Rant Regarding the Decline of Motorcycle Riding

[tenequip]

Well, I still enjoy a zip around the back roads here in Western Pennsylvania. I think the younger crowd is much more involved with their phones and social media and not very curious about the world outside their house. You don’t learn much about fixing things from playing with a phone, so that probably puts them in the new bike market if they have an interest at all. I guess, l’m thinking lack of interest and cost are a lot of the problem. I don’t think the fellow who wrote the story is a “rider”, probably took that ride to write the story. I have been riding since the sixties with a thirty five year break to rise four kids and hope to keep riding for few more years.
Tenequip

 

[adamchandler]

I'm not going to click Bloomberg links (they're on my S*** list along with Forbes, huffpo, business insider and buzzfeed) but....

I think the world is always changing and globally, there are still many millions of riders. The industry isn't going away but in USA, I think it will change. Will it change in a way I am happy? Not clear. I have a very parallel situation with craft beer. I've rated 6,000 beers and had (that I've tracked) about 11,000 beers since 2012. My wife and I travel the world to beer releases, festivals and bottle-shares. We trade beer and speculate on its value and I've sent someone 24 bottles for 1 of theirs to try something rare. But I'm 38 and those that are 18-25 aren't drinking beer. They're not even drinking at all. The micro-brew industry that I long thought would eventually mimic England and Western Europe with a "pub on every corner" or at least every village having a small home brewery for the locals to enjoy seems to be fading. We did get there with thousands of local breweries in USA and significant gains in market share but with the trend going to Gen Z / Gen Alpha not drinking and millennials moving on to zero calorie things like seltzer, I fear the huge headway we have made in beer since Greg Noonan wrote the Bible on homebrewering in the 80s will simply retreat back to which macro can brew the most flavorful malt liquor or seltzer.

I say this because even though I weep a bit for the dark days of beer that may be ahead of us as the industry continues to consolidate, there's not really much I can do about it. I can only buy (and drink) so much beer. I can only buy and ride so many motorcycles and that's the problem with culture and trends. I think motorcycling has (as it is today) 25 more years but then? I'll be nearly 65 and who knows what the people born today will want to do with the roads we have and the technology available. I hope there's still a vibrant community but like fans of steam locomotives and classic all-wood boats or mini-bikes and the like, it might just be a handful of people who keep things alive.

we'll just have to see. I'll be lucky to be alive and in good health and riding when I'm 65 and I really can't get all upset about the people who won't ever get to experience the joy of riding a motorbike on twisty back roads to parts unknown but I'll be damn glad I that got to experience it just like that time I flew to Belgium and drove out to a small town in the German border to try a glass of his home-brew saison folks were raving over. That journey was worth it even if he's no longer brewing during to declining demand from export customers.

 

[brownie0486]

One has to have the explorer spirit to ride a motor. The present generation and the one before that were brought up playing vid games on a computer/joy stick video games and of course this current generation and their smart phones they can't put down.

In the 50's and 60's, we were kicked out of the house and told to go play outside, go fishing, go play ball at the park. But get out of the house and explore the world around you. Consequently we were explorers, where today we don't see anywhere near that mentality from the younger generations.

Motor sales off? Look to young people not being brought up physically exploring their world except on their phones and the internet

 

[r0ckrat]

That being said, my son would love to get his motorcycle license and go out riding. But, I'm insistent that he needs to drive for a few years to get used to the rules of the road before getting his motorcycle license.

I'd actually suggest the reverse - I know my awareness, safety, and ability to foresee while driving improved immensely after starting to ride. He can learn the rules even faster on a moto, as the consequences for not behaving are much easier to comprehend when you are out in the wind and exposed. Train him to be a safe rider (through classes and example riding with you) and if he starts going too fast put him on the track.

 

[88bmwjeff]

I'd actually suggest the reverse - I know my awareness, safety, and ability to foresee while driving improved immensely after starting to ride. He can learn the rules even faster on a moto, as the consequences for not behaving are much easier to comprehend when you are out in the wind and exposed. Train him to be a safe rider (through classes and example riding with you) and if he starts going too fast put him on the track.

I think that depends on the individual. In the case of my son, I see that he still has a lot to learn about driving and the rules of the road. But, I see your point. I've thought of sending him to the basic MSF course next summer, because there's a lot of good avoidance they teach you that also applies to four wheels as well.

 

[mjfink420]

I think that depends on the individual. In the case of my son, I see that he still has a lot to learn about driving and the rules of the road. But, I see your point. I've thought of sending him to the basic MSF course next summer, because there's a lot of good avoidance they teach you that also applies to four wheels as well.

My father, when I was learning to drive, always taught me "Don't assume others are going to what's right, put yourself in a place to react if they do something dumb, because they will". I fought it tooth and nail when I was young "Well, yeah, but then it's their fault" to which he answered "Yes, but you still wind up in the hospital and don't have a car anymore". That mentality has served me very well on a motorcycle, I think it might be easier (but more dangerous) to learn on 2 wheels because cars seem to do a lot more dumb stuff around bikes, but the overall concept, however you learn it, IMHO, is immensely valuable.