I was asked a question by a sales manager of the Yamaha motor corp. yesterday...

[fredz43]

Explains why they have been in business for 30 years!

Yeah, that is surely one of the reason, besides good customer service. BTW, I just realized that they have been in business over 40 years. In my case the first bike I bought from them was a new 1973 Yamaha TX500 twin.

 

[Dallara]

Yeah, that is surely one of the reason, besides good customer service. BTW, I just realized that they have been in business over 40 years. In my case the first bike I bought from them was a new 1973 Yamaha TX500 twin.

Ouch!!!

A TX500 twin??? Not as bad for problems as the poor TX750 twin, but still a problem child for Yamaha!!! How many oil leaks, head cracks, and other issues did yours have, Fred?

Dallara



~

 

[Rasher]

I think one problem with demo's is that Jap dealers in the UK have never really needed to, young men bought the latest 600 supersport, and older men bought the latest 1000cc superbike.

The off-road image sells a dream more than anything and adds some pose factor for those who may never see as much as a gravel track, but buy into the image - just like those who buy an R1 and never see 3 figure speeds or get their knee down buy into the race image.

As mentioned we have little off-road opportunities in the UK, but some minor back roads and lanes would be quite horrible on bikes like the FJR, these roads are often the ones with the least traffic and the nicest views, I also like a bike I can stand up on now and again, either to stretch my legs, or get a better view of the surroundings (or even see further over a hill crest - very useful on single track lanes)

The attraction for me was a bike that can do anything, and does most things very well, I think many people would love one of these bikes but just don't know it, I certainly wished I had ditched sportsbikes years earlier and bought something like this - although up until 2010 the only thing out there was the GS, now everyone has a variant on the theme and I think all manufacturers could promote these bikes as I think it could bring more people in to biking, and stop some from leaving (those who are bored of risking life and licence for two hours every Sunday)

Certainly promoting this particular bike as one that will do everything week in, week out - and keep going is the right way.

 

[Tremor38]

How about some bad boy Yamaha promotional videos of some really good riders really gassing it on gravel and twisty paved back roads. Maybe even so gnarley stuff too. You know, letting the back end hang loose, sliding sideways with a little wheelie thrown in with lots of dust, maybe even blowing by a GS. Then switch to another scene of the same bike all loaded up 2 up travelling briskly with the Rocky Mountains in the background. Not the usual casual street ride usually assoiated with the launch of a new bike, like the new VStrom 1000. Boring. Most of us would never and could never ride this well but just the thought of owning a motorcycle that could do that. Sort of like a Beamer riding around the world visualization.

Ditto. And maybe throw in scene of it towing a GS near the end of the video. Reliability as the symbolic cherry on top.

Sent from my SC-03E using Tapatalk

 

[tkad]

mount a smaller (or larger) video player on the bike on the showroom floor with a continuous loop of the craziest of crazy hooligan riders (on a Tenere of course) combined with footage of the rest of the attributes of these amazing bikes. footage of 2-up touring, lazy back road trolling, maybe a little roosting on a tighter road/trail. get one of our brothers that has maxed out the load...full luggage, tents and 10 other bags strapped on. sell the Lexus reliability..."this is the only friend you need" kinda thing. throw in a little Nick Sanders.

there are some great ideas here. on one hand, I do like that there are not so many Tenere's on the road, I sometimes like to think that I know something non Tenere owners don't, but Yamaha deserves greater sales for giving us this amazing machine. keep flinging the ideas at the wall, something should stick.

 

[trikepilot]

If Yamaha is so concerned with the market positioning of the SuperTen, why is there not an overt presence from Yamaha USA or Japan on this board?

Sure they can lurk, but why do they not have a regular presence here with active participation? This should be free R&D for them.

If someone from marketing and design at Yamaha had spent half as much time here as I have they, they would know exactly what the SuperTen needs and who to contact for direct feedback/advice.

Times are a changing and walking into one dealer to ask a handful or less of riders what to do seems like poor recognition and utilization of the power of the interweb.

 

[20valves]

...I just realized that they have been in business over 40 years...

My 2006 R1 is a 50th anniversary bike!

In my case the first bike I bought from them was a new 1973 Yamaha TX500 twin.

Mine was the '77 version of that bike. I loved it and rode it everywhere. It was black with gold pin striping, smokey & the bandit trans-am motif!

