Why are bike manufacturer websites so bad?

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the_wes

Grey Hound
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
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Location
Brackenfell, Cape Town
Bike
Harley Davidson (all models)
Does this annoy anyone else? Bike websites, especially locally, that are so badly laid out and badly designed. Drives me mad.

Ok, bad design aside (because I have yet to see a local bike manufacturer site with a good design) what about usability, for example:

www.kawasakisa.co.za doesn't even have the new KLR listed

www.honda.co.za has the prices on a seperate list to the bike models

www.suzukisa.co.za (and a lot of others) have the models grouped into ridiculous categories, eg, the V-Strom under "Standard". wtf is Standard???

www.bmw-motorrad.co.za just has info scattered everywhere

and what's with all these sites having like 1 photo of the bike? a bike is an emotional thing, where are my galleries, where is my colour selector, where is my accessories page? why do I have to search around to find the price? why does the Suzuki site list an ABS V-Strom when the dealer says it's not available?

why do you always have to search the web for reviews and forums to find out the latest info on new models, etc. surely the manufacturer's website should be a one-stop-shop for all this info?

there are some good ones out there, for example www.ktm.com and www.buell.com - these are sites that can actually get you excited about a bike, www.kawasaki.co.uk is also ok, as is www.suzuki.co.uk

am i overly critical or does anyone else feel this way?
 
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