• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

The Status of motorcycling in the U.S.

Just seeing the word makes me cringe! I’m 61 years old and still traumatized from dentistry of the 1960’s. I get physically ill for a week before every appointment.

I’m looking forward to practical electric vehicles. I think cars are there. Motorcycles maybe a decade or so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've always said I'd fit in better in the 19th century, except when I needed a dental appointment. :rofl:

So long as gooberment doesn't mandate or subsidize anything, so long as it's free market innovation, I'm good with it.

I don't know that they had cataract surgery in the 19th century, either. Yeah, thank GOD for modern medicine. :D
 
Last edited:
It's easy for us to look at our use of motorcycles - or any IC-engine-based transportation - and assume the next generation will see its use exactly as we see it. When we do so, we're almost certainly wrong.

This quote and this thread came back to me today as the wife and I walked the neighborhood. On a street a couple over from our we ran across three kids playing. Two were on bicycles and the third was on an electric minibike. I wonder what he's going to be saying in 50 years.
 
He's probably going to wonder why we took so long to install Mr Fusion units on our cars. :lol2:
 
Cars are so much more comfortable and safe that the discomforts and dangers of motorcycles are becoming less acceptable at any price point.

Hence the success of niche/boutique bikes. If I was a manufacturer, I'd be trying to find my niche, and be very very good at filling it. Low volume, high price.

I think the only hope of expanding motorcycling is a motorcycle that doesn't need good gear to ride, or good gear that I can wear off the motorcycle comfortably at dinner or work. Make the gear so cool that people that don't even have a motorcycle want to be seen in it, and you have a winner...
 
Took me awhile to get thru this thread and there was a lot of good discussion. I have been riding motorcycles for 50 years. I am sensing more of you are my age versus younger. That's the basic issue. We are aging out of a industry that has been my lively hood and passion for 35 of those fifty years. The way we see bikes isn't anything like the way 20-30 somethings see them. They are the future of the sport, not baby boomers. I recently bought a Z900R. I love it. It does everything I want a motor bike to do. But the industry can't survive selling to boomers. So change is in the wind. If the OEMs do not find a way to capture the hearts and minds of 15-30 year old men and women, the sport will be dead in America in the next decade. To do my part, every time I see a young person with any interest in bikes, I take a interest in them. I share my 50+ years of riding and ask them what their interests are. Its the least we can do to mentor the next group of riders in the sport we love. The world is changing. More rapidly than we can possibly imagine. When ever you can, ride (I just got home from a 1000 mile trip to big bend between Christmas and New Years). And when you see a person interested in our sport, talk with them. With technology smothering all other experiences for young folks, make our feelings of freedom and adventure real to them in a way that makes them want to ride. Just an idea. Makes you feel young again too. Wishing you an awesome 2018!
 
Last edited:
Cars are so much more comfortable and safe that the discomforts and dangers of motorcycles are becoming less acceptable at any price point.



Hence the success of niche/boutique bikes. If I was a manufacturer, I'd be trying to find my niche, and be very very good at filling it. Low volume, high price.



I think the only hope of expanding motorcycling is a motorcycle that doesn't need good gear to ride, or good gear that I can wear off the motorcycle comfortably at dinner or work. Make the gear so cool that people that don't even have a motorcycle want to be seen in it, and you have a winner...



I don’t think that’ll matter, as most riders aren’t wearing “gear”.
 
Yeah, I never see so much as a jacket on a motorcyclist unless it's cold and then the jacket isn't "gear". Heck, ain't THAT many that wear helmets.

Buellboy nailed it. "You meet the nicest people..." ain't cuttin' it anymore. No more Easy Riders or Then Came Bronsons. It ain't the culture anymore.
 
They're having a hard time getting kids coming into driving age to get DLs or cars anymore so if the future of the motorcycle industry rests with them it's screwed. As I was nearing the end of my time in the Marine Corps we were getting lots of people coming to the unit that had never driven, didn't have a license and had no interest in either.
 
