AE's discontinued?

[NMRoadRunner]

Just read a little blurb in CW about the Honda VFR and it said Yamaha was discontinuing the AE, anybody know any more about this? I don't ride one, but am courious as to why they were discontinued. Problems or lack of sales maybe?

 

[wheatonFJR]

The almighty $$ is king...if they weren't gettin' enough from AE sales...they would be dropped like any other bike that doesn't satisfy the need to make a profit to remain in business.

 

[Patriot]

they made many more than the market could bear...most riders want a convential bike

they retail for over $1000 more than an A, but are discounted up to $3000 to be able to attract a buyer

end of story, I guess

 

[Silverbullet]

They are still being sold in Europe where they actually seem to sell pretty well, but North America is a different market. We seem to be stuck in a bit of a cruiser mindset with motorcycles being more of a recreational device than a main source of transportation, where in Europe motorcycles seem to be more mainstream in regards to being used as primary transportation. Remember, back when the FJR first came out Yamaha had no plans to even sell the FJR in the U.S. as they didn't think it would sell well enough to justify bringing it in. In this economy we could end up losing the FJR in the U.S. period.

 

[dcarver]

and 20 years from the AE will be collectible, bringing the top dollar. go figure..

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

+ 1 ^^^^ ('Silverbullet')

You hear manufacturer's mouthpieces say all the time: "We build what people want."

In America, that takes on a whole different look -- S.U.V.s, trucks, cruisers, etc. The manufacturers could try to educate the buying public? But, it's probably a lot easier (and more profitable) to do what they're doing?

Maybe not in-the-long-run...?

Now its Honda's turn in the barrel with the new VFR (and Yamaha breathes a sigh of relief... )

 

[whataboutbob]

would have been nice to have for the last two months.I severed my tendons in my left index finger and haven't had a ride since.not enough strength in my hand yet for the clutch but im working on it.Bob

 

[Big-B]

I really like the AE. There have been very few times when I thought a clutch handle would have allowed me to do something different.

I'm surprised Yamaha didn't put the clutch setup on some smaller bikes where they could get entry level riders that don't know/want to use a clutch.

 

[RadioHowie]

and 20 years from the AE will be collectible, bringing the top dollar. go figure..

Just like all those $15,000 GTS 1000s lining up for sale???