Motorcycle market: past and future

[markbvt]

Interesting chart drawn by Ilya Khait, who runs the US division of Ural, on the shift the US motorcycle market is currently undergoing. Brilliantly simple, and dead on, IMO.



Full article here, for those of you who subscribe to HFL:
http://hellforleathermagazine.com/20...rding-to-ilya/

--mark

[Stromper]

Pep talk

Motorcycles do help plants metabolize

Crushing end of reasonably paying manufacturing jobs. Most gear heads can no longer find good paying jobs

Oldsters are the only people with a disposable income. This is why market age is trending up.

Modern kids have been pounded into the sheeple model rebelling is a ho stamp or piercing

Being a geezer I remember lots of high school kids with 90's or 125 zipping around and having fun on the very cheap. I think in China a 250 is about 1900 US dollars its what 4000 here ,... why ? I know why this is a test.

If URAL brought their actual antique BMW and sold it here direct for 2500 I think there would be a transporation sector.

[Kurlon]

I want a Gear Up badly, especially this time of year. There are a couple older Urals, a Chinese clone I don't recall the name of and another Russian brand running around Southern ME. They make a point of being out in every storm just to show off. Looks like fun to me.

I've driven a Patrol 2wd a couple times at MEME / Sunday River, one of these days I'm going to rent one for the weekend.

[markbvt]

Yeah, I want a Gear Up as well. I've actually thought about selling the car and replacing it with a hack, but then I'm reminded of how subzero temps suck even with electrics to keep you warm.

--mark

[Rossco]

Since I'm part of the younger generation, I'll say my piece.

Most people my age that buy bikes usually do so mostly for the adrenaline rush, the social club membership, and yea, if they get a nice one, I guess it's a status symbol.

Maybe I'm hanging with the wrong crowd, but the majority of bikes I see at my school on nice days are often late-model sport-bikes and cruisers with elaborate paint-jobs, bling, and loud exhausts.

Of course when the temps drop and the clouds fill in, the shinhy bikes go in the garages and the few serious riders are left. By November of last semester less than a third of the bikes that were parked at the beginning were there.
At that time, during the colder months the only bikes that were there were usually, a TW200, a last generation Nighthawk, a pair of EX500's, an aging Kawi 750LTD, and my '83 Honda. While all of these bikes were undoubtedly treasured by their owners, none of these machines really fit the bill of "driveway jewelry." They were all being used for the purpose of getting from A to B. And they were in the minority.

Personally I just ride because I enjoy riding, going places, saving gas, and saving space. Anyone who has seen my bike in person knows that it isn't pretty, and I'm fine with that.
I guess I'm just weird like that.

[LiterR1]

Since I'm part of the younger generation, I'll say my piece.

Most people my age that buy bikes usually do so mostly for the adrenaline rush, the social club membership, and yea, if they get a nice one, I guess it's a status symbol.

Maybe I'm hanging with the wrong crowd, but the majority of bikes I see at my school on nice days are often late-model sport-bikes and cruisers with elaborate paint-jobs, bling, and loud exhausts.

Of course when the temps drop and the clouds fill in, the shinhy bikes go in the garages and the few serious riders are left. By November of last semester less than a third of the bikes that were parked at the beginning were there.
At that time, during the colder months the only bikes that were there were usually, a TW200, a last generation Nighthawk, a pair of EX500's, an aging Kawi 750LTD, and my '83 Honda. While all of these bikes were undoubtedly treasured by their owners, none of these machines really fit the bill of "driveway jewelry." They were all being used for the purpose of getting from A to B. And they were in the minority.

Personally I just ride because I enjoy riding, going places, saving gas, and saving space. Anyone who has seen my bike in person knows that it isn't pretty, and I'm fine with that.
I guess I'm just weird like that.

Well spoken
I personally could careless about the bling/bells and whistles, I just love to ride Milage not an issue, 4 sets of tires this year alone, rode the steel horse till the last week of november, yes I do occasionally do the NewBurry Street pose, bike rallies, but no need to belong just ride to get my fix and those who have to ask will never know.
thats my 2 Cents worth.

[Stromper]

See your going down the dangerous path

What's next after that...

Finding a quality life mate, raising well adjusted children in safety, providing economic security....


There will be no end to the madness if you don't stop now,


" I spent half my money on liquor and hookers, the rest I just wasted"

[breakdirt916]

holding aside feelings that we are all "authentic motorcyclists who enjoy riding" and not posers...

wtf is social club membership?

is that what NESR/TTD/LRRS are?

[Rossco]

holding aside feelings that we are all "authentic motorcyclists who enjoy riding" and not posers...

wtf is social club membership?

is that what NESR/TTD/LRRS are?

Yes, I specifically bought a motorcycle just so I could be a part of a forum that leghumps it's female members, tells random people that they suck, has a mutiny over fourloko, and is moderated by a man named after a cookie.

[markbvt]

wtf is social club membership?

Don't take the term super-literally. The guy intended it just to mean participation in some sort of group. So yes, NESR would qualify; so would the Lowell or Vermont Bike Nights. So would club racing. Or, as he pointed out in the comments to that article, it could even just be a family thing. The point is that motorcycling has the capacity to bring people together, and I agree with that completely. I've got plenty of friends that I got to know through motorcycling and probably would never have met otherwise.

And no, the point of that chart is not that people buy motorcycles specifically as a means to those ends, just that those factors influence how the market is evolving.

--mark

[pk4882]

What Mark said.

[Stromper]

If you want to go to Harley HOG group Pig Roasts etc you need a HADA to be part of the group... or minimally some kind of big cruiser

[LiterR1]

I could never understand how this Harley vs Street Biker beef stated, Just like Snowboarders and and Skiers