Maybe Yam should go with a "What is it?" campaign for the ST. Is that what they think the problem is, that people don't know what its capabilities are? After asking what is it, they could answer with, it's everything you want to do on a motorcycle: coast to coast tourer, sport bike, commuter, off road. etc. Emphasize reliability and dealer network, 2 things that trump the other adv bikes.

AND, leave enough margin in it for dealers to make money on it.

 

[fredz43]

Ouch!!!

A TX500 twin??? Not as bad for problems as the poor TX750 twin, but still a problem child for Yamaha!!! How many oil leaks, head cracks, and other issues did yours have, Fred?

Dallara

~

Hi Dallara,

I didn't have a single problem with that bike, except for the fact that after I rode my buddy's new 1978 Bonneville 750, the TX500 became very boring. Sold it and bought a 76 Bonnie. "Triumph motorcycles, they turn a man into a mechanic". ;D

Another buddy bought a TX750 when I bought the TX500 and as you say, he had lots of problems.

 

[fredz43]

If Yamaha is so concerned with the market positioning of the SuperTen, why is there not an overt presence from Yamaha USA or Japan on this board?

Sure they can lurk, but why do they not have a regular presence here with active participation? This should be free R&D for them.

I didn't think that manufacturers participated in forums until I joined a Cadillac Owners Forum. My wife recently bought a CTS AWD and I was searching the net for an answer to a question and found that forum and posted my question. To my surprise, they have several members from Cadillac Customer Service that participate and in my case, one of them replied to my post and suggested that I PM him about it. He did some research and within a day, he came back with the answer to my question. It sure would be nice to see Yamaha USA do that. OTOH, it seems that a lot of the changes to the 2014 ST were related to suggestions posted on this forum over the last few years, so perhaps they are paying attention, but don't want to get directly involved.

 

[GrahamD]

If Yamaha is so concerned with the market positioning of the SuperTen, why is there not an overt presence from Yamaha USA or Japan on this board?

I think they read things or they have other forms of feedback, I have filled out a feedback form.

I don't know whether it is importers reading and getting back to Japan or Japan direct, but they did a fair bit that's not immediately obvious with this new revision that was on a few wish lists.

Only thing they missed was 100kg weight reduction and 200HP. Maybe they thought they wouldn't sell enough at $160,000.00

 

[Dallara]

Hi Dallara,

I didn't have a single problem with that bike, except for the fact that after I rode my buddy's new 1978 Bonneville 750, the TX500 became very boring. Sold it and bought a 76 Bonnie. "Triumph motorcycles, they turn a man into a mechanic". ;D

Another buddy bought a TX750 when I bought the TX500 and as you say, he had lots of problems.

Cool! I'm glad, as you were one of the lucky ones.

I was wrenching my way through college working at a Yamaha shop in the late '70's, as I didn't go back to school until I was in my 20's. I worked on lots of TX500's as they had been more popular sellers in and around a college town than the TX750's. Both bikes had lots of... shall we say... "issues". ::025::

The multi-piece head on the 500 was an *interesting* engineering solution that I'm glad they didn't repeat!!! ::010::

Things like pulling the alternator to adjust the balancer chain that was supposed to be done every 6,000 miles or so was another gem of design, as I recall. All in all, in my recollection those bikes were a b*tch to work on, and I'm glad I don't ever have to see another one of those or it's big brother 750! ::025::

As for your Triumph/mechanic comment... You're exactly right!!! My first job working in a motorcycle shop was wrenching on Brit bikes. I still have some British Standard/Whitworth tools from that experience! ???

Dallara



~

 

[Scoobynut]

A few advertising ideas:

Place ads in motorcycle magazines showing a price/feature comparo between the '14 S-10 and the WC GS1200. Show how much you need to spend to equip a GS equal to an S-10. Why be shy about who you're going after with this bike and who has the best value?

Then hit the BMW between the eyes and below the belt. Tout the stout double sided swingarm of the Tenere versus the SSS on the BMW, among other things. Cite the Consumer reports survey showing Yamaha as most reliable brand and BMW 2nd least reliable. Why not advertise this and why not crow about it? We all know how reliable the bike is from personal experience, but spread the world outside our crowd of true-believers.

