Re: 2014 ST GEAR INDICATOR
antiwaki said:
WHY SETTLE FOR MEDIOCRITY???
Why settle for "better this, than nothing"
Why don´t aim for the best?
If you worked in manufacturing, which includes marketing, you would get it.
As EricV said, if there is not a place to put a sensor then it would probably require a new casting, a new part to be added to the supply chain, a new source of potential problems, a new wiring system, more connectors that a re potential corrosion point, another loom assembly, a grommet somewhere that has to seal, more manufacturing procedures, parts inventory, manufacturing line changes, staff training, test procedures, service manual additions. bla de bla de bla,
What you have now is a software change that maybe took 10 man hours and it's done, and you get a 10 man hour price increase spread over 5000 bikes, or whatever. If it was a BMW GS(A) it would be spread over 40,000 bikes or whatever. (GS only)
What YAMAHA has done it designed a bike that is sorted from day one as far as things that are supplied working VIN 00001 off the line and continue to operate reliably for many years. (proven)
That takes time and effort and man hours to test, change test change test test test test AND test. It takes runs down the line top make sure things are right, changed, checked re-run, checked changed tested, batch sampled, field tested, rinse repeat until it is 100% (AFA they know) etc.
Having said that, if they did do everything 100% then you would have a $1,150,000 bike, because it's a YAMAHA and people expect YAMAHA to come in at a certain price the one sale would be to the museum.
So, Why don´t aim for the best? They do. They aim for the best that can be done given the Market accepted price, and the market accepted reliability and the market accepted feature list and have to allocate R&D resources to places where they consider they will get the most value. Unfortunately in this case they decided that you'll just have to cope as the remaining 150 man hours were probably better spent elsewhere.
YAMAHA is the kind of company that would love to do a YZF-R1 Godzilla S for $100,000. They just know that there is a lot of "class snobbery" out there that won't accept that and it would take at least a decade and a brand name change to get to that point (EG Lexus).
The only time they can do things like that is when they design and build a super car motor for someone else (Lexus LFA) that can charge $400K and can afford to aim and arguable produce one of the best 400K of money can buy.
If Lexus release a $40,000 YAMAHA powered ADV bike, be assured that YAMAHA will have some slick stuff fitted, including a gear indicator that doesn't go blank an a clutch pull. There is a chance though that they would have spent that money on titanium milled casings though, knowing YAMAHA.
If you don't know YAMAHA have a greater tendency to be a bit quirky and go a bit their own way. You just bumped into one of the R&D priority assessments that you don't agree with.
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