Yes, it was a pleasure showing Torpados to customers. Most were sure that they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between bikes two centimeters apart in size, much less one centimeter. Then they'd take the bikes out for test rides and come back smiling. "Didn't think I could tell, but it was night and day," I remember one guy saying.

The majority of dealers probably just ordered them in 4- or 5-cm increments. Why load up on inventory?

I can see that point of view, even though the bikes came in only one color per model, which helped to keep inventory costs down. But the sales rep would have had to educate the dealers on the benefit, the dealers would have had to educate the sales staff, and the sales staff would have had to educate the customers.

Might have worked out on the West Coast, in large cosmopolitan areas with lots of bike racers, but probably nowhere else.