Millennials Not Buying Harleys.
It says they don't like riding motorcycles.
Gee, why not?
Because you can be taken out without warning by a tuft gray hair and two clawed, arthritic, hands showing above the dash?
While cars are safer than they've ever been, you are surrounded by those improved safety features.
Bikes... pretty much the same stuff as when I started riding is what's readily available.
Licensing has gotten downright retarded.
Iowa had a ridiculous requirement that you be able to turn the bike 180˚ inside a parking space without putting your feet down. That was a situation that came up exactly zero times in near 15 years of active riding.
Requirements like that dissuades rather than encourages learning to ride.
Road congestion has also sucked all the fun out of riding. It's why I hung up my jacket and helmet. You just cannot sit back and enjoy the ride anymore. With all the extra traffic density you have to keep your guard up and your head on a swivel.
Not to be discounted is the other riders. Do you wish to be included in the curses from other drivers who are fed up with being stuck behind two bikers who flat refuse to accelerate promptly or threaten the posted limit?
Because that's most of the Harley riders around Tampa/St Pete.
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Hipsters, millenials and the like around Austin all seem to love Vespas... But they thumb their nose at Harleys because they are too big, powerful and "gas guzzling".
ReplyDeleteThat's sure a detailed way of saying, "they don't like riding motorcycles," isn't it?
DeleteI'm willing to bet that the licensing and insurance for scooters is different and easier than real scoots too.
I think you are onto something with that... I do believe that the rules are more lax about licensing and insurance, I think the smaller ones may be considered like a moped. I am sure that the easier licensing helps make them more popular. But if it were merely a safety fear issue, scooters are no safer for the most part and in some ways more dangerous than a real motorcycle. Or for that matter, bicycles offer if anything less protection in accidents than motorcycles and hipsters and millenials think they are wonderful. About the only way scooters or bicyles are safer is they are slower... but that is two edged... while solo accidents may be slightly less dangerous, accidents with cars the fact that the cyclist is slower doesn't help nearly as much. Being slow can actually make it harder to evade an accident. And to your point -- no licensing or insurance at all required for bicycles. Yep... I think you got a point about that... The nanny-state-ism may be a lot of what is killing the motorcycle industry.
DeleteRequirements like that dissuades rather than encourages learning to ride.
ReplyDeleteI think that's the intent. It's a feature, not a bug.
Disclaimer: I don't ride.
Agree, thankfully I kept my 'M' designation, even though I don't ride anymore (back issues, and idjits on their phones/texting). I'm not sure I could pass the test today!
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of reasons for it. Among them, my generation(ish) is notoriously risk averse, by virtue of watching everything take a rocket propelled nosedive into the shitter while they were growing up. So, how do motorcycle companies tend to try to advertise to this demographic?
ReplyDelete"FAST LOUD FAST LOUD FAST LOUD RISK RISK RISK! THIS COSTS 10x MORE THAN THE BEST CAR YOU'VE EVER LOOKED AT AND IS AN EXPENSIVE TOY THAT WILL SMEAR YOUR CORPSE ACROSS THREE COUNTIES! BUY NOW, BUY NOW, BUY NOW!"
And then they're surprised nobody buys.
Risk averse? Many people would say that is a bit of an understatement. Google for "delicate snowflake" and "pansy" along with "millennial"... Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.
DeleteYeah, no kidding. Trust me, I'm ACUTELY aware of all that, although I think I was just on the leading edge of it before millenialism got into full swing.
DeleteIf you're looking for your comment: https://mcthag.blogspot.com/2011/02/cager.html
ReplyDeleteAnd: https://mcthag.blogspot.com/2013/05/every-year-about-same-time.html
DeleteI don't tolerate the use of that term here.
Re-read the comment policy.
Part of it, at least as far as Harleys themselves go, may well be that Harleys are very pricey these days. Admittedly, once they got rid of AMF and got the quality control back online the quality zoomed, but you could buy a Japanese motorcycle that would do anything a Harley would do for a lot less. Harleys are also thief magnets in a lot of areas, and I'm told they're more expensive to insure against theft. That is one reason why my own putt is a UJM.
ReplyDeleteAnd if motorcycles themselves are less popular, it could be that the choices available on the market don't appeal much. I don't want a "sport bike" myself, since they're incredibly uncomfortable, and that's almost all of what a lot of manufacturers are offering. That, and Harley clones. I'd bet that a mid-sized, reasonably-styled bike might not do badly at all.
Last time I looked at Honda's offerings it was crotch-rocket and Harley clones.
DeleteThere's become a dearth of what I'd call "normal" Japanese bikes in the selection.
I've lost interest in BMW bikes since they went to "crotch rocket" styling, and I agree with you about Honda's offerings, although they do have some smaller "normal" bikes available.
Delete