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We have been asked a lot lately how we build our sporting machines. Well, we only know of one way to build machines. I suppose that makes us old fashioned these days, but we build our machines today exactly as we did in 1929.
All frames are hand built from the best steel. All major tube joints are double butted and bronze gas welded. The same is true of our fuel and oil tanks as well. We take great pride in the quality of craftsmanship that goes into every Phantom motorbike. As for propulsion, we have experience of a variety of capacities and configurations. Our philosophy is to use the lightest motor possible to accomplish the performance goal. We take great care in the placement of the motor in order that we might centralise the overall mass of our machines. Some people who are not familiar with The Phantom Manufacturing Company have asked me if we will build a reasonably priced machine. My answer is that all our machines are reasonably priced and have always been so. But I would add that we will never be inexpensive either. When we began this adventure in 1919, Enoch, Titus and I decided that we would not try to compete with the mass production companies that were in vogue at the time. Everyone we knew at the time who was running these companies spent more time with bankers than they did with their products or customers. We have vowed never to let that happen to us. We would rather shut our doors than do such a thing. So our company remains small, our machines are still hand built – often by commission, to a very high standard. As a result, our machines are priced significantly higher than any machine you can buy out of a high street dealer. The machines that these dealers sell are all much of a muchness as far as we can see. Go from one to another and you will see that this is true. These large conglomerates cannot afford to be different. They have huge quantities of capital and huge numbers of shareholders that demand growth in the volume of sales and profit. We are small, but it is only our own money at risk. We answer only to ourselves and our customers. If we keep both of these groups happy then all is well. In fact, if we continually satisfy the customers, we will be rewarded in the end. As a result of all this we must and will be different to all the other brands. We have our own distinctive strengths in design and manufacture. And we feel we have, dare I say it, a spiritual connection with our customers, and the machines that fire their imaginations. Our customers recognise this and that is why they stand by us year after year, generation after generation, regardless of the price of our bikes or their scarcity. For better or worse, this is the only way we know to build motorbikes
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