Team-BHP - Royal Enfield Pegasus 500 owners feel cheated, express disappointment over cheaper Signals 350

There is no reason to worry about the Pegasus 500 laying on the pile of garbage.

I am sure the owner had at least 3 other guys with him to gently lower the motorcycle into the position shown in the photo.

I can just hear him now.....

"OK. Lay it down right here.
No. Not over there. I can't get a good picture if it is there.

Now, pick up those sharp pieces in this area and toss them aside. I can't have anything sharp touching my motorcycle.
This is the place. :)

CAREFUL! CAREFUL!
If my Pegasus gets one scratch on it because one of you was foolish enough to drop it you will pay!

Yes! That looks good. :thumbs up

Now, where did I put my camera?"

Following filming at least 75 pictures, I can see him and his crew righting the bike, dusting it off, him mounting it and riding away saying,
"Just wait until my friends see this.
They will be SO envious."

From a management standpoint, creating a limited edition of a fixed quantity is an expensive proposition.

You need to do planning with details of what to include and what not, which involves time spent by folks higher up the chain as well (more cost). This also involves changing to manufacturing to a certain extent (even if it’s just paint scheme change). The cost increases further if the existing mechanism involved lot of automation as the same need to reprogrammed for a very short while. The cost of promotion also needs to be accounted for.

The sum total of all costs when divided by 1000 comes to a large value and it is very likely that RE is not making a lot of additional money in this side venture (they don't make as much on non-3500c bikes anyway). The company would still periodically do something like this because their market research says so.

If the same is applied to a large batch of vehicles, then the cost burden on individual vehicle will be much lesser (case in point lower price hike for 350cc).

Also, it is more likely that they planned to launch Pegasus and signals all along as you can't just generate a new lineup so quickly based on success of one variant.

Other than the missing ABS (which none of the other UCE 500 equipped machines sold in India have), a limited edition is a great buy for someone looking to buy 500cc RE. If it survives 20 odd years, we will start 100 year anniversary of WW2; who knows how valuable this may turn out to be.

Firstly, a round of applause for @neil.jericho for such an insightful post! Very well written indeed. clap:

So I came across this article from Financial Express, that claims to have RE's side of it. What made me shake my head in disbelief was this:

Quote:

Moreover, it is only the owners of the Pegasus edition that have access to exclusive Pegasus apparel and accessories, thereby adding to the exclusivity of the motorcycle.

That's some brazenness right there!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana (Post 4456360)

"No one cares!"
Not other bikers, not the public and most importantly not Royal Enfield.

Apparently RE does, after all they prospective buyers of "exclusive Pegasus apparel and accessories":Frustrati

Breaking news: Pegasus owner dumps his super limited edition classic heritage blah blah into the garbage dump!

https://www.news18.com/news/auto/own...h-1868147.html

FTA: "So it seems like the Royal Enfield Pegasus 500 owners were not giving empty threats to the Indian cruiser motorcycle brand. As per a report, one of the Pegasus 500 owner has actually thrown his Royal Enfield motorcycle worth Rs 2.4 Lakh in the garbage."

Yes, there's a pic. I'm too scared to try posting it because I can never seem to do it right. Just like Royal Enfield, lol.

Okay, all jokes and RE-bashing aside, I have some questions:

1) What do you guys think RE should do to rectify this situation?

2) Why on Earth would RE bother with answer #1 when for every RE customer they lose, they gain five new suckers anyway? :D

I stand by my prediction that absolutely nothing will happen and people will simply continue to buy Royal Enfields as they have been as far back as anyone alive can remember.

I understand that there were two sets of customers for Pegasus:

1. Folks who bought it ONLY for looks and are least concerned about the engine. These are the ones who are disappointed.

2. Folks who wanted a 500 cc engine primarily and found Pegasus to be a good looking 500 cc. These people will never want a 350 cc, no matter whatever the package.

This is a similar case where a same car model is sold with multiple engine options like E220, E350, E63AMG etc. Does the E350 guy tell Mercedes Benz to stop making E220?

