Changing brands, and why?

[moto al]

Out of interest , and a friendly debate, why have you supported a brand for years and then jumped ship. ?????. For myself I always bought BMW,S ,for 25 years + Now I ride a Honda. Al. Now please over to you chaps Al (thumbs)

You've asked for peoples views on why they jumped ship so to speak, but you didn't give your reasons. (thumbs)

I had a brand loyalty to Repsol graphics until that little knob Marquez ruined last years championship. :laugh: :laugh:

hiya , the answer to your question ,having ridden bm,s for years, I always thought they were over priced ,equally the workmanship was prima, then they changed to brand image ,as Harley . BMW is a way of life tosh.the quality dropped as reliability ,and to quote klaus pepperl of the famous HPN . BMW would be better manufacturing White goods. So then I tried a Honda transalp , great quality and it never let me down in the 6 years of ownership , now Iv owed another Honda NC 700x , maybe not the most exciting bike on the planet . It's suits me. Horses for courses. After all it would be a very strange world if we all liked the same things (thumbs) (thumbs) Al

[chrisjk]

I care nothing for brands per se, I'll ride/buy whatever ticks the right boxes and suits me at the time.

Having said that, It's clear that manufacturers do go through phases when their product quality or value for money is better/worse than the competition and inevitably any bike from a brand in a downturn gets looked at a bit harder.

It irritates me when a bike that I like and does tick the boxes comes from an iffy manufacturer or one with crap dealers - then I feel torn. To buy or not to buy, that is the question…

[Richard Simpson]

Well...my initial (perhaps misplaced) loyalty was to the old BSA-Triumph company.

Had a Triumph Cub T20S and a BSA B25SS. Both unreliable.

Then a Honda CB200...brilliant engine and a comedy front brake and horrible chassis.

Working for one of the UK's leading Italian motorcycle dealers the next choice was a Morini 3 1/2 Strada...which lasted me through college and eventually got replaced by a 500 Morini which was less reliable than the 3 1/2.

I went to work for a Honda dealer and found the guy who had designed the CB200 front brake had been put in charge of engine development...camchain V4s...and he'd recruited his little brother to produce the enclosed disc brake!

Then I worked at Classic Bike, and rode loads of different bikes ancient and modern.

Then I got a DR350S, which was very reliable and an Aprilia Pegaso 650 which was also very reliable...these two bikes were probably my 'best evers'.

Stupidly sold the DR and got a Husky TE610E...about as unreliable as the British bikes I'd owned, but it was brand new! What rubbish.

Got a GasGas 250 Pampera, and changed the Aprilia for a KTM 950 which is a great bike but needs a lot of attention to keep it so, and got a CCM 404DS too, which is excellent except for the air filter design and the lack of a sixth gear.

So not much brand loyalty once I'd got over the British bike thing. I tend to look for a bike to fit a specific role and don't worry too much about who made it...but I wouldn't buy another product from the ex-Cagiva factory that built the Husky (my wife had a Cagiva 600 that was rubbish as well).

[AndyB]

I bought a year old CX500 with under 1,000 miles on it in 1979 because it intrigued me and actually went better than it looked but when the cam chain tensioner disintegrated within another 1,000 miles it started to sap my will to live

Even though they were good when sorted the very early ones caused a lot of heart ache for owners. After that Honda went to pot with the V4 engines until they used gear driven cams and those fully enclosed discs mentioned by Richard were nothing short of a joke. I gave them another chance when I bought an FT500 but that was such a horrible bike that I've never had another Honda.

[moto al]

I bought a year old CX500 with under 1,000 miles on it in 1979 because it intrigued me and actually went better than it looked but when the cam chain tensioner disintegrated within another 1,000 miles it started to sap my will to live

Even though they were good when sorted the very early ones caused a lot of heart ache for owners. After that Honda went to pot with the V4 engines until they used gear driven cams and those fully enclosed discs mentioned by Richard were nothing short of a joke. I gave them another chance when I bought an FT500 but that was such a horrible bike that I've never had another Honda.

hi about the same time I looked at the cx500 ,nickname the flying pig . I opted for a yam XS650 twin .ok a jap Bonnie . A great bike apart from it ate chains , and vibrated like hell. I still travelled to the isle of creatia with Janis my girl friend , now my wife.ps I still don't know how she puts up with me ,till this present day? Al : :whistle:

[-Ralph-]

I do have a bit of brand loyalty to Triumph, but its not just that. I love triple engines, my Triumphs have always been very reliable, and I'm buying British, and I'm not buying one of the hordes of Japanese bikes in every bike meet car park. There's also something about riding a Triumph that other bikes just don't achieve, and it's probably the engine again which makes the package unique to Triumph.

My real brand loyalty would be to Norton, purely because again they are an iconic British brand and I grew up around them, but as much as I'd love one they are a lot of money for what would just be a toy.

The reason I've had two XT's is nothing to do with Yamaha, albeit they are very reliable well built bikes, it's because Yamaha made something that ticked all my boxes at a time when nobody else did as the middleweight dual sport trail bike market died in the late nineties.

I have brand hatred when it comes to cars, for BMW, most unreliable poorly engineered heaps of junk with the worst dealer service ever.

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[Ainzy]

Just sold a BMW R1100GS and its Replacement is a Sporty little Suzuki. Why? Felt like a complete change. Watch this space. Still shaking off the feeling of being a BMW person.

My brand loyalty goes to MZ, I've had a few and my current little 251 is a keeper. Had it 3 years, love the bike, the brand and its quirky history.

Strongly recommend a visit to the DDR Bike museum in Berlin!

[Nigel]

I bought a year old CX500 with under 1,000 miles on it in 1979 because it intrigued me and actually went better than it looked but when the cam chain tensioner disintegrated within another 1,000 miles it started to sap my will to live

Even though they were good when sorted the very early ones caused a lot of heart ache for owners. After that Honda went to pot with the V4 engines until they used gear driven cams and those fully enclosed discs mentioned by Richard were nothing short of a joke. I gave them another chance when I bought an FT500 but that was such a horrible bike that I've never had another Honda.

Knock Knock, who`s there?, CX500 :laugh: can`t believe they are customising them now :whistle:

[sprintster]

I'm the same as Ralph.It's not so much brand loyalty but engine configuration loyalty.My last three bikes have been Triumph triples.I didn't buy my first Triumph because it was British just because I'd read how good the triple engine was for real world riding and I haven't been disappointed.
I'll probably stay with Triumph now though as I've found them to be very reliable (955 on...I wouldn't have another 900!) and I think the build quality is good.

[Tinytots]

Just sold a BMW R1100GS and its Replacement is a Sporty little Suzuki. Why? Felt like a complete change. Watch this space. Still shaking off the feeling of being a BMW person.

My brand loyalty goes to MZ, I've had a few and my current little 251 is a keeper. Had it 3 years, love the bike, the brand and its quirky history.

Strongly recommend a visit to the DDR Bike museum in Berlin!

I bought an MZ ETZ 251 today, just got it home an hour ago (thumbs)