[Rick Dangerous]

When did these motorcycles get so expensive?  The last time i bought a Triumph (2013 Bonneville T100) I think i paid $8500 for brand new (a previous years holdover).  A Speed Twin BASE is now $13,000 usd, and a Thruxton RS is $17,000.  WHAT?!   The best thing about these bikes is they were sensible bikes at sensible prices.   The "modern classics" are getting more and more modern and less classic, and the prices have gone through the roof.

Maybe i'm just spoiled by the $6k i spent on my RE which is all the bike my Bonnie was for $2500 less; but i'd never pay these prices; i'm not sure who is? The most i'd pay for a Triumph new is 8-10k and honestly there are loads of great used ones for $3-$7k so i'd be more likely to head in that direction before going new again.   Someone must be buying them though?  The dentist crowd has moved on from Harleys?

Moto Guzzi's are still reasonable.  Might have to go that direction down the road a bit. A nice two-tone V7 special (even has a separate tach, sadly increasingly rare) still goes for $9490.  Quite nice!

[Karl Childers]

Welcome to the great reset, you will own nothing and be happy.

[Rick Dangerous]

Okay so a Street Twin Base is $9900....but no tach, and it's still too much.  The Trident 660 is $8,200 (the cheapest Triumph i could find) which is reasonable, but it's a stubby little sport standard that looks like it's designed for teenagers.   I really lament the loss of longer tail sections on many sporty bikes, they look like they've been cut off prematurely and it can't be comfortable/safe feeling for passengers.  But despite these models, i stand by my statement above!  haha.  Anything retro and appealing is like 12k plus now.

[AzCal Retred]

Indian Median income is about 135,000 Rupees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_India#:~:text=As%20an%20overview%2C%20India's%20per,at%20over%20128%20trillion%20rupees.

A Bullet is about 140,000 Rupees.
https://www.zigwheels.com/newbikes/Royal-Enfield/Bullet-350-Twinspark/on-road-price-delhi

US median income is about $32,000. Rejoice Comrade, you can spend proportionately as much as an Indian for your new Touring HD...$20K to $45K.

Here's an Indian list of "affordable" 125cc machines. They range from roughly 70K rupees to 100K, so from 1/2 a year's median income to 3/4. Here, a 125cc machine runs from $3K to $5k, maybe 1/8th of a years median income for (new) basic transportation. Woo-Hoo!! Or get a new 250cc machine for about the same money. As for the used market, the sky's the limit, yes? I find running Gold Wings for $1500...?!?
https://www.bikewale.com/new-bike-search/best-125cc-bikes/

[Richard230]

I paid $8,000 for my 2005 Triumph Bonneville T-100, so $8,500 for a 2013 model doesn't sound bad to me.

What does sound bad is the prediction that I heard this morning on the news that the price of gasoline in the SF Bay Area could reach $6 a gallon next year. 

[AzCal Retred]

OK...the oil wells already exist...the refineries already exist...the transport infrastructure is mostly piping, already owned by the Petro guys...looks like more of a "Lessee how much we can get away with" move rather than actual issues. Refinery explosions/fires should already be regulated by OSHA/NTSB/etc. so are unlikely unless maintenance, rules & safety precautions are circumvented. So where's this "increase" coming from? If supply is restricted 10%, retail prices go up disproportionately. The Texas natgas folks successfully wargamed that back in 2000. Who's watching out for OUR best interests? How many freakin' coats of varnish can you put on the Exxon/BP/Texaco/Chevron Board of Directors yachts? Did they miss any meals recently?

[Richard230]

It certainly doesn't seem as though Biden releasing 50 million barrels of oil from the U.S. strategic reserves has had much of an impact. The price of gas at my local station is still the same as it was in November. It didn't go down a penny. 

All OPEC has to do is to cut production to counter any increase of oil supplies from other sources. California pays something like 40 cents a gallon more than it should and no one has been able to explain why. For some reason a series of CA Attorneys General have been reluctant to investigate this issue. 

[AzCal Retred]

So you are saying "Money talks & BS walks" eh? I suppose there's no really good reason to unnecessarily rile up the big donors. 

The 50M barrels even just lowered the Petro Bo'az cost, as there were no "extraction operation" costs, right? Funny how prices instantly go up but just creep begrudgingly downward. It's like that old heroic, lifesaving 3-legged pig joke "a pig that good, you don't want to eat him all at once"

