Why Senegal?

[James England]

Does anyone know why the XS1100 was first launched in Senegal, of all places? It's always seemed a bit of a weird place to launch a superbike......

[TADracer]

I dunno!

Maybe Yamaha wanted to see how it would go before they let it into the US with their tariff breaking 1102 CC displacement. Kawasaki and Honda were still abiding by the 900 CC limit imposed on metric bikes because of the insecurity of the Harley Davidson company back then.

[James England]

Maybe Yamaha wanted to see how it would go before they let it into the US with their tariff breaking 1102 CC displacement. Kawasaki and Honda were still abiding by the 900 CC limit imposed on metric bikes because of the insecurity of the Harley Davidson company back then.

It was the European model that they launched though. We had a 100bhp voluntary agreement here, hence the bike being 98bhp.

[Bonz]

What's the deal with the 900 cc "Harley Limit"? You sure about that one? I only know of the 700cc limit in the early/mid 1980's.

[Prisoner6]

Maybe Yamaha wanted to see how it would go before they let it into the US with their tariff breaking 1102 CC displacement. Kawasaki and Honda were still abiding by the 900 CC limit imposed on metric bikes because of the insecurity of the Harley Davidson company back then.

What's the deal with the 900 cc "Harley Limit"? You sure about that one? I only know of the 700cc limit in the early/mid 1980's.

Honda launched their GL1000 Gold Wing in late 1974 for the '75 model year ... it was 999cc.

Kawasaki released the KZ1000 (1,015cc) in late 1976 for the '77 model year, and Suzuki's GS1000 (997cc) arrived in late '77 for the '78 model year.

So, I'm not sure what TAD is referring to, either.

[natemoen]

Don't know the years but I believe there was a extra import fee on larger displacement bikes. Not a ban, just a fee.

[Prisoner6]

Don't know the years but I believe there was a extra import fee on larger displacement bikes. Not a ban, just a fee.

The only fee/tariff I'm aware of is the one Bonz referred to ... the tariff imposed in 1983 on over-700cc Japanese imports.

H-D petitioned the U.S. govt. for the tariff, and it lasted about 5 years (into 1988).

It led to the Japanese introducing, in 1984, bikes just under the 700cc limit ... bikes such as the KZ700, Nighthawk S, Sabre 700, etc.

When the XS11 was introduced here (1977 for the '78 model year), there was no extra import fee that I'm aware of ...

[Prisoner6]

Meanwhile ...

Does anyone know why the XS1100 was first launched in Senegal, of all places? It's always seemed a bit of a weird place to launch a superbike......

Back to your question, James ...

The only reason I can come up with is this:

The Dakar Rally (the endurance race from Paris to Dakar, Senegal) originated in 1978 ...

Perhaps Yamaha knew of this upcoming event, and that is why they chose the Senegal location ... Yes, no, maybe? JAT

P.S. Here's an interesting photo:

[James England]

Aha! I reckon you've nailed it!

[Prisoner6]

P.P.S. Just a little follow-up footnote:

Yamaha actually won the motorcycle category in that very first year of the Paris-Dakar Rally (Dec. 1978) ... on an XT500 ...

[TADracer]

Now that it is cleared up...

Sorry I had not looked at this post for awhile. The '900' thing I wrote was just off the top of my head. I knew there was some kind of tariff or cost associated with anything over 1000 CCs back then.

Open mouth, insert foot....I have been known to do that at times...

[Geezer]

It was because the Japanese were dumping bikes on the US market below cost and H-D sued for unfair business practices.

I seem to remember it taking effect around 1986 or 1987. The tariff was on bikes over 700cc. That's when 750's all became 700's and bigger bikes were all a lot bigger than 700. The few exceptions were the rare street legal race bikes and those were all expensive.

H-D got their act together in short order and told the FTC to drop the tariff a few years before it was scheduled to expire...

Anyway that's what I remember. I tried searching for it but it's too old news to be easy to find.

Geezer

[Bonz]

Tariff began in 1983, Google has lots on it. The recession in early 80's left tons of unsold bikes in 81/82 which sold for less money due to high supply/low demand.

Yeah, Harley got a huge break.

[Radioguylogs]

I would think the "unfair pricing" might be related to exchange rate at that time. I remember in 1984 the exchange rate was 340 yen/$. Today it's around 100 yen/$.

Imagine 3x the relative cost today compared to 1983 or 1984!

[Bonz]

Exchange rate wasn't mentioned in anything I read on the tariff. USA went into a recession in 1981-1982, Japan had bikes already made based on dealer orders and a previously good USA economy, they kept sending them to the USA and a glut was created which artificially lowered prices, per se.