What do young riders want?

We hear the US motorcycle industry is in trouble, and manufacturers are responding with new, more affordable bikes like the 310. It appears, however, that many 310 R/GS buyers already have larger BMWs and are simply downsizing, which isn’t bringing any new, younger riders into the fold.

Is this perception correct? It seems the younger riders I meet on the road are still interested in the smaller Japanese sport bikes. Maybe the TVS 310 Akula would be a better bike to import to the US?

What are MOA members young relatives/neighbors/acquaintances actually buying these days as their first motorcycle? Dirt/street/sport/scooter? New/used? Comments?

This is a great topic and is sure to generate some interesting opinions.
IMHO, one of the most probable theories is that kids today just don’t have very much interest in two wheeled recreational transport. That’s hard for some of us older gearheads to comprehend. We’ve grown up (some have grown up a little less perhaps...?) with an internal desire to “escape the chains” of everyday life and head out to parts unknown in search of adventure in the form of scenic vistas, challenging roads and the almighty quest for the greatest burger known to man etc..
I see the decline of interest in motorcycles as a byproduct of a very different social environment. One in which young folks are far less interested in the same things we are. There’s always exceptions to trends but
my opinion is the decline is inevitable. Including a top heavy demographic of population.
Smart bike makers will focus on smaller E bikes.

flhfxd said:

I see the decline of interest in motorcycles as a byproduct of a very different social environment. One in which young folks are far less interested in the same things we are. There’s always exceptions to trends but my opinion is the decline is inevitable..

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The changing social environment is an interesting consideration.

Growing up in a small town, I graduated from a bicycle to a small motorcycle at 14, as did some of my peers. It seemed a natural progression, as traffic was not a major concern and the small bikes extended our range for practical use and exploration.

Reflecting on this, modern young city dwellers are at a real disadvantage due to traffic if nothing else. While an affordable 50cc bike might still be usable in a small town, it would be marginal or even dangerous in big city traffic and not really much fun.

I wonder how many of us lifelong motorcyclists started on small bikes in small towns, and how many started young in a big city?

I have a big brother. As a kid you look up to your older siblings. He had a 1971 BSA Lightning and all his buddies had motorcycles. Then my cousins all had motorcycles. And so it began. A relatively small town in Newfoundland. As a kid I would drool and dream yhat one day....! I’ve had a 2 wheel addiction ever since! We never had nearly the distractions that kids have today.

OldCamper said:

The changing social environment is an interesting consideration.

Growing up in a small town, I graduated from a bicycle to a small motorcycle at 14, as did some of my peers. It seemed a natural progression, as traffic was not a major concern and the small bikes extended our range for practical use and exploration.

Reflecting on this, modern young city dwellers are at a real disadvantage due to traffic if nothing else. While an affordable 50cc bike might still be usable in a small town, it would be marginal or even dangerous in big city traffic and not really much fun.

I wonder how many of us lifelong motorcyclists started on small bikes in small towns, and how many started young in a big city?

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To your point, I grew up on a farm in central Illinois and started my 55 years of riding on a minibike at around 10 years old. We could ride the dirt roads on the farm or even the local blacktop and never have any worries about traffic, police officers or crazy a$$hats (well, there might have been a few crazy a$$hats, but we knew who they were and avoided them). Anything with a motor was viewed as freedom to go where I wanted and when I wanted. With my dad's full shop on the farm, I was tearing apart small motors at the same time I started riding and that interest has continued all my life.

There are a dozen or more manufactures trying to figure that out as we type. And Gee, you'd think they'd have the best guess, but yet to trip over that answer. Apparently those manufactures have one theory that its urban electric two wheel machines. And not $20k plus models.

What do young riders want?

Other young riders.

