Motorcycling is dying

[steven c]

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-motorcycle-summit-20171214-story.html
 Got to get those kits out of the house!

[oldbike54]

 The horse and buggy has mostly disappeared also , the world changes , stuff comes and then leaves. There really isn't any amount of slick marketing that will stop the decline of not only motorcycling , but private transport in general . The coming generations should be free to make their own decisions about what makes them happy .

 Dusty

[Spuddy]

Unfortunately, the article makes sense.  But offers nothing new.

Spud

[jas67]

Anyone here see the move Wall-E?

It is a sad prediction of where our society is headed.

Autonomous vehicles, everyone being so engrossed in the small hand held screen, along with how sedentary our society has become all point to that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-kdRdzxdZQ

[oldbike54]

 We became sedentary BECAUSE of the motor vehicle , this isn't anything new . Look , no one loved motorcycles more than me , the damn things basically saved my life , but their disappearance won't cause the world to collapse . The world is changing , always has , always will . Get out and ride , enjoy yourself , don't worry about what future generations do for pleasure .

 Dusty

[molly]

We became sedentary BECAUSE of the motor vehicle , this isn't anything new . Look , no one loved motorcycles more than me , the damn things basically saved my life , but their disappearance won't cause the world to collapse . The world is changing , always has , always will . Get out and ride , enjoy yourself , don't worry about what future generations do for pleasure .

 Dusty

Couldn't agree more.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Anyone here see the move Wall-E?

It is a sad prediction of where our society is headed.

Autonomous vehicles, everyone being so engrossed in the small hand held screen, along with how sedentary our society has become all point to that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-kdRdzxdZQ

  I was just thinking the same thing!

The world is changing , always has , always will . Get out and ride , enjoy yourself , don't worry about what future generations do for pleasure .

 Dusty

I sure as heck don't want to live in a world without motorcycles. Hopefully, I'll be gone before they're legislated off the roads.

[Guzzistajohn]

I was talking to a 21 y/o girl at work about on Monday about "how was your weekend" I told her I did 20 miles in the woods on a dirt bike and ended up with a big strawberry on my left knee. Her comment was "and you kept riding?" The next generation will miss out but oh well, I had my fun my own way

[TOMB]

I think we all know what the future will bring .
The future in some way will look like a Mad Max movie .
Enjoy the present
TOMB

[JoeKirby]

I am doing my part, raised two millennials that ride.

[Tusayan]

It's not clear to me what metric is being used to measure the "death" of motorcycling.  What is clearer is that every good, twisty road I ride, in Europe and the US has more motorcyclists on it than ever before.  I do agree that the industry has become complacent and unimaginative, focused on one demographic, but it seems to me that demographic and the others combined are pretty active.  The risk aversion of masses huddled together in growing cities is probably a good thing given the activity of the rest of us - I wouldn't look forward to still more motorcyclists on fun rural roads.

As for the today's fashion of predicting that we'll all be using public transport soon, I think it's as valid as most predictions...  which is to say that despite a rational basis for the prediction it ignores many factors worldwide that will make the world go in a different direction, in most places.

[Orange Guzzi]

Some one put together a survey here on WG.  I would wager that the numbers match the news stories and trade publications own survey's. 

3 used units for every 1 new units being sold at the Dealers.  Makes me want t go sell couple of my bikes to the dealer rather than C.L. or F.B.  Less hassle. 

2008 was the top of the bell curve.  2018 is my last year of motorcycles.  I am going to cars.  Getting old and lazy.  Will miss it, but getting old and lazy. 

Also, I live in an area and on a road in Southern Indiana that would rival any of your favorite roads.  On any day, the number of bicycle riders out number the motorcycle 20 to one.  All their fancy stretch one piece clothing is fun to watch. 

[Orange Guzzi]

I think we all know what the future will bring .
The future in some way will look like a Mad Max movie .
Enjoy the present
TOMB

With a few KTM Super Dukes thrown in for fun. 

[oldbike54]

That's what they said about horses. There are about 3+ million in CA alone!

