Are the boys at BSB with their "stock" superbikes onto something?

[Crasherfromwayback]

Neither do i.... but my supplier/distributor does.
Then there is the scenario when the container ordered in August... turns up in Nov, with a shortage.......... and thats the first anybody knows about it. Having been involved in imported goods into NZ..it is not uncommon either.
Also trouble with ordering way in advance is that you get tyres that are sometimes close on 12 months old when they arrive.... in some cases they have already been superseeded by a new design/compound. Thats another can of worms.... oh we didnt have enough of these compounds so we sent these instead..................... our paltry orders of one container arent taken seriously in the big world........ and that goes right across the spectrum of imported goods.
An example.. one of my suppliers from an international company recently attended a sales seminar in Germany.... they saw a order come in from a single company that was more than the whole of NZ sold last year.......... harsh reality.
Know the post is a bit late and has been thrashed already...but been off the grid for a few days................ hiking/tramping/holidaying......no racing

All valid points!

[SWERVE]

And is it always about trying to cut costs even further, when everyone involved should be trying to atract more money via sponsorship or by well heeled benefactors? Not so possible from product suppliers, as above. But occassionally we see well heeled benefactors come and go, but often go. Why is that? Is it because people with money who may be prepared to spend it on supporting young talent may either be put off by those in the paddock who almost openly sneer at people with large chequebooks? Or they get ''the vibes'', very quickly. Or, overall are we not as proffessional as we should be? Those factors being the case there are plenty of other sports where they may be more welcome.[/QUOTE]

Totally agree with this statement Robert

[codgyoleracer]

At 3%, you'd be stark raving mad!

No, not at all, in-fact this type of promotion is often a better return on investment than the 100% loss on some advertising options. Its a % game though, if you sell 300 items per annum, then 20 or so that go out at cost price for a "long-term campaign targeted at branding" is quite possible.

So a tyre distributer may take the same view, or of course they may not !

[slowpoke]

As Billy has intimated - the stock(ish) based engine has the support of some key riders and maybe even some distributers, then when you add to that a single bike rule, and a possible tyre rule of brand, tyre use cap or tyre cost cap - then you have the semblence of a good starting point to develop towards.

One big problem that occurred to me regarding a single tyre supplier: you rule out a large number of club competitors dipping a toe in the water at the occasional Championship round. For example, I get some much appreciated assistance from Motomart/Nationwide Accessories who give me a great price on Pirelli's. It's in the form of a contract where I am unable (and unwilling, Pirelli's rock!) to run a competitors tyre. Many club competitors are in the same boat so unless you are already on brand X you are snookered.

[codgyoleracer]

One big problem that occurred to me regarding a single tyre supplier: you rule out a large number of club competitors dipping a toe in the water at the occasional Championship round. For example, I get some much appreciated assistance from Motomart/Nationwide Accessories who give me a great price on Pirelli's. It's in the form of a contract where I am unable (and unwilling, Pirelli's rock!) to run a competitors tyre. Many club competitors are in the same boat so unless you are already on brand X you are snookered.

Yip - there are always going to be pro's and cons to any rule of specification put in place. Its just balancing out whats best for the sport at the time, aye

The question of whats " best for the sport" as pointed outto me over this past weekend when talking to a very experienced racer is that its an ever moving target, and an example might be, if times were booming , bike sales were at an all time high and the public profile of motorcycle racing in NZ was up there with the aussie V8's- then full blown WSBK superbikes for the superbike class would be making a lot of sense for "the good of the sport as a whole", as they are bloody awesome!

My argument is that there is a lot of levels that these bikes can run at, and to fit into the current scene in NZ i suspect its leaning towards a slightly lower performance spec that gives more opportunties to compete to a wider range of competitors.

Lets face it, even if you only added two bikes to the field - thats a 10% or more increase in numbers.......

GW

[Robert Taylor]

Yip - there are always going to be pro's and cons to any rule of specification put in place. Its just balancing out whats best for the sport at the time, aye

The question of whats " best for the sport" as pointed outto me over this past weekend when talking to a very experienced racer is that its an ever moving target, and an example might be, if times were booming , bike sales were at an all time high and the public profile of motorcycle racing in NZ was up there with the aussie V8's- then full blown WSBK superbikes for the superbike class would be making a lot of sense for "the good of the sport as a whole", as they are bloody awesome!

My argument is that there is a lot of levels that these bikes can run at, and to fit into the current scene in NZ i suspect its leaning towards a slightly lower performance spec that gives more opportunties to compete to a wider range of competitors.

Lets face it, even if you only added two bikes to the field - thats a 10% or more increase in numbers.......

GW

There were only about 18 bikes on the MotoGP grid last night and that is world stage. So the numbers we put up per head of population are pretty impressive, and also given our broken economies.
With respect to tyres Im not so convinced that a one tyre rule is suitable and Spud raised some good points on that score. As for ''loss leading'' ( close to what you are in effect saying ) that can only work with huge volume and guaranteed returns. That we dont have and it would take a long time to recover the real costs. Notwithstanding another factor that happens, selling off of secondhand race tyres ( in fairness it gives the racers some revenue back ) But that significantly hurts normal retail sales. The brutal interpretation is ''subsidisation of racing'' for those in that small bubble but what in fact is the real return? In cold hard commercial returns its actually pretty dubious and for a disproprtionate amount of hassle. Merv touched on the joys of importing and lead times etc.
This is not intended to be negative as such but this is how suppliers will weigh it all up. But Im prepared to be wrong.
Tyres are indeed the biggest headache.

[codgyoleracer]

There were only about 18 bikes on the MotoGP grid last night and that is world stage. So the numbers we put up per head of population are pretty impressive, and also given our broken economies.
With respect to tyres Im not so convinced that a one tyre rule is suitable and Spud raised some good points on that score. As for ''loss leading'' ( close to what you are in effect saying ) that can only work with huge volume and guaranteed returns. That we dont have and it would take a long time to recover the real costs. Notwithstanding another factor that happens, selling off of secondhand race tyres ( in fairness it gives the racers some revenue back ) But that significantly hurts normal retail sales. The brutal interpretation is ''subsidisation of racing'' for those in that small bubble but what in fact is the real return? In cold hard commercial returns its actually pretty dubious and for a disproprtionate amount of hassle. Merv touched on the joys of importing and lead times etc.
This is not intended to be negative as such but this is how suppliers will weigh it all up. But Im prepared to be wrong.
Tyres are indeed the biggest headache.

18 Moto GP bikes ?, Really ? - You sure that some of em wern't those dumbed down versions ?

[Robert Taylor]

18 Moto GP bikes ?, Really ? - You sure that some of em wern't those dumbed down versions ?

Only as a term of relativity, yes. But there are various levels of ''dumbing down'', as you will well realise.

[RobGassit]

CRT bikes are not even remotely MOTOGP bikes in my humble opinion, and Colin Edwards agrees with me too! The field includes the Hyosung Cup as well.

[Billy]

CRT bikes are not even remotely MOTOGP bikes in my humble opinion, and Colin Edwards agrees with me too! The field includes the Hyosung Cup as well.

With or without sidestand brackets?????

[codgyoleracer]

CRT bikes are not even remotely MOTOGP bikes in my humble opinion, and Colin Edwards agrees with me too! The field includes the Hyosung Cup as well.

Agreed, they are not in the same class. Ironically thats a bit like a Superstock bike playing in Superbikes/Supersport fields, If you aint got the numbers then run em together to save some face.........