Here's a link to a U.S. dealer that's getting them... J/K!

This is an excellent point!...agreed!

 

the article also points out that the 600F is built in the Italy assembly facility, which apparently commands a premium over Asian-built bikes if it is to be sent to the US. It may just be a trade-relations thing, but basically this is an updated F4i and American Honda may be worried that this bike would cannibalize 600rr sales. In Europe, this style of bike is a bit more common from what I can tell.

 

I think the market is big enough to support all of the displacement ranges... if dealers were more amenable to the customer's actual needs and not getting them on the biggest sticker on the floor. Car dealers have accepted that not everyone needs nor can afford the top of the line model.

Selling a 600rr or 1000rr to a guy who's commuting to work is like selling a Mustang GT to a soccer mom with 3 kids.

 

that's a great analogy - and i totally agree with you on that


but not everyone needs a motorcycle. very few people in the US use it as their main for of transportation. there's not a lot of demand for them like there is cars


and then lets consider the demand for dealerships. i've never bought a bike from a dealer. i came close once, but even when i didn't know anything about motorcycles - i still bought off of cycle trader as opposed to the dealership because i already had the stigma of "stealership" drilled into my head.

they don't have many chances to sell anything at a dealership when compared to a car dealer. i really don't understand how they can afford the showroom floor off of selling bikes.


lets say no one really "needed" a car. lets say that in this hypothetical world, everyone flies around to get where they're going - but cars are a nice way for you to unwind during the weekend taking little day trips and what not.
do you think there would be as many car dealerships?
and lets say you go into the chevy/ford/toyota/honda dealership (because most bike dealerships are multiple manufacturer dealers) do you think you'll find a lot of civics, camrys, cruzes, windstars - or do you think they'd be trying to sell more exciting cars like camaros, mustangs, mr2, nsx's - when you're just buying a car for the weekend because during the week you'll most likely be flying to work.

i'm sure there'd be a few of the econo cars there, but for the most part, when you walk in that dealership kuro - they're going to show you that mustang GT as opposed to a civic. and then they're going to "push" the 8 cyl over the 6 cyl

i'm just thinking that more dealerships in america have that kind of mindset. bikes are not for everyone, they don't get many chances to sell one. not everyone needs a good bike to take long trips on or that's good on gas, they need an exciting one - one that is the most profitable.


i know it doesn't quite fit your analogy... but that's just how i assume dealers would think when you have to market something like a motorcycle as opposed to a car

 

True Conrice. Motorcycles are recreational and therefore the dealer thinks the excitement value is justifying the sticker value. But I wonder how many people are pushed out of the sport because they get stuck with a bike that's wrong for them.

Dealers make their money off of parts, accessories and service I bet. And off financing of course. But if the rider gets scared off (or worse killed) because he's on the wrong bike, where's the return sales? Look at my bike, for example. 1 owner, 2k miles in 4 years. All the dealer got was bike and prolly the his only set of gear? I've probably spent 5x what he did on gear and maint materials. Looking at the tires, the original owner prolly leaned it the most when he put it on the kickstand. Wrong bike for the wrong guy.

Bet if he had been sold a 250cc he'd be eyeballing the 600rr and new gear today. But the 250cc Honda wasn't available in 06. I think a lower price point bike, targeted at the weekend road warrior who wants to look in the office parking lot, would sell. Keep the quantities available intentionally low, so the 600rr is still the cream and take more of the market share.

 

i agree. i mean, i'd love to have a bike that i could feasibly take across the country tomorrow because i felt like it. and i think that if you had more sport tourers, more standards, dual sports, etc. , you'd have a much more widespread demographic of bikers and probably more of them as well. then bikes like the 600f would sell no problem.

its weird because that works in europe - and i think that if you asked most riders here in the US (even some non riders who had a positive view of motorcycles), they'd all be for a bike that would be good on gas, could go across the country without the need of a chiropractor on speed dial, carry all of your luggage, etc. - but for some reason - marketers disagree with that.

they seem to think that you're either a cruiser or sportbike rider - and just a few other people fall into dif. categories

 

Kuro- The bike in your picture is actually a Suzuki 650F. Pretty sure they killed it off a couple years ago, but it was basically an attempt to keep the Katana alive.

Google pic:

 

Doh! I couldn't see Kuro's pic from my work PC or I would have caught that too. The Honda 600F is much sexier without going full "RR" treatment- but, the little 'Zuk isn't a bad looking bike and still applies to the thoughts everyone has posted here.

The plentiful used motorcycle market, along with the mentioned dealer/salesperson mindset problems isn't helping bikes like this survive. I mean say that suzuki were still on dealer floors - there's not much chance would retail for less than $7500 + TTL. While a lot cheaper than a Gixxer 600, you can buy a 2 year old Gixxer6 for ~$5k cash from someone that has either gotten scared, or hasn't really ridden it at all if you are willing to shop around for the right deal.

I just kinda wonder how Kawasaki pulled off the 2008-current Ninja 250R so well. I think it was their #1 sales model for a couple of years and dealers were having trouble meeting demand. Also didn't hurt that the summer of 08 was smmack in the middle of the economy crapping out, and $4/gallon gas all at the same time. Best of all is that it was a good looking bike, that also has a pretty devoted trackday following.

come to think of it - Kawasaki has always seemed to fare better with their smaller-displacement bikes. 250, 500Ex, 650R, even when Suzuki had bikes like the GS500, 650F/Katanas.

 

When it comes to smaller displacement bikes - I really like the Cleveland Cycle Werks guys:

Cleveland CycleWerks - Bikes

The Misfit & Hooligun in particular.

 

Not to get too far off the original topic, but I'm pretty sure the 650f/katana's death is right in line with what you're describing. I don't know too much about the 650f, but I don't ever remember hearing of people praising it. Especially when the sv650 was also on sale and actually had a large following and used gixxers could be had for the same price or cheaper.

The Ninja 250 redesign was genious. That bike was already Kawi's best seller with a design that hadn't changed much since the 80's. Add on modern/sporty fairings and people were lining up at dealers waiting to buy one. I think this is where Honda really dropped the ball on the new cbr250. If they had built it to look like a mini 600rr instead of a mini vfr1200, it would be selling out in dealerships. Fuel injection was the right move, but I think going one cylinder was a bad move.

I do wish the 600f would be sold in the states. Great looks, good ergo's and an engine out of a 600rr? On paper it sounds like a winning combo, but I'm not sure how well it would do here.