I like the Star Trek next generation version of the future over Mad Max...but none of us will be there to see it.

Maybe too optimistic but I tend to think that way these days.

 Horses have been around for 55 million years , motorcycles for what , just a bit over a hundred years . Plus , when motorcycles go feral they rust away , never witnessed a horse do that 

 I do agree , the Star Trek version of the future is preferable , although I don't remember any motorbikes 

 Hello Mike 

 Dusty

[oldbike54]

Hello back!!

But horses have only been in N America for 400 years or so and I have read reprints of News papers in the east (NY) that predicted the demise of the breed now that the "horseless carriage" had arrived.

The subject apparently had been rasies by concerned stable owners and the association of horse sh-t picker uppers!
And BTW the Star treck motos were anti gravity and jet propelled if you remember the chase thru the woods w/mark and leigh...looks to be great fun, unless you hit a tree!

Dressing for dinner tonite....

 Those "motos" were in Star Wars , not Star Trek ,  Star Wars is made up , Star Trek is real 

 Have fun tonite , although I am having a hard time picturing you in anything other than moto clothes 

 Dusty

[Tom]

Nevada has herds of wild horses roaming freely.  Don't know of any wild motorcycles doing that.   

[webmost]

Look, once you adjust for inflation, median household incomes are down four grand since 2000. That's one used bike less funny money per house. If you then adjust for all the new "necessities", such as smart phones in every hand and wide screens in every room, who knows, you're prolly talking a half a new bike a year per house.

[cappisj1]

“The horse and buggy has mostly disappeared also , the world changes , stuff comes and then leaves. There really isn't any amount of slick marketing that will stop the decline of not only motorcycling , but private transport in general . The coming generations should be free to make their own decisions about what makes them happy .”

Dusty, this is an amazing statement that applies to much more then motorcycles. Now I have a thought topic for tomorrow’s ride...

[Ncdan]

Only one stat in the subject. Mine ant going nowhere and as long as gasoline is sold I’ll be ridding. This won’t happen our lifetime I don’t think.

[keuka4884]

I thought we were well on our way to driverless cars until I read a recent article. The article states that there must be a completely reliable cellular system intact before driverless cars dominate the landscape. It said even a 5G network will not be enough to handle these cars. The cars depend on transmitting and receiving lots of data in milliseconds of time to avert or redirect a vehicle to prevent accidents. And that especially applies to rural areas where many, many dead zones exist in the US. The system needs tremendous bandwidth, which is years away. They said 20-30 years. So the car makers are forging on ahead even though the cellular system is probably two decades away. I do like that. I'll be long dead by then. As for motorcycles, they will never be banned. I see a cycle here where we might be on a downward trend. But with expected downward pressure on wages, cheap motorcycling will be here for a long time. Ever been to Southeast Asia or India where motorcycles rule the roads? I think we will see more of that in the warmer parts of the US.

[Sheepdog]

Motorcycling isn’t dying around here. We have seven of them on the farm. Only two are not currently running...

[Gliderjohn]

I think the article is correct in so much that the industry needs more female riders which intern will produce more future riders.
If you have been following the thread on what first got one interested in riding, it was more often then not due to exposure at a very young age. Parents that are riders or that are interested in their kids riding need to expose them at 4-5 years old. The old original style minibikes started many a riding career let alone the little 50cc bikes. Put an appropriately dressed kid on dirt on a 50cc bike and the risks will be minimal. The kids need to find out that "real" reality can be better than virtual reallity.
The last thing is one or more of the manufacturers need to come in the market offering a spread of step up bikes and an inovative marketing plan like what Honda did in the 60s.
GliderJohn

[betres]

Reminded of Michener's book Centennial where he speaks of Eohippus leaving what is now North America, heading up and over the top and then across Asia and evolving into the horse and finally making its way back "home".   Yep, things change. 