If the rider is more concerned with his driving pleasure, then both the 500cc and 350cc are in different leagues. If the rider is more concerned with "Look mama...I have a costly good looking bike", then he will be very pissed off with his neighbour riding a similar looking cheap bike. Worse, if the neighbour gets a cheaper second hand bike and spends 10K to get it painted and kitted in any local accessory market.

The 'Bike in Garbage' stunt is such a lame way of protest! Will it damage the brand image? I doubt. Will it question the sanity of the owner? Probably.

I look at the whole issue like this -

"Enthusiasts are emotional"
"In emotions, sometimes you do stupid things"
"By doing more stupid things to cover up that stupidity, you look more stupid"

P.S. This is a generic statement based on my own personal experiences, and not pointing towards any specific person!

The pegasus owners are pissed off about similar color schemes in Signals and lack of ABS, or basically looks and tech.

Regarding the tech, if you are an informed buyer, you would know that a 500cc bike which you are buying in mid 2018 is bound to get an ABS update within 6 months because Government says so. Would they be still be crying looking at new 500ccs fitted with ABS that would probably be cheaper than their exclusive possessions?

And about the looks, it should not matter if some other bike looks strikingly similar to yours. There are people who like bikes, and would probably recognize it because they were also trying to book it but could not get it. And then there are those for whom all the noise thumping, big, shiny, heavy looking bike is just 'bulleettt!'.

While we can compare this 'exclusive' product with other special edition sports cars, watches etc, lets not forget that the company here is a mass manufacturer of bikes selling around 50K units every month. So, anything they do to attract masses (which means more sales) cannot be questioned on moral grounds. I don't think RE is a top seller due to 'Brand Values'. They know exactly why they sell so much! They will do everything to churn money out of it.

May be these owners can try the legal way. But if we look at it technically, do they really have a case here? They received exactly what they were promised! Even the 'exclusivity'.

I feel the whole fiasco is actually benefiting RE. They are getting free publicity for their newest models. Now everyone knows the new CL 350 comes with new paint schemes and ABS! They probably would have spent millions to reach so many poeple otherwise. May be that's why they won't be reacting to these stunts anytime soon.

Well, the saga continues! 2nd Pegasus lands in garbage yard

https://www.rushlane.com/second-roya...-12280602.html

Now, will this really help? RE seems to have not been affected at all. But, the model is receiving no respect amongst the current owners. I also doubt whether everyone will follow this ritual of dropping their brand new bike in a dump yard.

Besides, has anyone or the reporter paid a second visit to these dump yards? Have they managed to find the bike there? You know why I’m asking!

Bunch of jokers. The Pegasus owners, that is. Those fellows are crying as if they bought a 991R and has now learnt that the 991.2 GT3 will get a manual too.

Oh the angst! "My limited edition Royal Enfield will now not be the investment buy that I thought it would be". Those fellows are acting as if Sotheby's had already reserved a slot for their bikes. These bikes are about as special as one of Maruti's 'Celebration' edition.

All this milking of the armed forces as selling point of their special editions is so lazy, and a bit cringe-worthy. RE has been doing this a long time. It's as if they have one guy whose job is to find some obscure RE reference which the marketing team can sell. Those 250 poppinjays who bought them surely did not so because the history tugged at their hearts! It was just so they can feel a bit entitled among the other polka bandanna-ed, outdated-sunglass RE riders. Bet they also though that they would lead the pack when they go on their next chai-pakoda ride. Which they usually have around mid-day because they will probably will be late. I am sure these these owners are enjoying this circus, huffing and puffing to their coterie of biker friends at the injustice.

This reminds me of this brilliant one-liner from the movie 'My Cousin Vinny', where Joe Pesci says 'You were serious about that?'.

I bet this was RE's reaction too. They must be scratching their heads now, wondering from when did these shallow, self-absorbed riders become so serious about biking and perceived value.

"It was just a joke. We swear! You know how we often just come out with special editions for the sake of it. And we thought this was cool idea. And later we though hey, 350 will look good like this, so we made it too. C'mon, you guys know we make crap bikes, and we know that you all can't ride for shit, so why get your bandannas in a bunch."