It's to the point now that they don't even sugar-coat it.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-losers-1410535536
Competition Is for Losers - If you want to create and capture lasting value, look to build a monopoly, writes Peter Thiel
Perfect equilibrium may describe the void that is most of the universe. It may even characterize many businesses. But every new creation takes place far from equilibrium. In the real world outside economic theory, every business is successful exactly to the extent that it does something others cannot. Monopoly is therefore not a pathology or an exception. Monopoly is the condition of every successful business.
Tolstoy famously opens "Anna Karenina" by observing: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Business is the opposite. All happy companies are different: Each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same: They failed to escape competition.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/imports-and-exports.php#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20OPEC's%20share%20of,of%20U.S.%20crude%20oil%20imports.
Since 1977, the share of U.S. total petroleum and crude oil imports from OPEC has generally declined. In 2020, OPEC's share of U.S. total petroleum imports was about 11%, and its share of U.S. crude oil imports was 14%. Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC exporter, was the source of 7% of U.S. total petroleum imports and 8% of U.S. crude oil imports. Saudi Arabia is also the largest source of U.S. petroleum imports from Persian Gulf countries. About 10% of U.S. total petroleum imports and 12% of U.S. crude oil imports were from Persian Gulf countries in 2020.
By adding domestically produced PV & Wind sourced H2 (NOT stripped from NatGas ) to supplement 10% of our energy mix, especially as natgas blends, we could painlessly cut the Mid-East out of our decision making process. Maybe finally start sanctioning the A-holes that actually funded 911 and wantonly butchered out US Journalist Kashoggi. I'm pretty sick of 13th century morality being applied to 21st century weaponry. Someone needs to wake up out there. If you are outbreeding your food supply, that will inevitably be controlled either by internal action or externally by others - the choice is yours. The Chinese next door already have a plan in motion, and they have good control of the water supply already. Looks like a vulture-festival may be in the works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa#:~:text=The%20MENA%20region%20is%20characterized,region%20is%2026.8%20years%20old.
The MENA region is characterized with a young average population age. The median age across the MENA region is 26.8 years old.
https://www.reuters.com/article/food-climatechange-mideast/fears-grow-as-middle-east-food-import-bill-set-to-double-by-2035-expert-idUSL5N11G4AP20150911
The Middle East currently imports about $35 billion of food annually, and this looks set to rise to $70 billion in two decades as climate change impacts crop yields and the population rises, said Mahmoud Solh, of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

[Keef Sparrow]

The Trident 660 is $8,200 (the cheapest Triumph i could find) which is reasonable, but it's a stubby little sport standard that looks like it's designed for teenagers.   I really lament the loss of longer tail sections on many sporty bikes, they look like they've been cut off prematurely

It has a possum scraper and I would point blank refuse to buy any motorcycle fitted with one of those stupid and unnecessary appendages.    Shame as it's otherwise a very good bike according to reviews by those that had actually ridden it, and it has less of the mostly unwanted and unused by most riders 'tec' like rider modes etc that festoons other modern machines and pushes the prices up.

[Richard230]

Speaking of monopolies: There was a long article in my newspaper yesterday titled "Record beef prices, but ranchers aren't cashing in", written by Peter S. Goodman and published by the New York Times that explained why beef prices are so high, even though the ranchers producing the cows are getting less for their product than they used to. According to the article, it is mostly because that the meatpacking industry in the U.S. has been taken over by just four companies, Tyson Foods, Cargill, plus a pair of companies controlled by Bazillion corporate owners, National Beef Packing Co. and JBS. These four companies control the beef market and pay for the cows as little as they feel they can get away with, which many times will not even cover the ranchers operating costs, causing them to go out of business - thereby leading to even higher meat prices.   

I hear that chicken and egg prices will be going up next year too, according to the largest egg producer in the U.S. - and they ought to know.   

Time to go looking for "road kill". There should be lots of dead skunks on the highways in a few months. 

[Carl Fenn]

Well from fiends and contacts Triumph still have reliability issues for sure, and what about the new BMWs at £18,000 totally electronic rubbish.

[Karl Childers]

I hear that chicken and egg prices will be going up next year too, according to the largest egg producer in the U.S. - and they ought to know.   

Time for me to start raising chickens again.

[Richard230]

Time for me to start raising chickens again.

Here is a picture of my daughter's new chicks. One hen produced 10 chicks which hatched all at the same time. How do they do that? One got picked off by a hawk, but she still has 9 left, along with another 16 hens and one active (but chicken) rooster.

[Keef Sparrow]

A year or so ago Triumph moved all motorcycle production (apart from 1 off specials and prototypes) from the UK to Thailand to save on costs. Guess what? They haven't passed these savings on to their customers and are marketing themselves as a 'Premium brand' even though their bikes are made in the far east. Ever get the feeling you've been swindled? 

[Richard230]

A year or so ago Triumph moved all motorcycle production (apart from 1 off specials and prototypes) from the UK to Thailand to save on costs. Guess what? They haven't passed these savings on to their customers and are marketing themselves as a 'Premium brand' even though their bikes are made in the far east. Ever get the feeling you've been swindled? 

I believe that my 2005 Triumph Bonneville T-100 (which I gave to my daughter and she is still riding) was the last Bonneville made in the UK. After that year they were manufactured in Thailand. Take that UK union workers. You were getting paid too much and we found new workers and robots that will assemble our bikes cheaper than you.