well, I guess I have to side with Adey, Dwight, and some of the others here. I bought my America because of how I felt when I saw the bike, and read the reviews, and sat on it, not because of where it was assembled. That it WAS assembled in England is just and added bonus for me. But had it been assembled in Japan, Malaysia, etc..., it wouldn't have mattered, because I have come to grips a long time ago with the whole global economy thing. Doesn't mean I like it lock, stock and barrel, and some of the effects it has locally on working people, but sorry, anyone who buys anything based on "where it was made" is SORELY, SORELY deluding themselves. For those people who buy Bosch Power Tools, or Automotive parts, or their really cool high priced German appliances for example, well, some components MIGHT actually be German, but the Spark Plugs are made in Ukraine, the Appliances in New Bern, North Carolina, and Power Tools south of the US Border I'm sure. When BMW put up their plant in South Carolina, their quality and the "Made in Germany" thing were a BIG concern, but that seems to have gone by the wayside, cause I see an AWFUL lot of SC-Made BMW's on the road, in fact, they're almost as common as Toyotas anymore. The Japanese are VERY proud and nationalistic sometimes, and they don't seem to have a problem reverse importing "Made in Ohio" or "Kentucky" Hondas and Toyotas, so why should I have a problem with a made in Asia Triumph. I laugh when I talk to a girl friend of mine who tells me her family will only buy American, cause they don't want the money going back to Japan. Now she is a pretty smart cookie by my book, but I just don't get here on this one, cause GM and FORD have singlehandedly done more to undermine the working man/woman in the US than any other company (with the exception of companies like Maytag!), by almost exclusively sourcing their components from overseas or Mexico, while the "Foreigners" make a point of sourcing components from US BASED suppliers, because of quality issues. Sure, the money goes back to Japan, but last I checked, all of the Foreign companies are also trading on Wall Street, and that's her point. Profits from GM & FORD & DC are "going into American pockets, not Japanese". Well, no offense, but I'm not particularly thrilled if I help someone out on Wall Street, because it's pressure from stock brokers and the hope of driving up short term gains on Wall St. that has been the demise of many American factories, not to mention speculators driving up the cost of living. My point being, if you're going to pass on something because of a baseless argument over something like where it's assembled in a ever-more global economy that is unstoppable, then you'd better be prepared to miss out on a LOT of things in life.
