Maybe a category for European quads or something like that. Of course that won't apply to ATK if their quad is released..

 

Sangod,

SSsshhhhhh! I want to be the first to show up at Glamis with a 700cc 2 stroke! I wanted to build that bike 2 years ago but they already had a line on those Maico engines.

 

I wouldnt blame atvconnection for not giving gasgas its own category, if i owned a magazine co. i wouldnt want to advertise a quad co. that doesnt give me a quad to test, people need to know about these quads and if you cant have one to test why would you want to give them a category. im not starting fights, thats the last thing i want, but im trying to help you understand why they dont get a category.

 

How can GG ever be a serious manufacturer of Quads if they dont appeal to the COMMON people??? If they think they are going to make money by selling and appealing to the MX'ers only, than they are dooomed!! And C'dale even had "american biult quad" on there side and it still didn't workout for them.


MXer's are maybe 1% of the buying public,and even then they will have to compete with Yamaha,Honda,and Suzuki. If they really want to sell atv's in the USA, they better come out with a quad that is "appealing" to the common man. It doesn't have to have $$$shocks,and 50 h.p. and cost 8000.00. That was the demize of C'dale. remember?

Even if they DID want to stick to RACE ONLY quads, I would think it would be SMART to give as many advertising companys a test quad for a day, so that you can reach a much bigger audience. But instead they want the quad to "speak" for its self???[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] NOT VERY SMART BUSINESS.





I think the Gas Gas is a good quad, but I will not ever buy one, cause I simply dont know much about the Company. But I am willing to bet that Gas Gas Advertises BIG TIME in Europe and England were the Trials Races are big.






Bigger.

 

obviously the quad appeals to more than just MX racers. Chad Duvall is going to be on one in the GNCC very soon. others are already on them other GNCC classes as well as GNC TT. my primary use is as a dunes machine, occasional racing... MX, scrambles, & maybe i'll try TT. there are some already racing them in TT. are they made for the average guy? yes if the average guy demands the level of performance that the Jap quads don't have.

once again on the topic of the C-dales- the quads were the light at the end of the tunnel for the company, the tunnel just caved in before they could make it out. they would have if they'd had the motor built by a company that was already building engines... ie. fuji, rotax, etc... Gas gas can't make the same mistake, they already know how to build engines, good ones.

 

C'dales biggest problem was that they didn't make a "easy" quad that appealed to the MASSES. Every big ATV manufactorer makes thier "bread&Butter" off of utilities,and quads like the 300ex,Warrior etc. These sales give the company the Opertunity to develope a High-perfomance machine, that they know will not sell near aswell as thier "bread&butter"lines do.

The old saying "race on Sunday, Sell on Monday" is not getting it done for anyone anymore(cars,motorcycles,and ATV's) If Ford wasn't making BILLIONS off of the F150,Explorer, Taurus sales, thier would never had been a GT40, Mustang CobraR etc. The same applies for Honda,Yamaha,SuZuki, etc... and if GG wants to be able to "last" like C'dale wasn't able to do. Then they need to think about Marketing 101.


It could be the BEST quad out thier, but if nobody knows about it, then ...........







Bigger.

 

I agree they need to take some marketing classes...that is for sure. As for Cdale, They should have gone with a more proven motor. If they would have they would not have had to charge $12000 for the moto I dont hink. That is obviously way too expensive for the average racer wheter it is weekend or GNCC.

With the GG you are geting the moto for aobut $4000 less. This gives everyone a chance to be able to afford a Pro racer. You spend more than what a GG costs making the rest of the quads competitive racers and still arent as top of the line as the Wild quads are.

The market is huge for the sport quads obviously, as with anything new, you balance what you get for what it costs. And after it is all said and done, anyone setting a quad up to race anything pretty much puts $8500 in it and it still would not have the top of the line aftermarket setup the Wild has.

They definitely need some morketing direction that is for sure!! This is the long way around, but since they arent in a big hurry really because they have been around a long time doing this, they can afford to take the slower route I guess.

