Originally Posted by
PeteHski
So you think it costs pennies to design, develop and produce an S-Works frame? Bikes in that price range are not mass produced either.
It gets a lot cheaper with generic open mould frames with little or no control over the layup design or QC. But those are not what you find in legit $9k bikes.
If those motos you are comparing with go carbon, they would suddenly cost a whole lot more than $9k. The cost of designing, developing and producing carbon moto frames is probably not commercially viable, which is also the case with mainstream car production. BMW used a lot of composites in their i3 to compensate for battery weight, but I would imagine the development cost was horrific, justified mostly as a disruptive pilot study.
I recently attended the global launch of the BMW R 1300 GS. The design process took 6 years. Just 4 part numbers carry over from the previous model. The aluminium gas tank and metal frame are ultralight and have contours and indents all along their surface to fit over and around the motor, airbox, and all of the other components they are adjacent to while providing the strength necessary to withstand the forces of a 145hp motorcycle.
When the BMW engineers talked about the designing the components, they talked in increments of 1mm.
I recall Yamaha engineers talking about how raising the rear swingarm pivot of the R1 4mm was a big improvement. Think about the analysis and testing to settle upon 4mm instead of 3mm or 5mm.
You are fixating on frame material and conveniently forgetting that motorcycles have motors consisting of hundreds of parts, many of which need to be constructed with tolerances measured with a micrometer.
A full suspension mountain bike is, by comparison, much, much simpler. Even a $9,000 one.