06 Yamaha Sportbike Shortage?

[Saddletramp]

I had a chat today with my local Yamaha dealer regarding the new Yamaha bikes that he saw at the dealers meeting. I'm always bike shopping! He said the new bikes look great in person but he was very disappointed in Yamaha for cutting production numbers.

Apparently, cruisers will be easy to find but sportbikes will be rarer than hens teeth! He told me that Yamaha had limited how many he & his fellow dealers could order and that a fellow dealer told him that he normally sells around 40 sportbikes a year but this year Yamaha only alloted him 14! That's right..freakin' 14!

The rumor is that Yamaha is building hybrid engines for several automobile manufacturers in the plants where sportbikes are born & the engine deal is much more lucrative! Yes, dear friends,quoting from "The Jerk", it's a profit deal!

He said all the limited edition R1's were already sold out & they would be way over $18,000 by the time they get delivered.

You better hurry while the short supply lasts!

 

[Warchild]

Apparently, cruisers will be easy to find but sportbikes will be rarer than hens teeth!

Perhaps in his region.... still a fair amount of Yamaha sportbikes available here in the PacNorthWest. Hell, Sunnyside has TWO (2) brand new 2005 R1 Ravens sitting on there showroom floor right now!

He said all the limited edition R1's were already sold out

Yep, I saw the Y.D.S. dealer bulletin on the YZF-R1 LE today while talking to Dan Denchel.... the YZF-R1 LE models sold out on Oct 3rd.... within 5 days after announcing their availablity. All 500 allocated to Cypress, sold. Dealers were limited to ordering only TWO (2) LE's per dealership. Each required a $2500.00 deposit from the dealer! Yamaha raked in a cool $1.25M in five days.... :bigeyes:

 

[markjenn]

I don't know your particularly dealer, but as a group, they're notorious for creating a false atmosphere of high-demand/low-supply to get folks to buy and to pay full ticket. I'd take everything with a huge grain of salt.

- Mark

 

[gr8eyes]

I was at my dealer just hanging out last fri afternoon. We were talking about the new FJR and other models. I mentioned how cool the R1 LE's were and that I wanted one. ( I was kidding). He said well he had already sold 2 but that I could have his. I said what? He said he and Chan, the owner also ordered a couple for themselves. But that if I wanted his I could have it. I was a bit suspicious but I'll go back tomorrow and see if he really has one coming in.

Glenn

 

[fjrchooser]

That would be a real bad move! Suzuki would be glad to pick up the slack and has just the machines to make life long converts out of plenty of the younger Yamadudes.