Ducati and Volvo V70 are the perfect mix, Proper ying and yang opposites that compliment perfectly Especially for picking up the inevitable spares
Chat GPT for cars/motorbikes in the EU: In Europe, car manufacturers are required to keep spare parts available for a specific period after a vehicle model is discontinued, ensuring that consumers can maintain and repair their vehicles. This obligation is largely guided by European Union (EU) legislation and national regulations. General Rule in the EU: 10-Year Availability (Common Standard): Under EU law, manufacturers are typically required to provide spare parts for a minimum of 10 years after a vehicle model has been discontinued. This ensures the availability of replacement parts for maintenance and repair during the vehicle's expected lifecycle. Type-Approval Requirements: EU regulations on vehicle type approval, such as Regulation (EU) 2018/858, stipulate that car manufacturers must ensure spare parts are available for a reasonable period to meet consumer needs. While the exact duration may not be specified in every case, 10 years has become the industry standard. National Variations: Some EU member states may have additional rules or shorter/longer timelines, but they generally align with the 10-year benchmark. Exceptions and Exclusions: Certain parts classified as consumables, like tires, filters, or wiper blades, might not be subject to the same 10-year rule. Consumer Rights Enhancements: Right to Repair: The EU promotes the "right to repair," requiring manufacturers to supply independent garages with access to spare parts, diagnostic tools, and repair manuals. Circular Economy Initiatives: Efforts to encourage recycling and reuse could influence future rules, potentially extending the obligation to keep parts available. If you are looking for specific guidance or a unique case, consulting the vehicle manufacturer, dealership, or local consumer protection agency in your country is recommended.
Not sure serviceability is a secondary consideration, it's probably a serendipitous bi-product, or integral part of the design process, in order 'To capture the aftermarket'. I don't think we know how much profit OEM's make on each bike produced (complicated by the need to offset against development and production set up costs, etc, over the life cycle of the model), but the word on the street is that margins are really tight across all dealers on new bikes sales, perhaps something in PCP's and financing, but clearly there is some benefit in making sure all servicing and repairs are performed within the dealer network. In other industries the aftermarket can be a huge part of a company's revenue for each product line, and it's an integral part of the business plan. There's no doubt that vehicles are more complex nowadays, and that earlier, less litigious era, when personal responsibility was still considered a virtue, is long gone, so perhaps there's a bit of CYA involved, but across all manufacturers it's almost impossible to get service data (workshop manuals), maintenance tooling, etc, that would allow a competent home mechanic to do much of anything. I read that the owners handbook section on chain adjustment on some current bikes doesn't have any limits, adjustment details, torque tightening figures, etc, just says 'take the bike to the dealer', and there has been much discussion on this forum on resetting the service indicator when you have performed your own service. Not having a dig, pro's and con's to all these issues, and it's industry wide. Servicing costs are what they are, influenced by a dealers overheads, bespoke tooling, diagnostic tooling upgrades in what a cynic may consider an OEM ploy to keep ahead of the 'all can do' third party scanner market, and presumably because of the cost on non slip porcelain showroom tile cleaner, but I guess you accept this when you place your order, but from some of the servicing costs mentioned on this site, it's hard to see that all dealer servicing is a loss making exercise, especially when any alternative is becoming increasingly difficult. As an aside, a friend recently needed a new battery for his car, gutted he couldn't fit it himself as you needed to connect it to a bespoke computer at the dealers to tell it it, and the stop/start and charging system that it had a new battery. Furthermore, the dealer wouldn't fit a battery that he could supply (same make and type as original OEM but from Tayna batteries), and would only fit the same thing from their own stock at a higher list price, as well as 30 mins labour at their rate for the reprogramming. It is what it is, but as a result they are unlikely to sell him another new car when the time comes, so not really playing a long game there! What a world we live in today.....
Abhorrence of unnecessary complexity is one of the main reasons I keep my Supersonic Shed on Wheels (1990 Transit diesel based motor home) going. I positively don't want a modern one with an array of sensors and a different ECU for every function in pursuit of ever cleaner emissions and better fuel economy as that simply means more things which can potentially go wrong and I love the fact that it’s so simple it can be repaired at the roadside for pennies by any mechanic anywhere in the world from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
It’s not from the motoring world but if you want an example of complexity for complexity’s sake, just look at the way that toilets on trains have changed in the past 10 years. The door is no longer a simple wooden affair on a set of hinges with a handle and slip bolt costing a couple of hundred quid, but is a motorised sliding panel located in a curved track, secured by remote solenoid activated locks, all of which no doubt costs tens of thousands. Then the facilities inside are similarly over-elaborate, with infra-red hands free sensors for the water, soap and dryer dispensers, rather than a simple taps, soap pump and paper towel set up. The result - I don’t think I’ve ever used one where everything works and half the time half the toilets on a train are out of order altogether, doubtless because there are so many potential failure points and when they do fail, they need a specialist fitter and replacement parts which costs the train company an arm and a leg. A slip bolt costs a tenner from B&Q, can be fitted by a handyman and will last decades, whereas a remote locking system needs an engineer, costs thousands and will wear out in a couple of years.
I follow a YouTube channel called Itchy Boots and she travels the world on a motorcycle, this trip out she has decided to use an old carb model Tenere for that exact reason , it can be repaired at the roadside by pretty much anyone.
