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Yes that works when you have enough sales, however I don't think our sport can't support those numbers. According to one source I found ~17,500 off road bikes were sold in the US in the first quarter of this year. Multiple that by 4 and you have ~70,000 a year spread across all the manufacturers. That's not a lot of bikes to spread the R & D, advertising, production cost, office staff salaries, etc.

Spread those 70k bikes out evenly across the big 5 and you get 14k each. So for example every $1,000,000 spent on advertising (I'm guessing it's more than a few) adds $71 to the cost of the bike. According to their website, Kawasaki Motors has 480 employees, for arguments sake lets say that 75 are part of the off road division. At an average salary of $55,000 that adds ~$300 per bike. The list goes on...

Granted you do still have revenue from parts, which I'm willing to bet is where the money's at.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/15436/Motorcycle-Article/2012-US-Motorcycle-Sales-Tally-452-386.aspx
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/16089/Motorcycle-Article/Motorcycle-Sales-Dip-14-7--in-2013-Q1.aspx

<blockquote data-quote="James" data-source="post: 145332" data-attributes="member: 2">Yes that works when you have enough sales, however I don't think our sport can't support those numbers. According to one source I found ~17,500 off road bikes were sold in the US in the first quarter of this year. Multiple that by 4 and you have ~70,000 a year spread across all the manufacturers. That's not a lot of bikes to spread the R &amp; D, advertising, production cost, office staff salaries, etc.&nbsp;Spread those 70k bikes out evenly across the big 5 and you get 14k each. So for example every $1,000,000 spent on advertising (I'm guessing it's more than a few) adds $71 to the cost of the bike. According to their website, Kawasaki Motors has 480 employees, for arguments sake lets say that 75 are part of the off road division. At an average salary of $55,000 that adds ~$300 per bike. The list goes on...&nbsp;&nbsp;Granted you do still have revenue from parts, which I'm willing to bet is where the money's at.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/15436/Motorcycle-Article/2012-US-Motorcycle-Sales-Tally-452-386.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/15436/Motorcycle-Article/2012-US-Motorcycle-Sales-Tally-452-386.aspx</a><a href="http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/16089/Motorcycle-Article/Motorcycle-Sales-Dip-14-7--in-2013-Q1.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/16089/Motorcycle-Article/Motorcycle-Sales-Dip-14-7--in-2013-Q1.aspx</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="James, post: 145332, member: 2"] Yes that works when you have enough sales, however I don't think our sport can't support those numbers. According to one source I found ~17,500 off road bikes were sold in the US in the first quarter of this year. Multiple that by 4 and you have ~70,000 a year spread across all the manufacturers. That's not a lot of bikes to spread the R & D, advertising, production cost, office staff salaries, etc. Spread those 70k bikes out evenly across the big 5 and you get 14k each. So for example every $1,000,000 spent on advertising (I'm guessing it's more than a few) adds $71 to the cost of the bike. According to their website, Kawasaki Motors has 480 employees, for arguments sake lets say that 75 are part of the off road division. At an average salary of $55,000 that adds ~$300 per bike. The list goes on... Granted you do still have revenue from parts, which I'm willing to bet is where the money's at. [URL]http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/15436/Motorcycle-Article/2012-US-Motorcycle-Sales-Tally-452-386.aspx[/URL] [URL]http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/16089/Motorcycle-Article/Motorcycle-Sales-Dip-14-7--in-2013-Q1.aspx[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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