fredz43 said:
I guess I haven't read that issue yet, so I gotta ask, what is a Power survey?
It is where owners fill in a form and rate their own bike, which overall is good but you do have some things to bear in mind:
1. A bike that has only been around a year or two is likely to be more reliable and I suspect many owners may not factor this in, on the other hand...
2. Owners definitions of reliable. Many owners of a certain Bavarian brand tend to describe a two year old bike that has had whole host of recalls, a final drive or two exploding, a fuel pump controller failure and a blown gearbox completely reliable, where someone brought up on 90's onwards Jap bikes would describe a bike of that age that has required a headlight bulb as being a bit unreliable.
The way issues are dealt with can also skew a persons perspective, the Bavarians do fix things quickly and efficiently with a free loan bike, so maybe a couple of failures are quite painless, but you may have a Zong-Shed that has only gone wrong once in 5 years, but if it is off the road for 3 weeks awaiting parts on the legendary slow-boat then your likely to slag it off a lot more than one failure maybe warrants.
3. Mileages vary, although owners should take this into account, but a Panigale may look pretty reliable on the survey results, but if you factor in the average 700 miles per year they travel maybe they do not look so good - especially if you plan to buy a bike that typically goes nowhere and actually ride the damn thing.
4. Most people love their bikes, and many will make excuses for them and gloss over their failings so few bikes are likely to be totally slated even if the are utterly crap.
5. Not all people follow the press, some buy a bike that suits them regardless - like us, however is the bike more bland than a KTM1190 - Of course it is, because people often buy the bike that suits them rather than the one the press tell them to buy then you will find a load of clever people happy with a bike the many fools of the world would never buy, and possibly not enjoy - this is what brings us to the top of the list, Patriotism probably snatched victory from us.
6. The survey only covers owners that buy Ride magazine, I would imagine a survey of Fast Bikes readers would look quite different, many of us older and wiser folk have had enough of the magazine BS and don't buy them, especially the UK press where all that matters is how fast it goes, what lap-time it can turn in and how enjoyable it is when being caned mercilessly all day long. I must admit Ride is probably one of the better magazines these days and has a wider appeal than most, I think they even check Mpg figures and have been known to ride in the rain and conduct an entire test without a dragstrip / racetrack available.
7. I also think people rate their bikes partly on how they think they compare overall, why is the much loved V-Strom so far down. I suspect is people with a 650 probably think they should give it 3/5 for performance as they know it is slower than a 1200, rather than 5/5 because it has a cracking engine when you consider the capacity - I can't see why else the smaller bikes are all so far down.
Interesting to see the Triumph at the top, sure a great bike, my mate has one and loves it, but it has had a new cylinder head and final drive under warranty and a complete engine management system under a re-call (not a re-map, a completely new ECU) and although they generally seem quite reliable I do not think they are in the same league as the Yamaha.
Overall a good survey IMO, if you are drawn to a particular bike you are likely to find it how the majority of other owners have, of course if you really wanted an S1000RR but bought an Explorer due to the Rider Power results you may not be quite so happy.
It also highlights how far wrong the press can be, with the total slagging they have repeatedly given the S10 in review after review and comparison after comparison.
I am surprised the V-Strom is so far down, and even more surprised the Versys is not even in the top 20 Adv bikes.
