Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I thought this place was for talking about BMW bikes and helping other BMW riders. Why is this junk allowed to take up space?
I thought this place was for talking about BMW bikes and helping other BMW riders. Why is this junk allowed to take up space?
Back on topic.
My wife and I just took a run out west to Red Lodge MT. We were surprised by the lack of motorcycles of all brands. A few years ago we couldn't count the numbers, there were hundreds of motorcycles running the same route as us, almost continuous. I would see a group of 4-5 bikes, then 1/2 mile later a another small group, then maybe a mile on a few more. There would always be other motorcycles in sight. This last trip We could run for miles and not see another motorcycle, and I would bet on one 600 mile day we saw a few dozen, maybe 50-60 motorcycles the whole day. Ten years back you would see that many, or more in an hour or less. We had noticed the one morning we left our motel at 6AM and did not meet another motorcycle for about 150 miles.
I belong to HOG and our group runs out to Red Lodge, MT and up Beartooth Pass every July, 26th time this year. Ten years ago we had 150 people show up for the ride. This year there was 60. Two less because we showed up on the RT, Harley riders only! We tagged along with because we know everyone on the ride. They were taking pictures of the group, first year riders, women riders and so on and someone mention we need a picture of the first year BMW riders!
I consumed this entire thread and although indigestion set in a time or two, it is a good discussion. The perspective that I can't escape is why should I care about how many riders there are? I enjoy seeing other bikes but as long as I'm able to mount up and ride, ride, ride, I don't care about how many others are out there.
Where I live, horses remained primary transportation until the late 1950's and even now, hardly a day goes by that I don't see a mounted rider along the roadway. For those of you that have assumed a lifestyle where equines are aliens, that's your choice and no one should criticize. If however you still wanted to ride a horse bad enough, plenty of horses and plenty of places to ride.....life outside the beltways.
I'll ride motorcycles until I drop and behind me are many others who will stay in the saddle long after I'm gone. Of that I am supremely confident. It's going to be just fine......
Obviously, you've never been to Great Falls or Potomac, MD. Reportedly, the equine population center of the US.......
P
Trust me, BMW would LOVE to have a slice of that pie, but they are a little too conservative and their stuff is a little too sophisticated for many folks.
Oh, you're talking Poodle Country . I was more referring to places where a fella can mount a nag and ride to town, or wherever. That I bring up to reinforce my contention that just as riding horses has not nor will ever go away, neither will riding motorcycles. And yes, just as the metro Washington DC area has plenty of Show Horses, Pebble Beach has plenty of Show Bikes so valuable they are never ridden. Gimme a 1973 Bultaco Alpina and 40 acres and I'll ride!
The last time I ran the numbers HD outsold BMW in the US twenty to one.
Put another way, if BMW could capture a mere 5% of HD sales then BMW sales would double.
Now I see some logic for the Grand America, if not the R1200C.
Let me ask you..............would you sooner have the economy and MC sales of 1998 or 2007? I would opt for 1998.
On a national or cultural level I don't know. But in 1998 I was working 50 hour weeks and am now retired with a pension and social security so from that point of view I personally like 2007 and now.