Europeans are different
The R1 research has proven that English think different from Germans and Italians have other priorities than French (for example). On top of that all the other countries again show different preferences.

Even some of our stereotypes were shattered. Did you imagine that Italian supersport riders are less interested in motorcycle racing than bikers in the UK? Or that the Germans and the French show a comparatively higher interest in GP racing than all the other European countries?

Almost 30 % of Italians answered that they have no interest in motor sports whereas almost 80% of the English mentioned strong interest in world superbike. How come? Fogarty and Ducati have been a good team in the past. Have the Italians lost their passion for racing or is it just due to better TV coverage?

Lets look at some of the most interesting results:

The contrary applies when talking about riding on circuits. Most French and Italian supersport riders use circuits obviously more often than the rest of the European riders do. A result of the higher number of tracks in these countries?

Who relies most on magazine tests?
Would you guess it? Our prejudice was, that the Northern Europeans read most bike magazines and rely a lot on test results. The answers given, show a different picture, much to our surprise. Almost 15% of the Germans stated, they do not care about test reports in magazines! That is the highest percentage in our questionnaire.

A bit over 12% of the British do not rely on tests. On the other hand in particular the Italians are relying a lot on circuit tests of national bike magazines. 72% is the highest figure quoted concerning magazine reports! Still a stunning 55% of the French had the same preference for circuit tests. The English prefer open road tests (60%) to circuit tests (27,5%).

Who actually answered?
The respondents had a high rate of experience. Almost 80% stated, that they were riding motorcycles for more than one year and still 27% had an experience of more than 10 years!

Since the theme was R1, most of the respondents were strongly supersport influenced. Only 38% stated to either own a different type of machine or none at all. Highest rate of response were R1 owners (25%), followed by other supersport machine riders. The age given was also representative for the supersport clientele: most of them were between 18 and 40 years. The only disappointing fact: only a little more than 2% of female motorcyclists participated in the questionnaire, with lowest rate in UK (1,3%) and highest rate in Germany (3%). The participation across the European countries shows the following split: Highest participation with 27% was in UK. Certainly a result of the research being conducted in English language. Italy was amazingly high with almost 18% of the responses, followed by Germany with almost 15%. Bikers in France (5,7%) and Switzerland (1,2%) did not participate in higher numbers. Netherlands scored with over 12% and the other European countries contributed with over 18%. Non Europeans were only a minority of 3%.

What is the ideal supersport specification?
Most of the supersport riders (56,5%) expect adisplacement between 750 and 1000 cc. That obviously seems the right size for a supersport machine. Only 8% want more than 1000 cc. A clear verdict for the present concepts like R1 with an emphasis on weight versus performance and engine size. The ideal dry weight for the majority (58%) is between 150 kg and 180 kg. Most riders seem to realize, that weight is an important factor, when it comes to overall sport performance. Handling, braking, acceleration is a result of weight and engine performance. Most of you seem to understand, that engine performance alone is no guarantee for supersport fun. The ideal power: 43% imagine between 100 HP and 150 HP and only 25 % want more than 150 HP. Only riders in the UK had a stronger tendency to higher power with almost 40% voting for more than 150 HP.
Top speed shows a linear picture across Europe: over 70 % of you expect more than 250 km/h.

Web research encouraging
The success of this research motivated us European product planners to continue conducting research via the net. We need your opinion and ideas around motorcycle to come up with ideas that really suit the demands and imagination of motorcyclists in all Europe. Not an easy task sometimes, since taste differs a lot amoung Europeans.