Hyosung GTR 650 - plus a question about sport riding

On 22 Jun 2005 12:05:49 -0700, "krusty kritter"
wrote:

 >I get the impression from what I've read on the web that the Hysosung
 >may be *better* than the Suzuki, after being designed by the same
 >engineer..

Better with a steel frame?

 >You can go on forever and spend $1 million USD on a MotoGP machine, but
 >would you want to ride a 240 horsepower bike every day or pay for the
 >maintenance?

I'd ride it on occasion. And pay little for maintenance as a result.

 >But I was talking to a GSXR-750 rider in Corinth, and he told me that
 >the import taxes on his machine doubled the price! Import taxes on
 >motorbikes are usually imposed to protect the country's motorcycle
 >manufacturing industry. But Greece did not have a motorcycle industry.
 >So the import duty was just a way to get money out of the purchaser's
 >pocket...

Duh. That's the point of all import taxes. To line the government's
pocket with money.

Greece only has a pittance of a regular income tax. 8% last time I
looked. So they make it up in sales.

 >The large motorcycles that I did see were usually BMW's ridden by
 >Germans on their way to Turkey...

Within the last five years Greece has seen an economic boost. My
cousin trades in his R1 on the newer model every year. They all ride
the newer stuff now and nobody's ever heard of countersteering!

krusty kritter wrote:

But I was talking to a GSXR-750 rider in Corinth, and he told me that the import taxes on his machine doubled the price! Import taxes on motorbikes are usually imposed to protect the country's motorcycle manufacturing industry. But Greece did not have a motorcycle industry. So the import duty was just a way to get money out of the purchaser's pocket...

Hmm, the retail prices here are a little over those in US, but in
Euros (ie $10.000 there, 11.000 Euros here). Example retail
prices:

CBR 600: 10.900 Euros
V-Strom 650: 6.700 Euros
Kawasaki Z-10: 14.000 Euros
etc etc

Those are retail prices, including taxes etc etc. If you turn up to a
shop with that money, you leave with the bike and nothing more
to pay.

Ive seen the GTS 650 (the half-faired one) in a shop, tag and
shop manger said 5.500 Euros, so thats the price here. The fully
faired is 100-200 Euros more expensive, but no official price
exists because they havent imported it yet.

Maybe this guy bought it used, and he meant that the taxes were
as much as the price ?

Dimitris


EDIT:

As far as new bikes are concerned: many many people own
bikes, most popular are the big on-off bikes such as Honda Varadero,
Trans Alp, Africa Twin, recently Suzuki V-Strom, Yamaha TDM, and
the like.

The observation about big BMW going to Turkey hmm, I ll have to
disagree with that, first of all all those people with German plates
on their cars and bikes going to Turkey are not Germans, they are
Turkish immigrants returning home for the summer
Second they usually do this with a BWM CAR, not bike.
Third, while a bike is much more expensive here in "monthly wages"
than in US, its quite affordable for everybody. I mean 6-7.000 Euros
is not some amount of money you cant afford. Personally I could
afford 10.000 for a 600 sports bike, but this doesnt mean its the
best choice I can have.

Especially for sports bikes, the paradox here in Greece is that the
600 cc bikes cost around 11.000, while the 1000 cc bikes cost around
14.000, so most people here prefer the Z-10 and
the CBR 900, over their 600 cousins. Yes they judge it by "cc per Euro"
hee hee I find this rather funny

Finally, countersteering is widely known throughout the country