Mornin’ bloggers !! Looks like another scorcher in the Valley – in fact over +30 all week, so we will try to keep cool.
Answer to the last quiz – A young Jordi Tarres when he had lots of hair!! Brett, Roger and Pete Varey got it.- plus Peter from Oz and John from the UK.
Quiz today – I’m sure most will know the guys on the podium – but who is the guy on the left with grey hair?
===========================================
We have had quite a run on Wulf gear lately especially the boots, but we do still have a good selection, with more on the way. – all at really good prices.
============================================
As anybody who has visited our shop in Vernon, will tell you, I always enjoy telling stories and sharing memories from the years that I’ve been involved with motorcycles and the industry. No doubt I bore a lot of folk! with my ramblings!!
With the sale of Trials bikes at perhaps an all time low – I told the Quebec guys, about the conversation I had with the Japanese sales Manager at Yamaha Motor Canada back in the Fall of 1973. –
Mike Shibuya wanted to know how many of the new TY 250 we could sell in 1974!! – The answer I gave him was 300 for Canada – just a guess based on the number of dealers we had etc – but what I explained to Mike was that Trials Competitions in North America were quite small and really more Trials bikes – Bultaco’s, Ossa etc were used as Trail bikes, because they were easy to ride for the family including wives and girlfriends – they had a low seat height and a torquey engine which made them ideal for trail riding. – based on that info Mike made sure Yamaha Canada brought in 300 TY 250’s, and we sold them all. – of course the fact that riders like Mick Andrews had been signed plus other Europeans to promote this “New” sport really helped.
Fast forward to the Fall of 1974 – Mike came to me again with the same question for the 1975 year,- so knowing I had to up the number a bit, I said maybe 4-500. -Mike shook his head and when I asked if this was too low – he said no problem with your forecast Dave San – but I asked the US guy the same question, and he said “We don’t want any” – We still have 1,000 in the warehouse.
Of course the reason for this total mis-read of the market, was based on the US guys telling the Japs that Trials was going to be huge- just like Moto X. – We ended up selling a lot of those US bikes.
Obviously the recent events regarding KTM/GasGas – could be linked to the same problem – boardroom executives, listening to the wrong people, making the wrong decisions, and screwing up the market.
Just one of the stories from the past.
============================================