I know the technical design and style of motorcycles are much less advanced, time consuming, and thorough as a car, but theres still a decent amount of labor that goes into it, is largely composed of metals and other materials. Their engines may have 2-4 cylindars instead of 6-8, but i can think of some bicycles that cost more than a top-of-the-line kawasaki. Is there anything about a motorcycle that makes it very inexpensive?
Motorcycles are a lot cheaper to design and ‘tool up’ for, so if they have a model that doesn’t sell they can discontinue it right away. In the auto industry a company can be killed by one really disappointing model (the Edsel nearly killed Ford!)
The Japanese manufacturers, I get the idea they sell millions of small, cheap, simple bikes in Asia and Africa, in 3rd world countries where people use small bikes (150cc and less) for basic transportation. I read somewhere the number of 50cc bikes Honda has made since the 1950s, I don’t remember the actual number but it was tens of millions. With all this ’safe’ business, they can afford to ‘take chances’ with big touring bikes, sport bikes, etc., which are not their big product.
There isn’t that much metal in a motorcycle–or even a car for that matter. An average American car has like $400 worth of steel in it and $800 worth of computers! Motorcycles just have fewer parts, less labor, simpler tooling, etc.