Advertise the bike in Cruiser publications too. Sounds crazy, I know, but hear me out. Create a different ad showing a pack of cruisers flying by as a lone S-10 heads down a tempting gravel road. Headline the ad "Take the Road Untravelled." This type of lone wolf nonsense appeals to all the lone wolves running in, uh, packs on their cruisers. These guys have disposable income. Some of them are open minded. Many started out on dirt bikes. Take their mind drifting back to those days. Some of them might be intrigued by the thought of a bike that thrives off the pavement too. Alternately, you could title the ad "Leave the Pack Behind." Or something along those lines. Also showcase the bike's transcontinental touring abilities as that too will be of interest to cruiser types. Take the time to educate the uninformed about what this whole ADV bike thing is, but also use it as an opportunity to establish that it actually exists and is here to stay. I think this type of ad might also be effective in the 4WD/Truck publications too as many of those guys also ride. You need to get out of your comfort zone Yamaha!

Feel free to steal any of the above ideas, Yamaha. I don't mind a bit.

 

[snakebitten]

Cool Scooby.

This thread is revealing how savvy some of you Tenere fellas are.

 

[surfinpig]

Flames, explosions, bikini models with tattoos. A 2 tenere bike chase through every environment using go pro and helicopters. Oh start it out with cgi Peter/ chicken from family guy pulling up to a red light together and catching eyes.

 

[Scoobynut]

Surfin' I like the way you're thinkin.' As a variation on your TV commercial, get a highly modified S-10 into the next 007/Bond film. I think Jaxon's bike would do the trick. I'm sure the steely Mr. Bond could take out a helicopter with an S-10. In mid-air. Hell, why not?

 

[SpaceTraveler]

well the problem might be at the dealer level, the place I have my ES coming from still has a 2013 there too, but it's just thrown in the lineup with all the other sportbikes. I think if it was setting by its self with a set of cases with a big ADV style poster behind it , it would sell it's self. so in other words it needs a display to promote the ADV lifestyle.

mabey even throw in a free tent even a cheapie from wallyworld

This is in my opinion a very cheap way of doing a great impact. I have suggested this idea to my dealer. Brings some rocks, a bit of dirt in the showroom, and put your S10 on it with great posters around and I am pretty sure this could work a lot.

 

[snakebitten]

I've suggested to every dealer with slow moving Teneres to invest in some gnarly looking tires.
All by itself those tires give off a completely different vibe to the casual viewer. And it answers questions that they might otherwise have never even asked.

 

[GrahamD]

Advertise the bike in Cruiser publications too. Sounds crazy, I know, but hear me out. Create a different ad showing a pack of cruisers flying by as a lone S-10 heads down a tempting gravel road. Headline the ad "Take the Road Untravelled." This type of lone wolf nonsense appeals to all the lone wolves running in, uh, packs on their cruisers. These guys have disposable income. Some of them are open minded. Many started out on dirt bikes. Take their mind drifting back to those days. Some of them might be intrigued by the thought of a bike that thrives off the pavement too. Alternately, you could title the ad "Leave the Pack Behind." Or something along those lines. Also showcase the bike's transcontinental touring abilities as that too will be of interest to cruiser types. Take the time to educate the uninformed about what this whole ADV bike thing is, but also use it as an opportunity to establish that it actually exists and is here to stay. I think this type of ad might also be effective in the 4WD/Truck publications too as many of those guys also ride. You need to get out of your comfort zone Yamaha!

Feel free to steal any of the above ideas, Yamaha. I don't mind a bit.

Excellent, Can I continue this theme..

Arriving back at "Some cross promoted, chip in for the adds" coffee shop, the lone Super Tenere pulls in surrounded by shiny chrome and gleaming ADV styles bikes and some hipsters all in their respective "groups". A few non riders start to gather around and admire the scratches and dirt on the bike. The guy doesn't act like some smug doofus (I'm looking at you smug hipster types) but it sparks a conversation of "the places I've been" which ties into the original "take your soul everywhere" add. (He's got a few scars himself too) He looks a bit dirty but he looks like a normal guy not a model trying to look like a normal guy. (in his thirties, not fifties please YAMAHA).

Jeez us armchair advertising guru's are good aren't we.

What A TEAM!! Hi FIve ::012:: Wooot.. ::018::

 

[Scoobynut]

Great ideas toadady and Spaceman. Exactly -- show how the bike is different and what it can do.

Also a great idea GrahamD. I will allow Yamaha to speak to my agent, but I'm afraid I'm just too smug to be in any commercials. I am, however, well-stocked in scars.

 

[GrahamD]

.... but I'm afraid I'm just too smug to be in any commercials.

Yeah same here, I am also wearing a flannelette shirt right now, so that disqualifys me right away.

Anyway my people will be talking to to your people soon darls.