Quote:
Originally Posted by JP4
I agree. I don't get why Yamaha hasn't bothered to make a version of the YZ250 into a competition off-road bike - bigger tank, six speed tranny, 18" rear wheel, off-road valved suspension, and maybe even a stator and lights? It seems a no-brainer. Not like it would eat into the WR450 sales, as I don't see any of those in woods or at the races.
I've never understood why the Japanese manufacturers have completely given up on the competition off-road bike segment. KTM has filled the vacuum, and it's opened the door for the smaller European brands. Is the market so small that the Japanese manufacturers just can't be bothered?
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A yama rep explained it to me a few years back and it has to do more with EPA and the max allowable emissions that can imported. Say if the max was 10,000 and each bike imported represents 500 of that 10,000. Once they hit that max they cannot bring any more over. If they sell more 4 strokes then you can see the slow demise of 2 strokes the EPA caused. That is also considering all the street bikes the Asian market produces and imports to. So you can see why KTM can bring over so many off-road bikes, cause there street market is so little compared against the Asian street bike market. Wether that is true or he was talking out his butt? It seemed to make sense to me.