If you thought the biggest problem in the motorcycling world was electrification, my friend, let me tell you that you are more lost than a scooter in a Dakar rally. No, the real threat is not that motorcycles will run out of gas, but that the European market is being invaded, raped and trampled by an enemy that does not come with leather gloves or roaring exhausts... but with ridiculously low prices and a strategy of silent conquest.
For decades, the throne of motorcycling has been well guarded by two great empires: the European and the Japanese. There you have Ducati, be eme, KTM and Triumph, with their machines full of engineering, prestige and prices that make you reconsider selling a kidney. And of course, the Japanese with Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki, with their tank-like reliability and technology that seems from another planet.
But in recent years, something has changed. Chinese manufacturers have arrived with bikes that, surprisingly, are no longer cheap junk that falls apart before 10,000 km. No, now they are bringing out well-made machines, with good technology and—get this—at prices that make traditional brands tremble. A bike with decent specs at half the price? Of course people are going crazy.
To give you an idea of the level of panic in Europe, none other than Claudio Domenicali, the head of Ducati, has said that the real problem is not electrification, but the invasion of Chinese brands. And if a guy who has been selling us bikes for years that cost the same as an apartment in the center of Madrid says that, it's because things have gotten serious.
And he's right. Why on earth would anyone spend 20,000 or 30,000 euros on a European brand motorcycle if for half the price or less they can have a machine that's not bad at all? Before, you could make fun of Chinese bikes because they were literally a Russian roulette: either you got a decent one or you ended up with a time bomb between your legs. But today it's a different story. Brands like CFMoto, Zontes and Voge are putting out bikes with top-level technology, efficient engines and designs that are not embarrassing.
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