Around here, young riders need a place to ride.
OM

Young Riders

Must be fun and must be affordable. I think the fun part is easy to take care affordable very different problem, when I was younger if you got caught riding illegally the usual punishment was you had to push the bike home after a verbal warning, if you were really bad they would talk to your parents. Now it’s give the kid lots of tickets impound the bike or impound and destroy the bike if unlicensed. Repairs, when a shop charges $100+ per hour repairs are soon out of the question. People used to have one phone in the house that cost around $10 to $20 a month,now $100 to $200 per month for every family members phone and internet. Tv used to be, buy tv which were not cheap but after the antenna was up the shows were free now another $100 per month for cable or satellite tv.
You see articles about things the millennials have killed or driven out of the market not because they don’t want them but because they can’t afford them
Last self driving cars will probably end motorcycle riding on public roads.

Also, don't forget the baby boomer generation wave has gone by. There are just not as many young folks as there once was.

They want the best their parents can buy, no responsibility for anything, and they want it right now...because they deserve it.

I don't know any young riders. And that says a lot. The future of two-wheel transport in our world will likely be some kind of autonomous vehicle that is ultra-cheap to operate and likely a throw-away (consumable) machine. None of us (geezers on this forum) will like it.

I don't believe young folks are very interested in cars today either. All my grandkids, and all their friends, want in a car is a cheap platform into which they can plug some sort of entertainment device, and then have the platform move them from point A to point B while they interact with the entertainment device. And before you speculate, they are all college students with top grades, well-adjusted socially with lots of good friends, and on the road to becoming well-adjusted productive adults in the near future with far better jobs than I ever had. My BS in psychology and MBA does not hold a candle to what they are currently studying and doing.

Life today is about interactivity. Young folks don't seem to watch TV--they interact with a video device of some kind. They don't read books--they interact with a video/audio device of some kind. Their whole world seems to be about interactivity. And not the sort of interactivity that involves an internal combustion engine and a pair of handlebars.

I know I am likely the last generation in my family to ever straddle a motorcycle. I am sad when I think too much about it.

shortythorne said:

They want the best their parents can buy, no responsibility for anything, and they want it right now...because they deserve it.

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Well put!!

akbeemer said:

What do young riders want?

Other young riders.

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Go to any amateur motocross or cross-country event and you will see young people in droves. They all hang out in social media... mostly not FB.

Go to any university town and there are young people on scooters all over the place. But the scooters are simply cheap transport for them... somehow the fun of riding isn't getting through.

But go to most any moto social event and it's a sea of gray hair. And most of them are on FB.

The hard part seems to be getting the dirt and college kids to make the transition.



Although I do hear that MSF courses are full of younger riders on smaller bikes... and most are purchased used/inexpensive.

And then there is the Grom!

Ian

shortythorne said:

They want the best their parents can buy, no responsibility for anything, and they want it right now...because they deserve it.

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greenwald said:

Well put!!

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Got offa my lawn!!!


I can assure you that this mentality drives people away from the MOA faster than just about anything you can imagine.

royce said:

I don't know any young riders. And that says a lot. The future of two-wheel transport in our world will likely be some kind of autonomous vehicle that is ultra-cheap to operate and likely a throw-away (consumable) machine. None of us (geezers on this forum) will like it.

I don't believe young folks are very interested in cars today either. All my grandkids, and all their friends, want in a car is a cheap platform into which they can plug some sort of entertainment device, and then have the platform move them from point A to point B while they interact with the entertainment device. And before you speculate, they are all college students with top grades, well-adjusted socially with lots of good friends, and on the road to becoming well-adjusted productive adults in the near future with far better jobs than I ever had. My BS in psychology and MBA does not hold a candle to what they are currently studying and doing.

Life today is about interactivity. Young folks don't seem to watch TV--they interact with a video device of some kind. They don't read books--they interact with a video/audio device of some kind. Their whole world seems to be about interactivity. And not the sort of interactivity that involves an internal combustion engine and a pair of handlebars.

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ya nailed it. their world is the internet. riding MC's, driving cars, or talking are merely distractions from interacting with electrons.

I think it's possible the salvation of the US motorcycle industry might come in the form of simple and inexpensive motorcycles from China and India, direct-marketed in the US by their manufacturers without a 3rd party importer markup in order to keep the MSRP low.

