Columnist analyzes how motorcycle manufacturers still invest in niche products with a differentiated technical proposal
I have been working in automotive journalism for 35 years. I flirted during part of this period, in different phases, with the motorcycle segment. But I’ve been riding a motorcycle since my feet hit the ground, more than 40 years ago.
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By the way, when I say that I really dreamed of having four cars in my life (Gol GTi, Alfa Romeo, BMW 3 Series and Porsche 911), the truth is that I should add two more motorcycles: Mobylette (I drooled on the Caloi moped in my adolescence, with Sarachu exhaust) and Kawasaki Z900RS (we are in the flirting phase, but soon we should start a more serious relationship).
Lately I have been closely following the news in this market. I produce the news from a well-known specialized website and make evaluations – at least one a week. It has happened that he returned a Honda CG 160 Titan and started a Ducati Diavel test on the same day.
The big difference between the professional who covers the motorcycle market and the automotive market is that the journalist/tester feels pleasure in riding even in CG. Believe me. It’s not as visceral as a Ducati of almost 170 hp, or a Harley-Davidson Breakout, with its rear tire wider than many cars, or a Suzuki GSX-8R, or even a CB500 Hornet, to name a few of the models I evaluated recently. But evaluating a motorcycle will never be something monotonous, boring, boring. Just for the fact that you’re… by motorcycle.
Sometimes, however, it really excites. Even if the product itself does not reach a meager 20 hp of power. And it is about the experience I am living this week that I decided to produce the content for this column. I have just started testing a Yamaha R15 ABS. It is a “speed” – better to say a “mini-speed” or “little speed”, which reaches a modest 150 km/h.
The R15 ABS is a member of the R-Series family, has a 155 cm3 single-cylinder engine, with liquid cooling and variable valve actuation system, the VVA. It reaches power of 18.8 hp at 10,000 rpm and maximum torque of 1.5 kgfm at 8,500 rpm. It has a 6-speed gearbox with an assist and slipper clutch, which prevents the rear wheel from locking in sudden downshifts and allows gear changes to be smooth.
I’ve ridden about 50 km so far with the R15. And I’ll tell you that I was absolutely in love, even after such a short experience. Not necessarily for the product itself, but for the proposal it offers. We are talking about an absolutely niche “vehicle”, created for a restricted portion of consumers. I’ll score with numbers: it sells, on average, 1.1 or 1.2 thousand units per month.
When you measure the registrations of the Yamaha Factor 150, the street that competes with the CG, monthly sales are 6.8 or 6.9 thousand units. Here you can understand how much the R15 is a product for a specific customer. He’s the guy who likes sports bikes and wants (or can) spend little. Keep that sentence underlined. We will come back to it.
Unlike the car industry, which creates “sporty flavor” versions, that is, similar in mechanical formula to volume products, and with mere aesthetic props, the Yamaha Factor and the R15 are as similar as water and wine.
The Factor does not have a liquid-cooled engine (it is air) and the power is only 11.8 hp at 7,250 rpm. The gearbox does not have 6 gears (only 5) and is not even served by an assisted clutch (the system is conventional). It also doesn’t come with brake discs on both wheels (only at the front) or ABS, much less monoshock suspension at the rear (it comes with a traditional bi-shock) or retractable mirror rods. The R15 doesn’t even take advantage of the Factor’s engine, which has 149 cm3, against 155 cm3 of the R15. Everything about both is different.
Note that there are many technical changes between one and the other. It must cost a fortune… Checkmate: Factor sells for R$ 18.5 thousand. The R15 ABS: R$ 23.5 thousand. Only 27% more expensive, even with all this series of technical improvements. And I won’t even spend a lot of money to describe the R15’s aerodynamic set, with integral fairings that turn it into a real speed .
(The riding position, too. In the few km I walked, I saw that the uncle here, with my 5.6, will suffer a little when he evaluates it in the more than 250 kilometers of the road ride next Saturday.)
I made all this description to get to the point that categorically justifies the initial proposition: doesn’t it seem like a gigantic respect for the customer to offer this enviable technical package, plus the differentiated look, for a value only 27% higher? And more. I will insist on this point: SCREW the economy of scale. You do all this… to sell only a thousand and a few units per month!!
Who in the car industry does something like that? The question remains.
Before anyone imagines that I’m praising Yamaha too much, I’ll take another example from its main competitor. The approach is different, but the respect for specifics in favor of a niche customer is the same.
For some time now, a phenomenon similar to that of SUVs has been established in the motorcycle market. It goes by the name “adventure” or “trail”, especially “big trail”. Anyone who buys a motorcycle to travel today inevitably acquires one of these tall motorcycles. So much so that Honda has four medium/high displacement options: NX500, NC750X, XL750 Transalp and CRF1100L Africa Twin. It’s a respectable line-up. Together, the four sell from 1.2 to 1.3 thousand units.
Obviously, the rise of trail running has made victims. In this case, the nakeds and the streets (models that I appreciate much more), which are more conventional proposals. Because Honda also maintains four options, which, together, score half the volume of trail bikes: CB500 Hornet, CB750 Hornet, CB650 E-Clutch and CB1000R.
Do they sell little? They sell. But so what? I, Edu, would never buy a trail bike. I don’t easily adapt to tall bikes and my priorities are chassis and performance, which is why I would buy any of the four nakeds. But notice: Honda realizes that I exist. I don’t belong to the majority of buyers, but she doesn’t abandon me and, I repeat, offers me four options.
What have car brands offered me?
Riding this Yamaha is much less about speed, but about emotion. Think about the consumer who is starting his journey in this speed universe. It is not recommended that he start on a track-day with machines that will take him recklessly to 200 km/h.
Long before he gets to that, he needs to learn how to brake (how much to apply load to the front and rear) at the end of straights, to read the asphalt on which he is leaning, to assimilate the ideal speed of entry into each corner, to make the pendulums. You have to train acceleration on corner exits. There are a lot of new things to learn. Don’t you think it’s advisable to do all this on a motorcycle with more moderate performance? So much so that the R15 is ideal for this that there is a school category in motorcycle racing in Brazil that uses exactly this motorcycle, with riders from 10 to 15 years old.
The R15 ABS is genius in this regard, especially because it is not even expensive. But the greatest merit of this small sports bike is not even the affordable price, but the simple fact of EXISTING.
Two weeks ago, I complained here that “no car manufacturer cared about me”, giving as an example the fact that there could be a sports sedan, in the range of 200 to 250 hp, without the digital modernisms of multimedia and ADAS to have a more competitive final price, and that guaranteed driving pleasure. It does not exist.
The Yamaha R15 ABS provides me with that opportunity: performance and low cost. Certainly my next Saturday will be very fun. Anyone who likes to drive (cars, motorcycles, trucks, scooters, anything with an engine and wheels) understands what I mean. It may even be that I end the day with back pain, since the riding position is really aggressive. But I’ll be broken, and happy.
