Just how wrong did yamaha get the launch of the S10?

[Bmwdumptruck]

Ok, we all love our S10s, and I know a fair few of you have commented on your love of all things Yamaha.
But I recall being invited to the launch night for the S10 back at the end of 09 or early 2010. Iirc they launched it the same time as the new cross plane crank R1. Now I will say I really liked the look of the S10 back then, but OMG….How much?
Well time has passed and after all these years I’ve finally bought one last summer for a much more realistic price of £10500. 11 years on it was finally about the right price….IMHO….for whatever thats worth
I had kind of forgotten how much they’d first sold for. If asked I‘d have said around £12k, but no, seems I’m out by quite a bit. Brand new, first edition models were over £13500, and thats in 2010……

This is Bike magazines very first test and comparison of the S10 v GS and Multistrada. (I happened upon an old copy the other night)
I’m guessing the GS would have been the last single cam models, which will be exactly what Yamaha would have been looking to match/emulate/copy etc.
I also seem to recall that those first bikes were very limited, just 2 or 3 per dealer for the year.

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

Another surprise was how the price compared to some other models.

£1000 dearer than the range topping R1. Oddly the S10 comments don’t mention the price difference, yet they call the R1 ‘pricey’.
In one of the articles the writer sums up that the ride experience is so similar to the TDM that he finds it hard to see why anyone would spend the extra £5600 for the S10!!

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

I had a wee search through some other back issues and found one for later in the year when they’d been able to properly test one against the GS and Multistrada. By this date BMW had launched the updated twin cam GS.

So by now the GS price is comparable. But thatincludes just about every accessory BMW offered. And I do wonder if Yamaha had just launched the S10 as a standard model in 3 or 4 colours, including a pair of recognisable Yamaha colour schemes, Red/White, Blue/White and maybe even the Yellow option that I don’t think was ever available here, for around the £10000 price of the then GS, BMW would have had to keep their prices more realistic.
And in truth they’d have sold as many as they could physically make in the first year or two and seriously dented GS sales.

 

[MileageMonster]

quality costs a few bucks.

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

Two years on and I found an article in Motorcycle Sport and Leisure magazine. By now Yamaha have eventually released the standard model in base spec, for a still inflated price of £12000

So again I wonder, because by now BMW have released the Twin cam and have inflated the price of theres because they can by comparison to the S10 and Multistrada too, Yamaha believe the S10 is good value at £12000. But again, if they’d kept the price more realistic how many more would have sold. By now the few that had bought early ones knew how good they really are, and how reliable, but there’s not enough to make enough noise to be heard. So yet again Yamaha miss out by virtue of their own mistakes…….

 

[MileageMonster]

@Bmwdumptruck Could you please scan this article so we can read it? I would be more than pleased… TIA…

 

[scott123007]

I never knew a 1200 GS came with a 17" front wheel, in any configuration.

 

[DamMechanic]

When you compare pricing I think of all the other comparable models from other manufacturers and only the S10 has an engine designed just for one specific bike. Hard to spread the R&D costs to other models.

I look at the S10 and if it would have came out like the 2014 model is equipped, most mags probably would have called it total score.
I still would not trade for a BMW of equal year.

 

[MIKE R]

The original S10s in the UK were over priced and badly marketed

Originally the 'First Edition' which came with extras was £13k and was internet sales only in the UK. Yamaha seriously expected punters to cough up a vast amount of money for a bike they could often not see in the flesh never mind test drive.

Arguably McGregor and Boorman created the GS market with their well publicised 'Long Way Round' etc. But about the same time Nick Sanders was riding the length of the Americas 3 times on an S10.


NICK SANDERS: THE 46,800KM RIDE
From Prudhoe Bay at the northern tip of Alaska to Ushuaia, a city situated on the southerly end of the earth at Tierra del Fuego, is approximately 23,400km. Riding back to Alaska it’s twice this, a total of 46,800km. Having just completed one transit of the Americas with clients on his Yam Super Ten, extreme endurance rider Nick Sanders is going for another – the first double transit ever attempted.'

I certainly can't remember any publicity Yamaha about this. I think he then rode around the world and unlike our film star Adventurers, he did it alone with no film crew, support or breakdowns! Big mistake Yamaha

And why did'nt Yamaha push this?

BMW would have.

So I believe Yamaha built a great bike that was an international flop because of it's ridiculous original price and VERY poor marketing

Mike

 

[Sierra1]

View attachment 88278

quality costs a few bucks.

I could be reading you wrong, but that chart shows Yamaha as the most reliable. Making it the value in my book.

. . . . And why did'nt Yamaha push this? . . . .
. . . . BMW would have. . . .

My opinion: Yamaha's logo is the tuning forks, which to me brags on their engineering. BMW does brag on their "German Engineering" but can't back it up. Yamaha knew that the magazines were never going to pick the Tenere as #1. They built a bike they could be proud of, and knew that it would be reliable . . . . and as far as their concerned . . . . that's all that counts.

 

[Cycledude]

I will definitely agree Yamaha has done a very lousy job selling and promoting the S10 !

 

[Don in Lodi]

Best advertisement we got to see was the Ténéré ripping around Australia and SA. Although, those videos of what's 'is name blasting the deserts of Morocco were outstanding. Were those put out by Yamaha Marketing?

 

[Sierra1]

Now that y'all mention it . . . . for adventure riding to be the "next big thing" . . . . I haven't seen any ads from any manufacturers for any bikes. The only time that I see a bike, is in/on a TV add is for insurances: GEICO's lizard and those weird Progressive ones with "motaurs" and lonely riders.

 

[MileageMonster]

Sierra, you interpreted it spot on, Yamaha is most reliable, three times better than the Bavarian Money Waste..
In my opinion that explains the difference in price. Hence; Quality costs a few bucks…

 

[Longdog Cymru]

I never knew a 1200 GS came with a 17" front wheel, in any configuration.

It didn’t, that’s a typo

IIRC, initially, the S10 was only available if pre-ordered online, which was a huge error.

 

[Jlq1969]

Before making a judgment on whether the prices of a "Japanese" seem expensive in relation to a German or an Italian motorcycle, from the same segment, you should check the "taxes" that are charged in your country (England) at "imported" motorcycles ... but "I think" that the Japanese in your country are the only "extrazone". Not always the final price is set by the factory, apart from taxes, you have to add the freight, insurance, etc. etc. and in this case Bmw or Ducati, they are at the back of your house

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

It didn’t, that’s a typo

IIRC, initially, the S10 was only available if pre-ordered online, which was a huge error.

Agreed, a classic Bike/Ride/MCN piss poor proof reading.
FlitwickMCs certainly had a demo bike at the time of the launch night, but don’t know if it was actually theirs or loaned by Yamaha uk. At the time of the launch, as much as I liked it, I’d have gone for the then curremt GS. I did actually ask a BMW dealer if I could order a basic spec one with just heated grips…….and he refused. Wouldn’t waste his limited allocations on such a model. Luckily it wasn’t likely anyway, I was only really fishing. And as I couldn’t find one of that kind of spec when shopping early last year suggests he wasn’t the only one. But who cares, I have the S10, a much better proposition for not much more wonga than a ten year old GS.

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

@Bmwdumptruck Could you please scan this article so we can read it? I would be more than pleased… TIA…

 

[Bmwdumptruck]

 

[Bmwdumptruck]