Manufacturers going to the wall is a double edged sword. KTM is probably the one manufacturer that might produce the high spec bike some of you guys are looking for. However, to say a shock absorber manufacturer they aren't a customer, they are a PITA. If KTM go bust, the shock manufacturer will breath a sigh of relief that they won't have to keep fending off requests for weird parts and chasing payment (I stopped supply of a part to TVR in another life, they though their name was too important for them to pay their bills or stay within the terms of the parts warranty. My employer was fine that I'd dumped a loss making account).

How will say BMW react though? They can get together with HPN or Touratech and produce a factory variant at a higher price than their standard offering and try to get more KTM's old customers. As I believe has been pointed out above though, they'll basicaly expect their suppliers to give away the fancy bits to keep the standard business. The alternative is to say to KTM's old customers, "there's the G650, F800 and R1200, take 'em or leave 'em". They'd take 25% of KTM's business for no effort at all.

We are of course own own worst enemies. We buy BMW's that aren't properly tested. We buy a Triumph because it has a Union Jack on the side panel. We buy sportsbikes because one with the same name on the tank won something. The manufacturers provide the sub-£10000, new styled plastic, space-invaders-game-built-into-the-dash we demand. They cut corners on the suspension because 10 guys will buy because it's the new shape to one that notices the shocks.

Did anyone realise Triumph are using Excel rims on the Tiger BTW? No idea if these are better or just their old rims rebranded, but maybe they do listen sometimes?

Andy