryland. Perhaps Monsters are much rarer elsewhere! > > There is no reason to think the distribution of Monsters is in any way > uniform across the USA, any more than there is to assume to the same > about SVs. Agreed. I find the SV distribution to be markedly skewed high in, on, and around roadracing circuits, for example!
From: The Older Gentleman on 26 Jul 2010 17:37
Tim <tomorrowerolsdotcom(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > I have seen more Brutales and Runes on the road than I have Gladiuses > (Gladii?) Gladioli? -- BMW K1100LT Ducati 750SS Triumph Street Triple Honda CB400F Suzuki TS250 Suzuki GN250 chateaudotmurrayatidnetdotcom Nothing damages a machine more than an ignoramus with a manual, a can-do attitude and a set of cheap tools |