On the most recent episode she drops her sat nav and then runs over it. Just as she's crossing from Turkey into Iraqi Kurdistan. Shrugs her shoulders, laughs and carries on, reverting to asking directions and checking her phone for final mile check. Pretty inspirational and heartening
But that only worked for her because there aren't any speed cams. Navigating without a Sat Nav isn't hard, avoiding points on your license is...
Gulp. That’s a part of the world where if you make a wrong turn you could end up getting a free orange jumpsuit and your very own video on Live Leak.
Yeah I saw that one, she’s very laid back and just takes it all in her stride I think. I’m not sure she realises just how dodgy some of the places she goes though especially for a woman alone.
Best way is to keep off roads that have speed cameras. I try and stick to back roads now, there is no fun to be had on roads with lots of traffic and a high percentage of drivers who think every other road user is their enemy who needs to be taken down.
All good points well made as they say. I didn't work in the automotive industry so you have a better insight than I do there, but I'd maintain that servicing, and the associated spare parts revenue must be a primary consideration for the manufacturer, particularly the bean counting division. As you note, the BOM (all the parts required) for a 250K car cost the OEM maybe around 60K, then that's around 25% of the vehicles list price. Back in the day, several bike publications contained articles on 'how much it would all the spare parts to build a bike cost against the RRP of that bike itself', Honda 600 and a Suzuki used as examples I think, and recollect it was between 6x and 8x more expensive to buy all the bits separately than in a pre assembled lump. I wouldn't think this is much different today. I'd suspect that spare parts pricing isn't linear either, so not all spare parts cost 25 times their actual cost to the OEM, and certain high usage parts are probably higher than this (perhaps cam belts, valve shims, filters, bodywork and other bits that stick out and are easily damaged, etc?). It's a shame expensive new bikes can be written off if they fall awkwardly in a car park with minor fairing and casing damage, but then there's an opportunity for the OEM to sell another new unit! OEM's are no doubt wondering how to prevent the scrapped bike from being dismantled and entering the used spares market, perhaps, like a printer cartridge, an RFID chip in major parts so they are not recognised and rejected by the receiving bike's brain, unless fitted by a dealer with the correct programmer, or some unique fasteners that need special dealer/authorised repair facility only tooling to remove and refit, but presumably that's the business model across the industry, or in fact several industries. As a result OEM spare parts must be a huge revenue stream for the manufacturers that has to be part of their business model over the life cycle of a product, so if you can capture that market by at a dealer level by limiting the owner from doing it themselves using alternate parts (or identical ones having found out the same vendor part is fitted to a less premium brand at 20% of the cost - oil pressure switch?) by limiting access to maintenance data and tooling, suggesting warranty is dependent on everything being done at a dealer, only being able to have an aftermarket parts such as an exhaust and up-map installed at a dealer, then the OEM secures spare parts and aftermarket revenue and the dealer has a busy workshop, plus some spares mark up, again, industry wide. A secondary benefit is that having captured the servicing market, the improved quality of dealers reporting of parts usage against vehicle mileage, and condition, automatically, from the connected IT systems, must be manna from heaven to the OEM's parts forecasting dept, better spares availability, less unused stock and improved revenue planning. I agree with your comments on common platforms, and wouldn't be surprised if a common part across a Skoda/Seat/VW/Audi platform had four different part nos and four different prices, and also the move to more efficient production processes at the expense of maintainability (Panigale spark plug change?), but that may be intentional, who knows....but that's business. Out of interest, just wondering if your employer had a maintainability department, that reviewed maintenance tasks to make sure the weren't too difficult (A famous engineer from the pre CAD/CATIA era once said 'Any fool can tighten a bolt with a pencil?'), I presume they must have in order to set warranty task timescales and service planning guidelines? but did anyone in design/planning react to their feedback, or that from production? I'd also agree with your comments on motorcycling and its future being somewhat bleak, no idea what the answer is, but not sure its 200HP + superbikes costing over £20K is the answer. Times have changed since I started riding, at that time most drivers had probably started out on a bicycle, possibly a moped/bike, before moving on to a car, so had some awareness of what it was like to be on the highway on two wheels and acted accordingly. Nowadays with more cars, poorer driving, deteriorating roads, increased thefts, mobile phones, less road policing, even recreational drugs, I'm not sure many parents would be encouraging their kids to get in amongst it on a motorbike in the UK, even less so if they aren't bikers themselves. For there to be any future I think the Govt must be involved in supporting and promoting it, which is increasingly unlikely in an ever increasing nanny state. I could quote Dad's Army's Private Frazer, but I won't....
The shame is that a shift of even 10% of commuters to motorbikes would make a massive difference to congestion in our towns and cities. That reduction in car traffic/ traffic jams would also benefit air quality. If any government were genuinely interested in improving our cities they would be promoting a hierarchy of transport on the lines of walking cycling, then public transport, then motorbikes and only using cars as a last resort. But no government of either colour has seriously looked at doing that. Solution to congestion - build more roads which are then often full again in no time. Small commuter motorbikes could really benefit so many communities but it’ll never be pushed by anyone in power as there is no money in it for them.
She's going to have a lot to answer for... She planted the idea in my brain to also do a world tour by motorbike...been mulling it over for the last few months...
