Talkback: Why Chinese motorcycles pose no 'threat'

why is the arrow on the firs picture coming from the direction of India?

I think China will have a massive effect on the established brands if they can keep their prices low. History does show that after initial quality issues and press bashings the products move to another level. Even if power and performance lag behind the best of the Japs and Europeans there will be riders wanting a decent, low cost no frills bike for everyday use, look at scooter sales recently. However, the added competition could also be beneficial to those that still want to buy Jap/European only. Yes a threat to other manufacturers but maybe not to the consumer in the medium term.

The one thing we learn from history, is that it has a tendancy to repeat itself. China does not play by the same economic rules as Japan did. Remember when we all laughed at the first Japanese imports. The motivation maybe different but simply because it is the 2nd biggest economy behind America is enough of an econmic motivation (economies of scale, market size, varied demographic levels to supply) to be a serious cause for concern already. Unlike America and other European manufacturers they are not bound by any motorcycle or manufacturing tradition, like America who are simply unable to make sports bikes for example. So China with ease will make precisely whatever is required (usually copies currently) to satisfy their fast growing domestic demand at low prices. If domestic prices are low then exports occur. And with Chinese courts not really interested in patent law (BMW X5 copy) the the road to parity of development is quicker.

I would not buy a Chinese bike, cheap low quality shit like everything else that comes out of China.

A young lad I know, (just 19), bought a brand new chinese 125 chopper style bike 2 months ago. It's already spent 1 month in the workshop and had a new exhaust and engine parts under warranty. The chrome on the nuts and bolts and mudguards is rusting, and the paint isn't good. He regrets buying it and wishes he got a Honda etc instead.....Threat from China? Not from rubbish like this....The word soon spreads!

If you think China doesn't pose a threat then I would suggest you look at what they have done, motorbikewise, in Africa. They used to be dominated by Yamaha and Honda but now are awash with cheap Chinese imports (and I do mean awash!) - There are hundreds of thousands of them - all with brand names like errr KTM (I kid you not). They have the size and strength of economy that means they can flood a country with ridiculously cheap bikes (like 300 Euros) and simply wipe the competition off the face of the planet

The Japanese satisfied the home need for cheap postwar transport and honed their bike design and building skills doing that. It was not until the late 50s that they began to seriously look at foreign markets and not until the early 60s that they begun to export in serious numbers.
Even then we took no notice.
Edward Turner of Triumph went so far as to say that the Japanese imports were good for the UK industry. He believed that the Japanese were incapable of building big bikes but that their small bikes would attract new people into the market and those people would then turn to British machines when they wanted something bigger.
Then they brought out the CB450...
If China want the bike market, they'll have it and they'll up the quality if needs be. A lot of the reason their stuff is poor quality is due to the fact that their Western customers try to get the price down as low as they can. The Chinese response to the chiselling purchasers is simply to give them the crap their greed deserves.
They are perfectly capable of making good stuff - Apple Computers, Tablets and iPhones, for example.
I think this article is a touch naive.

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Ah, Mr Stealth, I didn't see you there until you were gone.

At the moment the Chinese market is purely the Pound-Shop. Cost is everything. So they sell scooters to teenagers and bikes in Nigeria.
Once they up their game as to quality (the Japs came with small bikes that performed like big ones), they'll be taken seriously.

We are going through a global re-distribution of wealth, meaning that an increasing number of "Westerners" will only afford a Chinese bike. This will soon fund the Chinese S1000R - no doubt if you ask me !

BTW, I assume that similar articles were written when Honda entered the TT races for the first time half a century ago.

when the Chinese sell enough scooters... they will take the money and buy the mainstream brands.
Then we will have no choice.

From what I can see here in the Philippines, they are already upping their game. Some of the new models bear no resemblance to what was produced a few years ago.
Quality of manufacture and design have both improved a lot, although still admittedly below that of the best Japanese bikes.
I hear the cries of 'junk' that seems synonymous with Chinabikes, but that is as much due to the importers asking for the cheapest possible prices.
I have ridden some chinabikes from a few years back in SE Asia that really were junk, but we have also owned more recent models, that seem about as good as a lot of the Japanese (actually Philippines / SE Asia / China sourced parts and sometimes complete motorcycles) bikes and much cheaper.

From a world wide perspective, it is likely the Euro bikes (and increasingly the Jap bikes)are already largely irrelevant, as they represent a small and shrinking slice at the top of the overall bike market.
The overall majority of bikes sold worldwide are at the smaller / cheaper end of the spectrum, and here the Chinese are selling ever more (and increasingly better) machines, whether that is Asia, Africa or South America.