Our CB Lives... I'm certain!

[ride4now_imp]

At the AIMExpo today in Orlando, I had the good chance to meet Jon Seidel who is the Assistant Manager - 2 Wheel Experiential Marketing, Motorcycle Division for American Honda. I spent a good 30 minutes talking to him and Scott Proctor about our beloved CB's and its future. Jon told me that prior to his current job he was involved with print media / marketing and was one of 5 people inside of American Honda who lobbied Japan for them to bring the model to the states. He is very proud of the bike mentioning the patents they hold on the oiling system for the engine as well as how it evolved during the design process. Here's the blow by blow of the conversation. I found him to be somewhat vague with a few of his responses but this is normal behavior for any Exec when talking business with someone they don't know. I do it too... I started out by asking him why the 2015 catalog shows the CB but under the photo it says '2014'. I told him that the bike isn't even available any more. He knew that but didn't offer an explanation about the catalog issue. By the way, they had a 2014 Deluxe at the show. It was built in March 2014. I asked him is the bike dead? He said, absolutely not. I asked him if they are selling 2015 models of the CB in other parts of the world and he said yes. I asked him then why not here? He said they intentionally imported a small amount of product to keep it as a niche vehicle. They want it to be rare. They did not want to load up dealers and be faced with leftovers, etc.. He said they were very happy with the demographics of the people who purchased the bike and how it has sold. He noted that the cost to engineer this bike as an all new product was enormous mentioning that this was the first new air cooled 4 cylinder engine they've designed in over 20 years. They didn't build it as a retro bike, they built it to be just an all around fun bike to ride which will evolve over time and not be radically changed. I told him that there is a group of guys who spend quite a bit of time on this forum talking about this bike. He didn't seem to know that which I found odd because if he's in experiencial marketing, you'd think he would have been on the net looking. Anyway, he really was interested in the forum. I also told him about the NC Rally this past May and showed him some of my photos. He was quite interested in all of that and that's when he called over Scott Proctor. That's when the fun started... They started asking me questions like this? What color do you think everyone would like the next one to be? What would be the highest price you'd pay for a new one? We talked about the prototype that recently popped up on the net. They knew about it, but said that it was just a marketing test. But they did ask me what I thought of yellow? Honestly I said that it was just 'ok'. I told them how this forum helped me decide to buy my 2013 and that a year later, I traded it for my 2014 Deluxe sight unseen all because of this place. They asked me if most of the guys here have a deluxe or a standard? I told them that I didn't know the numbers, but if I had to guess it would be probably 50/50 when you factor in the 2013's that so many own. I told them that I don't think that I'd trade unless they went more retro and added 4 into 4 pipes and a different tank design more like the original 750's. They kind of talked down the 4 into 4 pipes citing the extra weight. The topic turned back to color. I told them that
the aquamarine blue with a gold stripe from back in the day might be attractive. But I don't know... again, the bike is not viewed as retro. They asked me then about price... I said if they made some changes including adding the 4 into 4 pipes, then perhaps they could take it to $13,000 but I didn't think they could go much higher. We ended the conversation with them both asking me to send them photos from the rally which I'm going to do in a few days once I decide which ones best represent our group and this wonderful motorcycle. Oh and by the way... I just have to mention... I met Malcolm Smith, bought his book which he signed, and had my photo taken with him too at the Expo. This was a very good day!