Ever wondered why you don't ride a motorcycle? It's not because your mom says they're dangerous. It's because no one's ever demonstrated their advantages to you in a way that matters, then offered you the one you want. (...)
The Problem Is Motorcyclists: Here in the US, bikes are cheap and credit is cheaper. Combine that with our overwhelming need to overcompensate and you create a market that sees motorcycles as toys. And who wants a practical toy? Instead of nice, sensible transportation, we all want 200mph death machines or idiotic cruisers with extra chrome conchos. And the motorcycle industry is very happy to comply, selling you GSX-R1000s by the container load, all at 0% financing.
And, guess what happens? We all go out and kill ourselves. The Harley idiots... are all drunk, all the time and refuse to wear helmets. The sport bike tools think their chin strap beards and bright white sneakers endow them with a professional athlete's riding ability and buy those GSX-Rs as first bikes, then quite predictably run them into the first tree off the dealer lot. And, it turns out that being a professional athlete in, say, football, doesn't make you a professional athlete in motorcycling. So those high profile, low intellect types hit those same trees, creating even more negative press.
There are a few guys who get it of course. You can spot them riding around in their Roadcrafters, with tool rolls strapped to the back of their immaculately maintained sport tourers and adventure bikes. But all the rest of riderdom is so annoying that the few in the know put up barriers to outsiders, don't encourage new riders and don't attempt to reform the knuckle draggers. Then, we're subject to the same legislation, the same attitudes, the same unavailableness of good bikes, so we're just as bad as everyone else.
The Problem Is Baby Boomers: Something funny started happening in the 1980s. A whole generation of middle class white men decided they wanted to start buying bikes. This had nothing to do with the motorcycles, mind, but more to do with the sudden availability of credit and the unprecedented buying power it gave them. Every year, until everyone realized that was an enormous scam in 2008, motorcycle sales increased.
And the kind of bikes that were being developed and sold changed to suit them. If you owned a small general contracting firm and a nice man at the bank suddenly told you you could buy any motorcycle you wanted, would you want a nice little runabout or the HOG with the most tassles ever squeezed on two wheels? Bikes got faster, got more gadgets and got more expensive andway heavier as a result. No longer was it desirable for a motorcycle to be light and simple and good, it had to weigh at least 500 pounds, go at least 150mph and be FUCKING EPIC. Of course, that also made them more expensive than ever before and essentially ruled out the potential for an owner to maintain it themselves. Or for women, short people or the uninitiated to ride them. Not being sexist, promise, but have you seen how tall the seats are on most bikes?
The Problem Is The Industry: Every year bike sales increased. Man, the industry was doing a really good job, huh? We should totally keep doing exactly what we were doing and everyone should get a raise, right? If the Boomers are the ones buying bikes, we should focus totally, 100 percent on them and totally forget to introduce riding to a new generation or to use this opportunity to expand the appeal of motorcycling, right? Right? If you stick your head out in motorcycles, it gets lopped off. So damn right! Someone promote that young man, he's a real go getter. (...)
To understand the bike industry, you have to understand that it has two parts: the manufacturers, most of which are in Japan, and the American importers, most of whom are in Orange County. With a decent number of sales of very expensive motorcycles, the American market had been something of a cash cow for those manufacturers. Combined with Western Europe, we were the consumers buying the really exciting new motorcycles, the ones Honda and Yamaha and Suzuki and Kawasaki were excited to be making. Then, the economy collapsed. Or, at least the part that moved motorcycles in the US and Europe. Sales practically stopped, the American importers didn't have a freakin' clue what to do, and so the Japanese concentrated elsewhere.
Honda sells 19 million motorcycles a year worldwide. At its peak, the American motorcycle market accounted for 1.1 million total bike sales a year. Now, that's under 500,000. Harley sells 250,000 of those (because classic rock just won't die), Honda's the next biggest at 125,000 or so, and everyone else is orders of magnitude smaller.
All of a sudden, sportbikes don't sell and, try as they might, Harley's success can't be emulated by the Japanese. Kawasaki logo's just never looked as good on a bandana. (...)
