Bret Tkacs Tackles The Chinese Bike Question

[advrider]

Moto instructor/tour guide/industry insider Bret Tkacs is here with a video that’s the equivalent of kicking a hornet’s nest. In less than 10 minutes, he tackles two separate, but related questions. First, where’s your motorcycle really from? Second, are Chinese motorcycles really junk?

I don’t want to just parrot Bret’s ideas here, and I suggest you watch the video yourself. These are subjects we’ve talked about before, though. For instance, Bret’s point about premium motorcycles being manufactured in Asia, not Europe like the badge on the tank suggests. I complained about this in a piece last month, and Mike also noted his dissatisfaction earlier this year. As Bret points in the video above, your motorcycle might have a European or American name, but parts of the bike or maybe the whole thing might be built in Thailand by workers making much less than their counterparts in Berlin, Bologna or Milwaukee.

It’s also hard to argue with his points about Moto Morini. The facts are, almost every major OEM is doing business in China now. Harley-Davidson is putting its name on bikes built there. Yamaha just inked a deal with CFMoto, who KTM has been working with for years. Suzuki started selling Chinese bikes in North America about a decade ago. The new-to-the-US XR150L had its origin in a cooperative project between Honda and a Chinese factory. Some of the most interesting BMW dual sports were built in China.

Clearly, Chinese manufacturers are capable of building good and reliable products if established brands like these are willing to work with them.

That doesn’t mean all their products are good—some Chinese bikes are made from inferior materials. I’d know, I’ve owned and ridden them. And there are often questions about IP theft. Bret’s points don’t mean you have to go out buy a Chinese bike now. We live in a free market; spend your money how you please.

But know this: If you want to own a machine with no parts from China (or some other overseas country with government policies you disagree with), then your only real option is to buy something like a vintage Harley-Davidson or Triumph. And also know that if you buy something like the Moto Morini seen here, as Bret shows, a lot of the important parts are bought or licensed from companies in Europe or Japan. So is this Moto Morini any more of a Chinese bike than the machines mentioned a couple of paragraphs back? What are your thoughts?

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