I bought my last new bike (KTM400EXC) in 2000 and can't see myself buying another in my lifetime. As much as I appreciate how much the technology has moved on....I, unfortunately haven't. I'm 61 years old and physically too broken to race any more so seeing that the chances of me using a new bike to its potential are less than slim, my interest level is correspondingly low. As high tech and fantastic to ride as the new rash of bikes are (I have ridden many of the high watermark bikes from recent years), I haven't seen a lot of serious change in recent times. In the seventies and eighties we hung outside bike shops like like Lady Ga Ga fans at the airport itching to see the latest releases from our favourite manufacturer because with only a few exceptions, each new bike was a radical improvement on the previous model. Today's lack of model development is probably driven by the failing economies of the big manufacturers and the factories wanting to get maximum mileage out of the huge research and development costs that go into a new model. If they can stretch the technology out for five or six years, the profits increase.
I agree with Slakey, to me the modern motocross bike is a boring piece of kit because I've seen it all before for the last 10 years. The next big technology jump....the next '98 YZ400F equivalent, will hopefully be a fuel injected two stroke with all sorts of computer controlled porting and gizmos. The public will go mental, the bikes will sell like happy hour schooners and....the technological development will slow down again until in the year 2022 another new idea will come along....maybe an efficient electric racer.
