Author Topic: The First American Korean Bike ;-) (Read 7563 times)

Vidrazor · « **on:** November 03, 2006, 12:32:29 PM »

Anybody seen this? It's hilariously covered on Motor Cyclist as an "All Made In The USA" bike:

http://www.fischer1.com/

CWO4GUNNER · « **Reply #1 on:** November 03, 2006, 12:46:50 PM »

What’s amazing is, it’s not like they are offering this thing at a bargain compared to major brands. It used to be when a place like Corea offered its first car it was an incredible bargain compared to the big name competitors, now they want top dollar and figure with all the interest in motorcycles by inexperienced baby boomers, they might fish them in, hence the name Fisher.

Vidrazor · « **Reply #2 on:** November 03, 2006, 12:59:19 PM »

Personally, I don't think it's a horrible concept, it's just that whole "All Made In The USA" stupidity. Also, what's up with fork manufacturing, anyway? What is it about forks that they have to be imported from Korea, or otherwise, for the likes of this, and Harleys?

Why can't a bike be machined from the ground-up here? Fischer gives you an option to have a German front end for megabucks more, why not a well-made American front end? Is machining in that miserable a state in the US?

I certainly don't have any beef with imported technology, but it's kind of sad that you can't have a product that's truly made in this country when it tries to portray itself as such.

I think this bike will have good potential if an aftermarket develops for it.

Bob Holland · « **Reply #3 on:** November 03, 2006, 01:12:53 PM »

Quote from: Vidrazor

Why can't a bike be machined from the ground-up here? Fischer gives you an option to have a German front end for megabucks more, why not a well-made American front end? Is machining in that miserable a state in the US?

If all of us were willing to pay the cost of labor for U.S. labor, everthing we buy would be made in America.
But as long as we demand the highest price for our labor, and the lowest price for our products, this is what we end up with.

Vidrazor · « **Reply #4 on:** November 03, 2006, 01:39:17 PM »

Well, my point is if they give you the option to spend the bucks for a German piece, why not an American one? Do you really think a German part is gonna be cheaper?

CWO4GUNNER · « **Reply #5 on:** November 03, 2006, 02:15:49 PM »

My opinion: Just the fact that they use a play on words like assembled in the USA to connect mentally with made in the USA concept means that they are targeting ignorant people, and have no respect for informed intelligent customers because they are not targeting informed intelligent customers but rather naive and inexperienced people. The same people who buy there dirt bikes and quads at auto parts outlet stores. The only thing missing in there advertisement that would offer a bigger clue is the words “There’s a sucker born every minute”.

Red01 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 04, 2006, 02:21:23 AM »

My auto parts store Chinese copy of a Honda XR70 with a 49cc motor works just fine. It did have a couple of little quality quirks - like a cross-threaded spark plug and the spark module came unplugged while one of the grandkids was riding it, causing it to fry, but the $20 price for a new one was much cheaper than the price for a $79 Honda unit was OK. I'm still in it for less than 1/3 the price of a Honda.

Here in France, the Chinese & Korean scooter market is booming. You see tons more of them than you do of the Japanese or European branded scooters. And here, they run in the 900-1000 Euro price range. With 14-18 year olds only being able to pilot <50cc machines (can't drive cars or bigger cycles until they're 18), little 2-wheelers are very popular. what's almost as popular as <50cc scooters is <50cc Supermotos. KTM & Derbi seem to be the most popular.

smooth operator · « **Reply #7 on:** November 04, 2006, 07:02:57 AM »

Under specs its listed with a 650 V twin, so I'm guessing their using a Suzuki motor?

Rocketjock · « **Reply #8 on:** November 04, 2006, 10:11:04 AM »

Don't ya just love that Cameltoe seat?. Yuk!!

ttewejnodnarb · « **Reply #9 on:** November 04, 2006, 11:41:44 AM »

Quote from: "smooth operator"

Under specs its listed with a 650 V twin, so I'm guessing their using a Suzuki motor?

Actually they use the Hyosung engine. I've seen ads from a couple of new companies using the engine. I can't remeber the brand but I believe it was "US" too. I think it's great to have bikes on the market that are competative in spec, but cheaper in price. IMHO, Hyosung, Fischer, and these other new brands would be a great idea, for 1K to 3K (in the case of the Fischer) less. I mean, come one, you have to upgrade to get good brakes on an $8K bike? THAT'S A 6XX CC TWIN! WTF? I like the idea of being able to buy a Chinese 200cc sportbike for (what I've seen) about $1500 or less. It's great for the sport an encorages starting out on a bike that can easily be handled by a Newbie. If I was starting out and didn't know how to wrench (or didn't want to) but was unsure of how much I was going to like the sport it would be perfect! Or a little cheap 30 mile commuter. It's seems that today, even used bike prices are steadily creaping up. I think for certain people and certain situations it's good to offer a viable alternative so people don't get priced out of the market.

But I digress, if Hyosung (only about $500 less than an SV650S) and Fischer keep trying to get top dollor for what is essentially a second rate product (no offense but quality controll is still not as good as the big four) then they are defeating the whole purpose.

Getting off soap box.

solman · « **Reply #10 on:** November 04, 2006, 12:55:01 PM »

I've read one bit about the Hyosung motorcycle. The only thing that I recall that they didn't like was the transmission. They said that it was like a box of rocks. The Hyosung doesn't impress me as a bike. Yea, it's has a flashy paint job, but it still looks cheap. I can see if it is significantly cheaper, but I don't think it is.

Vidrazor · « **Reply #11 on:** November 04, 2006, 01:24:02 PM »

I had a Hyosung 650 quoted at $5100, and I was told by someone you can haggle for under 5k, so compared to the SV650 it is a significant price difference. There appears to be some problems like notchy gearboxes as stated and backfiring which appears to be a by-product of meeting emmision standards, and which apparently is an easy fix.

So they are cheaper but need work, thye're not "out of the box" bikes like the Japanese models are. I suppose if you have the tools and wherewithal to hack one, it's probably a good deal.

In the Motor Cyclist article, the Fischer also suffered from backfiring, apparently for the same reasons. There were a few other criticisms, like the left-side peg hitting the ground on some turns and such. If the bike was 5- or 6k it probably wouldn't be a bad option, but as it is a Hyosung itself would be a better deal under the right circumstances.

CWO4GUNNER · « **Reply #12 on:** November 05, 2006, 12:05:45 PM »

Well you have a good point it seems some of those off road specials have gotten pretty cheap as I saw a 200cc quad at Track Auto for $1000, and at that cheap a price one can afford a bad imitation that barely does the job with all the constant repairs. But who wants to spend all that time saving up 2/3 of the price or finance $5000 for something that you know is made up of sub standard material and engineering. You might as well look hard for an old well kept machine made by one of the competent 4 manufacturers. I would rather have a used SV650 that I know will out last and our perform a new Fisher 650. Fisher needs to stick to doing what it does best making hand held stereos and kids toys.

Sven · « **Reply #13 on:** November 05, 2006, 03:03:05 PM »

Quote from: "CWO4GUNNER"

What’s amazing is, it’s not like they are offering this thing at a bargain compared to major brands.

My first thought, too. An off-brand bike at full-price. Sure, getting a hand-built peice of art like a Confederate is an off-brand bike, but you buy ti to have something really special. Calling this oddball an "exotic" is just covering up for the fact that it's overpriced.

Bazza · « **Reply #14 on:** November 11, 2006, 03:33:19 AM »

Ok, I am not American, so I can laugh at this one....

Right from the sales Brochure...

Exotic styling meets American quality.........

So now I am wondering, why is it that most American's drive Toyota's?