India's Hero Motor Co, for example, builds and sells millions of 97cc “Splendor” motorcycles annually. With an MSRP of less than $750 USD, this very popular and reliable bike sells for about 1/3 the cost of just a replacement ESA shock for an R1200GS! Bikes like the Splendor (and similar Honda Activa) might sell well in rural America, marketed out of local hardware stores and the like.

$750 for a brand new, reliable 100cc motorcycle could be very tempting to a youthful prospective rider who may someday want something bigger.

https://www.zigwheels.com/newbikes/Hero-Moto-Corp/Splendor

Times are certainly different today. In the 60's, there was no internet, no game consoles, and TV's only showed 3, maybe 4-5 channels. Kids played outside and made up games. We went to the drugstores by ourselves. At the drugstore we looked through the magazine racks, and some of us got hooked on Cycle and Cycle World magazines and lusted after the bikes we saw on those shiny pages. These magazines were only 50 cents/issue (IIRC). On these pages, among the ads for BSA's, Triumphs, Norton's, and other machines, were ads for Honda 50's, Yamaha 80's, Suzuki 50's, and other fun, lightweight bikes you could legally license @ age 14 (at least in OK), and you could buy one new for under $350. (A Honda S-90 was $425 when it arrived on the scene). These lightweight, fun machines hooked many of us. At my school, the parking lot was filled with motor motorcycles than cars. In the 70's, the bike (bicycle) boom hit (along with the gas crunch), and these same parking lots filled with bicycles. Go look at your nearest jr high and hi school parking lot -- do you see a single bicycle or motorcycle in the parking lot? Even scarier, as the principal/superintendent if your 15-yo could ride his bicycle/motorcycle to school. Don't be surprised when he tells you -- in no uncertain terms -- that if s/he rides to school on a two-wheeler (even with a license in the case of a motorcycle), s/he will be asked to leave school and come back by mommy's care or by the school bus, and if s/he does it again, it's detention or suspension!

With attitudes like we find today by the adults in charge, how can we expect our youngsters to want to learn how to ride on the road? And this doesn't even take into account the increase in danger on the roads.

Your thoughts?

Cheap

OldCamper said:

I think it's possible the salvation of the US motorcycle industry might come in the form of simple and inexpensive motorcycles from China and India, direct-marketed in the US by their manufacturers without a 3rd party importer markup in order to keep the MSRP low.

India's Hero Motor Co, for example, builds and sells millions of 97cc “Splendor” motorcycles annually. With an MSRP of less than $750 USD, this very popular and reliable bike sells for about 1/3 the cost of just a replacement ESA shock for an R1200GS! Bikes like the Splendor (and similar Honda Activa) might sell well in rural America, marketed out of local hardware stores and the like.

$750 for a brand new, reliable 100cc motorcycle could be very tempting to a youthful prospective rider who may someday want something bigger.

https://www.zigwheels.com/newbikes/Hero-Moto-Corp/Splendor

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Heck it would attractive to me except I might need another 100CC to haul me and my spare tire.

A couple of years ago after I had attended my 40th HS reunion, the principal of the High School asked some of us to come speak to the kids. The principal said that many of the kids feel demoralized and feel the future is hopeless. So, we went to the school and spoke to a majority kids in the school. Afterwards, we had a chance to sit down and talk with some of the kids one-on-one. When the principal and teachers were not around, they started to ask about some of the pranks and stunts that past kids had done in the school. I was a little shocked when I found out that I was involved in about half the pranks. It seems that some of the kids idolized me. I just thought of myself as a regular kid. But, after talking with the kids. I found out that they can't get away with anything. And punishments are severe. I think most of them feel that they are not allowed to have fun. And, this is how they live their lives.

When I was in 12th grade I bought my first BMW. It was used, but only a year old. Rode it to school whenever I could. Took my first International trip at 18. My feeling is that if you can't live a little bit on the wild side, life will pass you by. It seems that the latest generation of kids are afraid to live a good life.

Another strange fact. Some of the kids don't start dating until they go to college. Some even wait until after college. I have a nephew who is 27 and hasn't had a steady girl friend. Some of his friends are the same way.

With this type of attitude towards life, I can understand why they are not buying motorcycles.