VOLUME 58 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 P129
mounted radiators. And eight of
the available bikes have electric
starting.
So, where are the differenc-
es? The Japanese brands future
aluminum frames and spring
type forks. Kawasaki has pretty
much the traditional lay out of
components. Honda is trying to
package all the parts in a better
way. Yamaha, of course, has
the reversed cylinder head, and
Suzuki is not throwing a lot of
R&D at their MX bikes currently.
If they are, they are being quiet
about it.
The Austrians are steel frames
and air forks. KTM is the stan-
dard bearer at any given model
cycle, while Husqvarna is mar-
keted as an upscale model with
more standard equipment, and
GasGas is the base model with
all the basic items at an attractive
price point.
The other two, Beta and TM,
come in with Beta offering a
steel frame with spring forks,
and TM offering a European
brand with an aluminum frame.
Where does all this leave
Triumph? Does the MX market
need, or can it support a 10th
brand? And what path does Tri-
umph choose? Aluminum frame,
steel frame, air forks, spring
forks? If Triumph stays with state
of the art, it must build a bike
better than the top choices right
now to get customers to move
to them, and if they can do that,
the Japanese and the Austrians
will certainly fight back to any
inroads Triumph may make.
There is, however, a third
path, one that is littered with
famous names that designed
completely new MX motor-
cycles. However, history does
not support this path to success.
Since you can add parts to an
MX bike or delete parts from an
enduro bike to make MX and
enduro motorcycles, I will mix
these names together.
From the early days you
have the Yankee 500 twin, the
Rokon 340MX, Harley MX 250,
Cooper/Islo, and I feel you can
throw in the Husqvarna automat-
ics. In more recent times There
have been VOR, Alta, Cannon-
dale, ATK and, although it never
broke cover, the Buell Phoenix
fits my point here. Many of these
names came to market and had
racing success, also most of
these names were in business
for more than a few years, but
in the end the rapid pace of
off-road/MX motorcycle devel-
opment requires a huge com-
mitment in time, manpower and
money.
As a person who has been
riding dirt bikes since before the
Elsinore and been in the motor-
cycle industry for 45 years, I am
excited to see this all play out. It
should be quite entertaining.
CN
Ray Conway began riding off
road motorcycles at the age of 10
in the Southern California desert.
He then started working at local
motorcycle dealerships from
1976-1986. In 1986, he went to
work for American Honda for the
next 28 years, retiring in 2015.
Conway continues his work in
the motorcycle industry doing
special projects and consulting
with many of today's industry
leading companies. -Editor
Will Triumph's first
dirt bike be as radical
as the Cannondale
was in its day?