They're having a hard time getting kids coming into driving age to get DLs or cars anymore so if the future of the motorcycle industry rests with them it's screwed. As I was nearing the end of my time in the Marine Corps we were getting lots of people coming to the unit that had never driven, didn't have a license and had no interest in either.


Exactly. Rose Ann's grandson is 23 and does not have a driver's license and has never expressed a desire. He was very interested however in motorcycling. Purchased and provided transportation to MSF training. Bought him a bike and gear, went on urban rides together for three months to build confidence and get ready for the DPS driving exam. He was an excellent rider. Gave him a fist bump on our last ride and said your ready. He was enthusiastic but he walked away and never finished. Rides a bicycle, bus, train or walks.

I agree. I think we're screwed but I'm to old to have to worry about living with the outcome
 
Those guys aren't interested in tying up their money into depreciating assets?!

If I had the ability to do my daily routine without buying a car, then I would go that route too.
 
Where I live, transportation is necessary. A bike isn`t necessary, more like a pickup is necessary. There is no Uber, no cabs, no bus. That ain't why we moved here. Sometimes folks seem to not understand that much of America doesn't live in a big city.
 
Technically 80% actually do live in a big city.

And about 85% of the economic product comes from cities, too. For Fayette County the biggest employers are the power plant, the Walmart and the school district. Country living is fine, but there is no money in it. I love my dacha, but if I had to choose one...

There was an new story on how Ford was reinventing itself as a mobility company rather than a car manufacturer. They have an app that manages your cars, finds parking and fuel, pays for said parking and fuel, and even serves as a ride sharing platform. I guess if we really want kids to ride, we need to have shared motorcycles.
 
29 year old here, received my motorcycle license in October of 2017. Take that for what you will. :eek2:

I agree with what some of the others have said, motorcycles aren't 'the norm' anymore. Talking with people in the 60+ age bracket, everyone seemed to have some form of motorcycle or motorbike back when, from little Hondas and two-stroke Yamahas to full size Harleys and Triumphs. Motorcycling was 'the norm' and everyone accepted it. Most may not ride anymore, but they spent their teens and twenties riding around on motorcycles. I'm sure there were detractors back then, but probably not like there are today.

Why did motorcycles fall out of 'the norm'? I'd be willing to bet growing up under the mantra of 'motorcycles are dangerous' and 'it's not if you crash, but when' probably had a large part of it for people my age. Plus, motorcycles have developed an air of a pleasure/recreational item instead of a tool that can get one from point A to point B. You get a motorcycle to do weekend rides, not daily commute or do grocery shopping.
 
I saw this article, with the best (longest duration) chart yet about US motorcycle sales:

attachment.jpg


I added the red trend line. What took a decade to build took three years to tear down. That, my friends, is a bubble as clearly shown as any I know. So the "problem with the US motorcycle industry" is that a burst bubble is no fun.
 

Attachments

  • 010518-headshake-us-motorcycle-sales-1990-2016.jpg
    010518-headshake-us-motorcycle-sales-1990-2016.jpg
    30 KB · Views: 300
On the one hand it would be interesting to see if a single demographic/brand drove that bubble. That's just the social scientist coming out in me.

On the other, I'm starting to wonder if I really care if motorcycling survives into future generations. Like Fossil, the problem outlast me. Honestly I have about five more years of dirt in front of me and maybe twenty years of tarmac and gravel if I'm lucky.

I've met some pretty interesting young people. They are all smart, articulate, intuitive and most are better educated that I was at their age. If they have something else they'd rather do, then more power to them. After all, didn't most of us throw out our parent's Kate Smith albums.
 
Now that's a really interesting chart, and it pretty much confirms was said a couple of pages earlier - there's been a bubble. Remove the bubble and you see a growth rate almost too steady to believe.

Meriden, I'd bet on Baby Boomers (i.e. me). The bubble corresponds with the period at which I began to notice, in my camping travels, herds of doctors and dentists on chromed out Harleys, wearing doo rags and having foregone shaving and haircuts long enough that they hoped to pass themselves off as the rebels of their youth. The first wave of Boomers (about 1946 to '50) are already retired, and have either given up riding or at least have bought their last new bike and are nursing it until they trade it for a Can Am or a Miata.

