2010 September « LightBiker

Honda hinder my cause: Worst Bike Ad Ever

September 29, 2010 at 5:38 pm | Posted in Marketing | Leave a comment

This is an ad for the Hero Honda Hunk 150. Hero Honda is a division of regular Honda who produce bikes in India for the Indian market often with excruciating names

Now I think this is a perfectly reasonable motorcycle of a style I would like to see more of in this country, yet it is marketed by people who live on the planet Mars. The pitch is nauseating to an absurd degree such that MCN correctly lampoons it as the worst bike ad ever. I remember the Gilera DNA being similarly marketed. The slogan was: ‘For those who yearn to ride a motorcycle..’ What the hell was that supposed to mean? If you want to ride a motorcycle, there are 50cc motorcycles out there – go ride one. The DNA should have been sold on it’s own many merits then the story might have been different.

This is a fine motorcycle, badly marketed. It is not an isolated case.

Gadget Show’s Top 5 Scooters

September 29, 2010 at 2:54 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Homer I’m not averse to watching the Gadget Show on Channel 5 so I was interested when they attempted to identify the top five 50cc mopeds in the UK for practical urban use.

Video

This is what they came up with:

Vespa S
Yamaha Neo
Kymco Super 8
Piaggio NRG
Peugeot Speedfight 3

Anybody (male) convinced by this list??? Anyone??? The comments are sort of preachy and unedifying and don’t quite hit the problem on the head. I would argue that the problem is that this is a girl’s list when these sorts of peds tend to be ridden by male teenage yoofs. I think a boys list would have put the Piaggio NRG higher and the Vespa would not have been in the list at all. I’m all in favour of girls riding peds but I think this is an example of a prejudice that scooters are a ‘girls bike’ being played out, which is not reasonable or appropriate.

The solution is obvious. Jason Bradbury needs to repeat the test instead of Suzi Perry, and Suzi’s list needs to be reclassified as a girls list whereupon it will gain some credibility. How about it Channel 5?

Gilera DNA.org relaunches as Lightbiker

September 29, 2010 at 1:49 pm | Posted in New Bikes | Leave a comment

Three and a half years ago I brought this blog to WordPress. The original idea was to talk about the Gilera DNA but what happened was that I talked about other scooters, small bikes and related vehicles from the point of view of someone who believes the Gilera DNA 180 is the pinnacle of powered two wheelers. Sadly the DNA (180 and 125) have been out of production since 2003 and the remaining bikes on the street are showing their age and becoming hard to maintain. Unless Piaggio suddenly turn round and release say a Gilera DNA 200 and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t, (except that they won’t because “there’s no market for them”) then I think it’s time to move on. This means no great change to the blog because I wasn’t blogging DNA’s anyway: this is just a change in perspective.

I now plan to use the blog to campaign for better lower capacity motorcycles and scooters in the UK. A 200, 250, 300 or 400cc motorcycle is not sad or second class it is a practical, important mode of transport which needs to be marketed properly and supported by dealers and manufacturers. The UK culture of big sportsbikes or nothing is mistaken. Other countries lead the way where economic or licensing circumstances produce a market for the sort of bikes I am talking about: examples are Brazil, India, Australia and Italy. Honda are a good example of a manufacturer who have a good range of lightweights which are only available in special markets, which I would like to see here. They can expect special venom from this blog.

Readers will in practice not see much change in content. There is a new focus, header and title. The popular Aprilia Mana secion remains and the Gilera DNA sections are pooled together on one page. I get about 300 hits a day on this blog and I hope future readers will be able to support my new direction. Let’s roll…

Honda VTR 250 teasing…again

September 26, 2010 at 6:10 pm | Posted in New Bikes | 1 Comment
Tags: Honda, New Bikes, Yamaha

It seems to be the time of year again when the (always false) possibility that Honda UK might like to import something sexy under 500cc. The new 2011 Honda VTR 250 is coming to someone but not to the UK. I’ve been fooled in the past over this bike and I’m not going to be fooled again.

Instead, let’s look at some other interesting bikes we won’t be getting in the UK: