Not impressed. Seeing a weeney ride like that with a GasGas badge troubles me. I get it that a manufacturer has to sell more bikes to survive, but when when you alienate your base, that's not good.

GG can grow by sticking to it's core business of producing top-notch 2-t off-road bikes for the European and North American markets. KTM has laid the ground work and GG is set to pick-off market share. The Japanese have abondoned the segment, so there is room to grow for GG.

If GG needs to sell Chinese hybrids in South America to survive, we're in trouble? I guess it works for Honda - but there is a reason I don't own one. Is this what the global economy requires GG to do to pay the bills?

What is GG Spain thinking? Right on the cusp of a big breakout in North America ...

Just my thoughts, and I'm sure there is stuff I don't know.

Jason

I agree with you mate! Its shameful to push out something like this. Like there isn't enough chinga jokes about the brand already without going and making one. If it turns out to be unrealiable it could do significant damage to the brands reputation.

I don't see this as selling the brand and if they needed to make the sales for financial reasons then I think rebadging would be the way to go.

The new 650 Husqvarna engine is assembled in China

That's debatable. Gas Gas has to increase its revenue some how.
Selling a top notch bike alone won't do it.
The average age of a Gas Gas owner (my observation) is 40 years old. A 40 year old person does not buy a new bike every year. This hurts GasGas' revenue.

My .02 for what it's worth.....I have been able to travel to many different countries, Japan, Okinawa, Thialand, Hong Kong, Sinapore, Australia, Philippines, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordon, UAE, Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea, Bahrain, Mexico, and some I forgot...never the less, most of the of those countries people ride motor bikes to get around. Now, I've never ventured down to South America but from what I have read, motorbikes a form of transportation that get people around. They don't use them for racing or trail riding, it's the family car, and from what I've seen in my vast travels motorbikes are all over the place. The streets are narrow, traffic is a mess, try driving a car in Singapore! Been there...done that and it...you don't get far very fast.

The big four have bikes all over this world.They are made for the NON-USA markets, were just a drop in the bucket in our own little world.

http://www.yamaha-motor.eu/eu/produc...cc/wr125r.aspx

If GasGas wants to sell a bikes for other markets that is primary mode of transportation....then do it! If it brings in a few bucks to more power to them!

Thanks

We shall see what we shall see, but don't knock China for trying. All of your Honda, Yamaha, and some other small engines for small bikes and generators have been made in China for at least 10 years. If you have a Honda generator, the motor was not made in Japan. It was made in China, Indonesia, Taiwan, or somewhere, under patent and quality control by Japanese engineers.

Someone said CRF 230 replacement? The CRF 230 motor is made in China although Honda hates to advertise it. They are some pretty good motors from what I hear.

If this bike is really just a better engineered CRF/TTR replacement, it might be ok.

As for the carb, the one thing I've never seen China make well are carbs. They try to copy the Japs but they are never any good. I think the CRF carb is still made in Japan, the motor in China.

The first thing I noticed was the conventional forks. For a play bike, I prefer conventional forks. The seals almost never blow! For a kids/wifes bike, simple and a bit old school is good because I barely find time to work on my own race bikes.

Scotty R, Taurus and Rossi have been having guns produced under their patents and quality control in Brazil for many years. I think one of those might even be Brazil based? Not sure. But Taurus was the first company to make a 7, then an 8 shot large revolver on .357, and you won't find a better one. They were also one of the first to use Titanium in a revolver and make it strong enough to shoot + P rounds without warping the frame.

What galls me is that we can't make a good race bike in the US! Harley started development of an Adventure bike several yrs ago and qave up for some reason. I want to see an American made off road race bike that is competitive.

When we first visited GG in Spain, we were told that if we had a special model that would work in the US and we could do enough volume then GG would look at building it for us. They built the Randonne at the request of a distributor (one of the Oriental ones, if I remember correctly). This bike is being built at the request of a SA distributor. The distributor had in mind a certain price point that dictated the use of an engine built in China. Do you think they could produce a brand new 4T motor for a price leader and keep it as a price leader? Every motorcycle company out there is struggling and if this motorcycle helps make GG more profitable, then more power to them. In the current economy, you guys have unrealistic expectations of staying pure to the off road concept. Pretty much at this point we're holding our own on profits. If I could sell scooters to make some extra cash to keep our company profitable, I'd do it. That doesn't mean we would abandon the off road customer...it just means we were looking for another product to make some money. I'd still be at National Enduros and raising hell with GG for more improvements. The same goes for Gas Gas. Building this bike for transportation in SA isn't going to hurt their core business. It may give them cash flow to make to help improve their core. It's easy to sit on your couch with the computer and bitch about a bike like this but it is totally different to try to run a dealership, distributorship or to manufacture motorcycles in this economy. The freakin' economy in Spain is so bad that the Spainish citizens are rioting! Lighten up and cut the company some slack, ok?

I agree with Clay. I don't see this hurting Gas Gas, to me it seems like a pretty smart move. This just expands their customer base. Honda and Yamaha make bikes like this and it doesn't seem to hurt their motocross bikes or turn away the people that ride them. My wife rides a CRF 230 and loves it, she doesn't like the arm ripping snap of a race bike, if Gas Gas ever brought a bike like this to North America I would definetely look at geting one for her and I would still be riding a GG 300. Just my .02

I can see Clay's point and look on the bright side. More revenue from entry level bikes might be used for more research and development on the race bikes....

Wonder how long before the Orange race bikes are made in India?