Is Motorcycling dying?

[Dazzer]

I think your right JB.

The Bike sale boom of the Mid 90's lasted till about 2005 then bike sales started to drop off . The only thing that kept bike sale's up since have been the sale of Large Adventure type bike's like BMW.
Yamaha increased the price of all their bikes in I think 2010.Which won't help.

I had heard that Appleyards were having a hard time and they have been going for Years.

Then I read this today on their blog
http://www.colinappleyard.com/blog/


Mind you Bike sales in 2nd and 3rd world countries where the sale of 125cc bikes mostly made in China are on the increase .

[johnnyboxer]

I think your right JB.


I had heard that Appleyards were having a hard time and they have been going for Years.

Then I read this today on their blog
http://www.colinappleyard.com/blog/

If a city the size of Leeds can't support the likes of Appleyards, we're doomed

In Leeds city proper...............who's left ?

Dyrons selling bikes and Woosters doing tyres/repairs?

Nobody else I can think of in Leeds City, apart from old shop repairing old Nortons

Bloody shame

[motorbike]

Yes....its on the way out....they are too scary for this comfy cosited society.....if you need thrills then get out the x box ......fat sedentary safe citizens......required by goverment

[V_King]

NO

During naughties, the "booming" economy on borrowed money just set the bike sales over the roof. But that does not mean, that there were suddenly crowds of true die-hard motorcyclists.

Recession came and toys had to go. True motorcyclists were riding bikes, are riding bikes and will be riding bikes. The shear amount of businesses running lean margins during the boom naturally can not exist any more.

What is more, with all that boom came increasing regulations and other nonsense.

Finally, the variety of products, manufacturers, service providers of various forms and types just proves that motorcycling has never been so popular before.

[Zookman]

Certainly is dying, I've known it for a few a years now. All the bike meets and rallies I attend are 99% frequented by middle aged geezers around my age, late 40's and over. We also live in a health & safety obsessed society now, and motorcycles don't fit into that at all.
Back in the 70's when I left school, motorcycles were cool and were cheap to run... now its expensive and I don't think many young uns even see motorcycles as cool anymore, more eccentric than cool.
Its a shame but things change, I just console myself in the fact that we had the best of it.

[Bernard Smith]

Yes.

And yes re. the overall lack of younger riders

A large proportion of the boom sales figures in the 90s were people 'returning' to motorcycling with 20 year riding gaps when reaching their 40s (disposable income, kids growing etc.etc.)- it was accompanied by a spike in accident figures for the over 40s as well. As many other people have noted - hang around main dealers now and there are a lot of grey hairs - or in my case, virtually none!

[lancashirelad]

I think that the price of new bikes & there complexity will kill biking off to be honest most young people these days want a car biking is now "mostly" people that have them for the social side & as toys!!! The majority have a car as well as a bike these days not like it was in the late 60s early 70s.

[Zookman]

Also the rise in adventure bike popularity and the fall in sports bikes isn't just down to Ewan and Charlie, its because most of us aging bikers are just too old now to ride crotch rockets..... and as bikers of our age are pretty much the only bikers left, so sports bikes are in decline.

[Bianchi]

It is all part of the uk governments plan to get road deaths and
Accidents down, by getting as many bikes and scooters off
the road as they can. There was a document about years ago
and MCN got a hold of it . Looks like it was true

Cheers

Dave

[davec]

It's been said before enough times, modern bikes are too complicated and too expensive. Maybe Chinese imports will save the day? I wouldn't buy one myself (yet) but I hear they're getting better all the time?