I can relate. At 66, I'm losing upper body strength, so I know I can't ride forever. The VStrom is probably my last bike. In my case, so sad for motorcycle dealerships, but in a few years, I'll probably make some Fiat dealer happy when I drive off his lot with a brand new 124 Spyder.

If somebody is smart enough to capitalize on it, there may be a coming bubble in the sporty two-seaters that went out of fashion as we Boomers grew up and became (ugh) responsible. Now we're irresponsible empty-nesters and those who don't ride may go looking for the new generation of what used to be highly affordable MGBs, Triumph Spitfires, and Carmen Ghias. That's probably why the Fiat 124 name has been brought back, even though it's really a one-off of a Miata.

And beyond that, there may be some high-powered, chromed-out mobility chairs on the horizon. :lol2:
 
Make mine a TR6 please, although after driving my grandsons mustang this week, I don't think I'll be anymore able to climb into a small car than I'll be able to climb onto a tall heavy bike.

At 58 I might have two bikes left in me. They would have to be something different that what is available today. I don't see the DRZ replacement I want on the horizon and I don't know that there is anything else that would entice me into the market. Maybe as I become a real codger a leanable trike?

As for what the kids will be wanting in the future....I don't know, but i think I'm glad I lived when I did.
 
I will admit to more than one covetous glance at the BMW Z4. Although I would be interested in the 124 and the Miata as well. One guy joked that the Miata was a chick car... he picked up a lot of chicks with his.

The TR6 (four wheeled version) was probably my favorite two seater of all times. Beautiful car and one of the few where the wheel size actually matched the wheel wells. Same as the XJ6.

Ever wonder if kids will be waxing nostalgic about the Galaxy edge?
 
I probably glance longingly at Boxters more than Z-4s.

In college, I had a friend who had an MGB-GT, a truly unusual and cool car. But when I was a senior in college, I had mapped out my future. Graduate in the summer of '73, find a reasonable paying job, and score myself either an Opel GT ($3500), a Datsun 240-Z ($3800), or go big for the Porsche 914 ($4100). All loaded with the accessories I needed: tires and an AM radio.

Alas, the realities of the post-Vietnam recession and absolutely non-existent social services jobs set in and instead, I did a stint in the Army and drove a 1972 Dodge Colt - fun little car, but sexy as knee socks with garters. After the Army came marriage and went the dream of the sports car - I married into a Mustang II.
 
I saw this article, with the best (longest duration) chart yet about US motorcycle sales:



attachment.jpg




I added the red trend line. What took a decade to build took three years to tear down. That, my friends, is a bubble as clearly shown as any I know. So the "problem with the US motorcycle industry" is that a burst bubble is no fun.



I think that bubble coincides with the availability of easy to obtain financing with ridiculous terms. I bought a new SV1000 in 2004 as a kid with no credit history. I financed the bike, a jacket, and a helmet with no down payments and $99 a month payments for the life of the account.

The drop off in sales seems to coincide with the financial crash, and that kind of financing never quite returned.
 
I was looking at chart that broke down sales by type in 2015. I was interested because I purchased my Ultra that year. On road such as touring showed about 3.5 of the sales. Dual sport claimed about 4.8 and offroad was about 1.9. The graft showed several years and after the bubble the drop in sales was drastic. Adv riding seemed to be leading by a decent margin. This was based on US sales and still the older group was the leading purchasers.
 
Small sports cars would never make it down my road. I know this because I had a MG Midget with an exhaust pipe smashed nearly flat from speed bumps. :rofl: I'll stick with the old KLR until I can't ride it anymore. My Silverado is my main transportation now days, anyway. I got my first CT90 in 1967 and have only been without a motorcycle for transportation one year since, was 1972. I had a car and couldn't afford the insurance on it. Sold a SS125 Honda to pay for the insurance. A year later I bought a new Suzuki GT550 and have lived happy since.

I too, though, am beginning to not care about motorcycles even though I'm a lifer, raced 'em, toured on 'em, and rode them as daily commuters. Sux getting old.
 
Back
Top