Add all that up. Millenials were never engaged by the motorcycle industry. The guys who should be buying bikes all got killed or scared off. Boomers don't have credit anymore and are aging out of riding anyways. Motorcycling desperately needs a new audience, but it lacks the ability to talk to anyone who didn't grow up racing motocross (bro!), doesn't have the product mix anyone wants to buy anymore, and the parent companies can't be bothered making the bikes newly-impoverished Americans might be interested in buying. Why would you, when this country only accounts for .66% of your sales?
by Wes Siler, Lanesplitter | Read more:
Image:uncredited
The Problem Is Motorcyclists: Here in the US, bikes are cheap and credit is cheaper. Combine that with our overwhelming need to overcompensate and you create a market that sees motorcycles as toys. And who wants a practical toy? Instead of nice, sensible transportation, we all want 200mph death machines or idiotic cruisers with extra chrome conchos. And the motorcycle industry is very happy to comply, selling you GSX-R1000s by the container load, all at 0% financing.And, guess what happens? We all go out and kill ourselves. The Harley idiots... are all drunk, all the time and refuse to wear helmets. The sport bike tools think their chin strap beards and bright white sneakers endow them with a professional athlete's riding ability and buy those GSX-Rs as first bikes, then quite predictably run them into the first tree off the dealer lot. And, it turns out that being a professional athlete in, say, football, doesn't make you a professional athlete in motorcycling. So those high profile, low intellect types hit those same trees, creating even more negative press.
There are a few guys who get it of course. You can spot them riding around in their Roadcrafters, with tool rolls strapped to the back of their immaculately maintained sport tourers and adventure bikes. But all the rest of riderdom is so annoying that the few in the know put up barriers to outsiders, don't encourage new riders and don't attempt to reform the knuckle draggers. Then, we're subject to the same legislation, the same attitudes, the same unavailableness of good bikes, so we're just as bad as everyone else.
The Problem Is Baby Boomers: Something funny started happening in the 1980s. A whole generation of middle class white men decided they wanted to start buying bikes. This had nothing to do with the motorcycles, mind, but more to do with the sudden availability of credit and the unprecedented buying power it gave them. Every year, until everyone realized that was an enormous scam in 2008, motorcycle sales increased.
And the kind of bikes that were being developed and sold changed to suit them. If you owned a small general contracting firm and a nice man at the bank suddenly told you you could buy any motorcycle you wanted, would you want a nice little runabout or the HOG with the most tassles ever squeezed on two wheels? Bikes got faster, got more gadgets and got more expensive andway heavier as a result. No longer was it desirable for a motorcycle to be light and simple and good, it had to weigh at least 500 pounds, go at least 150mph and be FUCKING EPIC. Of course, that also made them more expensive than ever before and essentially ruled out the potential for an owner to maintain it themselves. Or for women, short people or the uninitiated to ride them. Not being sexist, promise, but have you seen how tall the seats are on most bikes?
The Problem Is The Industry: Every year bike sales increased. Man, the industry was doing a really good job, huh? We should totally keep doing exactly what we were doing and everyone should get a raise, right? If the Boomers are the ones buying bikes, we should focus totally, 100 percent on them and totally forget to introduce riding to a new generation or to use this opportunity to expand the appeal of motorcycling, right? Right? If you stick your head out in motorcycles, it gets lopped off. So damn right! Someone promote that young man, he's a real go getter. (...)
To understand the bike industry, you have to understand that it has two parts: the manufacturers, most of which are in Japan, and the American importers, most of whom are in Orange County. With a decent number of sales of very expensive motorcycles, the American market had been something of a cash cow for those manufacturers. Combined with Western Europe, we were the consumers buying the really exciting new motorcycles, the ones Honda and Yamaha and Suzuki and Kawasaki were excited to be making. Then, the economy collapsed. Or, at least the part that moved motorcycles in the US and Europe. Sales practically stopped, the American importers didn't have a freakin' clue what to do, and so the Japanese concentrated elsewhere.
Honda sells 19 million motorcycles a year worldwide. At its peak, the American motorcycle market accounted for 1.1 million total bike sales a year. Now, that's under 500,000. Harley sells 250,000 of those (because classic rock just won't die), Honda's the next biggest at 125,000 or so, and everyone else is orders of magnitude smaller.
All of a sudden, sportbikes don't sell and, try as they might, Harley's success can't be emulated by the Japanese. Kawasaki logo's just never looked as good on a bandana. (...)
Add all that up. Millenials were never engaged by the motorcycle industry. The guys who should be buying bikes all got killed or scared off. Boomers don't have credit anymore and are aging out of riding anyways. Motorcycling desperately needs a new audience, but it lacks the ability to talk to anyone who didn't grow up racing motocross (bro!), doesn't have the product mix anyone wants to buy anymore, and the parent companies can't be bothered making the bikes newly-impoverished Americans might be interested in buying. Why would you, when this country only accounts for .66% of your sales?
by Wes Siler, Lanesplitter | Read more:
Image:uncredited
