Originally Posted by Classax
Best of fortunes Bruce.
I would suggest that at some point in the future before you go public with your next steps that you and your team host a conference call with your key remaining, dealers particularly the sponsor of this forum AF1 racing, and some of the owners who have lived with these machines and the EBR experience for the last two years. Some critical mistakes were made by EBR early on and YOU must not repeat them or approach the problems in the same way because the results will prove even more catastrophic for the brand and company. There is still a ton bad information out there concerning these machines. Worse than that was perceived lack of communication between EBR and the dealer network. While novel the service manual is NOT what your core buyer is looking for. Your market in my opinion are guys and gals who are, proud of being different, prefer v twins for their sound, narrowness and or power delivery, value cornerspeed and handling over outright horsepower, and reliability over style. They tend to have grease under their fingernails. They are information addicts.
Our informal pole shows that while the average S1krr, Panigale and even fewer Nippon I4 is only likely to see a race track by less than 8% of their owners, where as in our small sample 52% of EBR owners are active participants in track days or racing, and of those 75% ride both track and street on the same machine, so it would seem getting the race support side of the business (which was sustainable prior to production) might be the first easy win. There are more and more guys starting to win at the club level but parts are scarce.
In terms of electronics I do NOT think your buyers want anti wheelie,slide, launch, skill control. The 1190 even with 20 more hp simply doesn't need it, the geometry puts the power to the ground in a way that negates its usefulness. Most of your owners don't even turn it on. What they need is and easy way to get telemetry( speed, TPS, RPMs, coolant and oil temps) to smart devices, simple unobtrusive traction control (that doesn't limit peak power when on at lower levels) and a dash and control combination that allows TC adjustment on the fly while in laptimer mode. At a bare minimum not another should roll out of the factory without a quickshifter! The fact that EBR was not the first bike with WiFi/Blutooth telemetry was a HUGE mistake that needs to be corrected. As a gesture to your loyal first adopters improvements 1190 series should be retrofittable to previous models. Its not to late too make the EBR an heirloom type product, machines that are geometrical superior, mechanically sound, and future proof.
After 12K miles and working through all the teething problems I can honestly recommend the RX as a first literbike, because its so easy to ride and it has enough power to keep pace with all but factory prepared it will be rebuilt this weekend and we don't pay for our parts race machines down all but the very longest straights. Corey West proved it bone stock it could run out drive and hold off S1KRRs piloted by expert racers down the longest straights at COTA. I'll take more power but I don't NEED more power. Where we need to improve is brakes. Namely pads. The whole bike is Lorenzo vs Marquez. Despite being a liter bike, it should be ridden cornerspeed style to be successful instead of point and pray like an I4.
Those are just some of my thoughts as an owner who will be on the track at least 9 more times before the end of the season and ridding the bike every day I can inbetween. We look forward to EBR moving forward.
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