Why’s Honda so shy about its cruisers?
2014 US models released – but the UK won’t get them
HONDA has just revealed its 2014 line-up of customs and cruisers for the American market – which got us wondering why the world’s number one bike firm struggles so much to get such bikes accepted over here.
There’s nothing really new in the range, but looking at it afresh thanks to the new colours it’s hard to argue that Honda hasn’t got some decent-looking machines in there. The ‘matte pearl white’ Fury with the red frame, for instance, has the sort of appeal that just wasn’t connected to Japanese custom bikes a few years back, while the Interstate and Stateline models also have the sort of clean styling you might expect to see on a one-off chopper but rarely arises on factory-made efforts.
But if you zip over to www.honda.co.uk to check out the firm’s current custom bike range in the UK, it’s made up of a grand total of two bikes. Both variations of the aged Shadow 750, complete with styling that’s firmly in the old Japanese mould – like someone explained to the designers what a Harley-Davidson looked like, but refused to actually show them a picture.
Admittedly, Honda did offer the Fury over here; it was on sale between 2010 and 2012, and nobody really noticed either when it was introduced or when it disappeared from the UK range. Presumably sales weren’t great – it certainly never made a dent on the charts – but it wasn’t exactly pushed hard on the publicity side, and made its debut in the most dismal period of new bikes sales that the country has seen in decades. It also cost more than £12k new and never looked quite as happy on the mean streets of Leamington Spa as it did in Las Vegas.
But that’s largely true of all US-style cruisers in the UK. Harley’s aren’t really at home here, but attract plenty of buyers wanting to live the dream. For years it was understandable; Japanese cruisers generally looked terrible as well as missing out on the ‘genuine’ cachet of H-D. But now, decades after we all accepted that Japan made some of the best bikes in the world and with their factories turning out machines that look as good as some of the more recent Honda customs, why can’t they crack that part of the market?
Over to you. Would Honda – and the rest of Japan’s bike firms – be flogging a dead horse to push some of their more interesting cruisers in the UK market, particularly as riders increasingly migrate away from the old default choice of a sports bike and look for something a little different?
HONDA has just revealed its 2014 line-up of customs and cruisers for the American market – which got us wondering why the world’s number one bike firm struggles so much to get such bikes accepted over here.
There’s nothing really new in the range, but looking at it afresh thanks to the new colours it’s hard to argue that Honda hasn’t got some decent-looking machines in there. The ‘matte pearl white’ Fury with the red frame, for instance, has the sort of appeal that just wasn’t connected to Japanese custom bikes a few years back, while the Interstate and Stateline models also have the sort of clean styling you might expect to see on a one-off chopper but rarely arises on factory-made efforts.
But if you zip over to www.honda.co.uk to check out the firm’s current custom bike range in the UK, it’s made up of a grand total of two bikes. Both variations of the aged Shadow 750, complete with styling that’s firmly in the old Japanese mould – like someone explained to the designers what a Harley-Davidson looked like, but refused to actually show them a picture.
Admittedly, Honda did offer the Fury over here; it was on sale between 2010 and 2012, and nobody really noticed either when it was introduced or when it disappeared from the UK range. Presumably sales weren’t great – it certainly never made a dent on the charts – but it wasn’t exactly pushed hard on the publicity side, and made its debut in the most dismal period of new bikes sales that the country has seen in decades. It also cost more than £12k new and never looked quite as happy on the mean streets of Leamington Spa as it did in Las Vegas.
But that’s largely true of all US-style cruisers in the UK. Harley’s aren’t really at home here, but attract plenty of buyers wanting to live the dream. For years it was understandable; Japanese cruisers generally looked terrible as well as missing out on the ‘genuine’ cachet of H-D. But now, decades after we all accepted that Japan made some of the best bikes in the world and with their factories turning out machines that look as good as some of the more recent Honda customs, why can’t they crack that part of the market?
Over to you. Would Honda – and the rest of Japan’s bike firms – be flogging a dead horse to push some of their more interesting cruisers in the UK market, particularly as riders increasingly migrate away from the old default choice of a sports bike and look for something a little different?