[Arizona Wayne]

I think the article is correct in so much that the industry needs more female riders which intern will produce more future riders.
If you have been following the thread on what first got one interested in riding, it was more often then not due to exposure at a very young age. Parents that are riders or that are interested in their kids riding need to expose them at 4-5 years old. The old original style minibikes started many a riding career let alone the little 50cc bikes. Put an appropriately dressed kid on dirt on a 50cc bike and the risks will be minimal. The kids need to find out that "real" reality can be better than virtual reallity.



I did that with both my sons.....put them on a Honda MR50 dirt bike and they loved the heck out of it before they were old enough to drive.  1 traded up to a 125 MX bike and the other rode a street bike for awhile, but neither stuck with bikes like I have.  You can take a horse to the trough but you can't make it drink. 

55+ years of riding and even I ride less now than I used to even retired.   

[Lannis]

In my great-grandfather's day, 100 years ago, you could buy a new or used motorcycle and ride all you wanted, on public roads or public land.   Gasoline was available for sale on the side of the road, shops were available to work on them, or you could work on them yourself.   I'm sure there were articles in the papers of the day predicting "the demise of motorcycling" based on the coming of airships or running out of petroleum.

In my grandfather's day, 75 years ago, you could buy a new or used motorcycle and ride all you wanted, on public roads or public land.   Gasoline was available for sale on the side of the road, shops were available to work on them, or you could work on them yourself.   I'm sure there were articles in the papers of the day predicting "the demise of motorcycling" based on the coming of new car models or running out of petroleum.

In my father's day, 50 years ago, you could buy a new or used motorcycle and ride all you wanted, on public roads or public land.   Gasoline was available for sale on the side of the road, shops were available to work on them, or you could work on them yourself.   I'm sure there were articles in the papers of the day predicting "the demise of motorcycling" based on the coming of personal backpack helicopters or running out of petroleum.

In my younger days, 25 years ago, you could buy a new or used motorcycle and ride all you wanted, on public roads or public land.   Gasoline was available for sale on the side of the road, shops were available to work on them, or you could work on them yourself.   I KNOW there were articles in the papers of the day predicting "the demise of motorcycling" based on legislation, technology, or running out of petroleum.

And now the exact same thing today.   Anyone can buy a new or used motorcycle, and ride all they want, all day long, all over the world.   Gasoline is available everywhere, cheaper than it's ever been, petroleum reserves are higher than they've ever been, and there are more motorcycles in the country than there have ever been.   Shops are available to work on the bikes, or you can work on them yourself.

And people today, 25 years from now, 50 years from now, 75 years from now, and 100 years from now, people with nothing else to do, and who know that no one will ever go back and check the accuracy of their predictions .... are predicting "The Demise Of Motorcycling".

The wheel turns and the same old spoke keeps coming up ....

Lannis

[Chuck in Indiana]

�The horse and buggy has mostly disappeared also , the world changes , stuff comes and then leaves. There really isn't any amount of slick marketing that will stop the decline of not only motorcycling , but private transport in general . The coming generations should be free to make their own decisions about what makes them happy .�

Dusty, this is an amazing statement that applies to much more then motorcycles. Now I have a thought topic for tomorrow�s ride...

As much as he tries to deny it, Dusty is not the dumbest bear in the woods.

[oldbike54]

As much as he tries to deny it, Dusty is not the dumbest bear in the woods.

 Huh ?

 Dusty

[Pop]

This article reminds me of "global warming" yes it's happening, but what do expect with 6 billion people. Yes there are fewer over the road guys, but the crotch rocketeers are booming. As for autonomous vehicles, bring those babies on. They are going to do the speed limit, they are going to do proper lane changes, and they are going to stop at stop signs. No more coming into your lane because they didn't 'see' you.
It's a win win. Safer riding.
Hey Jim, 7 days to Solstace.
Happy Festivus
Pop

[Triple Jim]

In my great-grandfather's day...

It's not unlike every generation since Socrates predicting the decline of civilization because of the next generation.

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”

― Socrates

[guzzisteve]

It is the MC industries fault for not foreseeing their future, and society's for not producing the the buyers.
There is no fix.
I have my bikes, I don't need newer, fancier, bigger, etc.. Don't need to keep up w/the neighbors stuff.