I think Cdale was in such a money crunch they could not make it through the startup period.

whether it is now or later

 

Couple of quick observations on this thread:

1. It's a good thing Gas Gas didn't come to the states with their marketing machine in 5th gear pinned. When you bring a 300 2 stroke racer that everybody and their mama has been beggin' for since the japs stopped making them; it better blow everyone away. It didn't. Why?

a. The quads weren't dialed in yet. Given.
b. The quads that were tested early were owned by individuals/shops so the mags dissed them calling
them unfinished, pre-production, whatever cuz they didn't get one sent to them with a big bow on
it and an advertising campaign to go along with it.
c. Gas Gas dealers, even though few and far between, were selling their quads WITHOUT advertising.
The local dealer here in Phoenix had sold 5 of the first 6 in the states before anybody here knew
what they were and he didn't place one ad with the Cycle Trader here. If you have your inventory
sold, what are you advertising for?

2. Gas Gas has since added another production line AND shifts to meet the demand but make no mistake, Gas Gas knows how to operate in a niche market. They are much like KTM was back in the early 90's. They will be bringing more quads to the states. That's guaranteed.

3. I have ridden both updated models. The shocks and steering seem spot on to me. The 450 is a great all around quad. It's fuel injection is especially interesting for those of us who ride in a wide range of altitude. It is more powerful than my CT440 that had all the trimmings. I think that is the "every-mans" quad that Bigger is looking for. I have also ridden a 300 that has been put on a serious diet, larger high comp piston, P&P and a Euro exhuast [Doma maybe?] Anything that wasn't needed was removed. It is light, it is Fast. Not 310R fast but 350R fast!

4. When you think of race shocks the names AXIS, PEP, ELKA, TCS and WORKS come to mind. Works has the biggest ad budget by far. I'm sure they spend 5x as much advertising as the others do combined but the others are more desireable and sell their shocks as fast as they can make them. In fact the less rep your product has, the more you need to advertise it. That's the case with Works. The others don't really need to advertise to make money. If enough of the GG's show up at races or the dunes, they will sell. More than racers buy or build race bikes. Guys with money like toys. Guys with money like to be different. There's meat for every seat so if you build it they will come.

5. Bigger, actually you have the Ford analogy backwards. Because Ford is LOSING billions, the decision was made to push the GT 40 concept forward into production. The GT, as the production model will be called, is not produced to make money. It is produced to showcase Ford's technical ability and drive future Mustang, Focus or even Taurus owners to the showroom floors.

 

The GT40 concept is years old, It was pushed foward to "jump start" sells, but the funding for that car was made years ago when the economy was good. Every company Fords size has lost billions, and I know we all feel it as well. So I agree, and respectively dissagree.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]


The truth of the matter is the You Serious racers can appreciate the concept of company producing a quad "race ready", and I also think that is cool. But 99% of the buying public are not serious racers, and are buying quads in the $5500 to 6500 dollar range. Gas Gas only has 1 nich here THE 2-STROKE!! The can offer something that HONDA,YAMAHA etc.. cannot,and WILL NOT offer the public (banshee is gone soon) So they really need to market that quad like CRAZY!! and more importantly spend te money to get a TOP-RIDER(s) to consistanly put the GG on the podium. I am afraid that with the YFZ450,and the new TRX450 coming out ,GG may have missed their window of oppertunity(this quad has been out for over a year) to make some serious noise in the ATV market. Again bad marketing.


good luck to GG, and I hope they can prove to be more than competitive, but it is going to be TUFF for them.







Bigger.

 

I dony know if you are yet aware nbut for gas gas `not being a serious manufacturer` as you seem to think, why have they now expanded there line up to 9 diffrerant types of quads next year. what all is coming im not yet sure its all been keep hush hush for the time being. All i know is that 2 off them will have reverse gear, i think there is also a 250 fuel injection four stroke coming, so just sit back and watch cause gas gas have big plans and maybe they havent done a big advertising campaign or give bikes tp mags to revew, but look at it this way, the 450 in the states came from day one as a six speen in europe they were released on a five speed, 5he motor over here gave a few problems and all bikes were updated or frixed, now they are taking the remainder of the year basically for testing purposes, but rest assured when the 2004 is released your gonna know it and everyone is gonna know cause they really do mean business.

It not just in the strates where there has been not advertising campaign, here in europe and the uk there has been very l;ittle either. The way they themselves work is that the team rider competes first of all in the spainish championship basically to iron out any problems. This has been happening next year they will have differant riders competing all over.