Average age of bike riders generally

Anything goes, and mine's a Guinness.
User avatar
Teflon Jnr
Posts: 1025
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 2:12 pm
Location: Stalybridge
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 107 times

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by Teflon Jnr »

Sideleaner wrote:
sprintster wrote: Now kids sit in the house all day on computers and would never dream of going out if it's cold or wet.
Indeed, got 2 of those :unsure: And the 3 stage drivers license is a turndown too, 3x the costs and hassle to go through the tests.

Plus the "green" mentality which is very popular, look at the last elections in the Netherlands, they gained 10 seats. I encounter the same when I speak to youngsters at work. When I was in my 20's in the eighties, everybody was a petrol head. We had a long series of MX world champions and MX tracks. We had road races, the 24h races and MotoGP (formerly WC races) in Franchorcamps. All this is nearly banned now, and I don't like it at all. Only football and cycling is cool nowadays. For the record...i live in Belgium.
I've got 2 as well and a 6month old I'm 33 and there's not an awful lot of young riders I think it comes down to cost and laziness I've only had my licence 2 years best thing I did

Oh 10 of us are in Belgium at the minute having a few beers in yepres/leper in the town centre camping for the week
Jesus rides a Harley and the devil wears prada

🇩🇪 🇧🇪 🇬🇧 🇮🇪 🇫🇷 🇮🇲 🇱🇺
Grahamkevinbutler
Posts: 181
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2013 7:37 pm

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by Grahamkevinbutler »

Heading from Inverness to Penshaw, northeast, with me and the misses, on her own bike,
image_2017-05-07.jpeg
image_2017-05-07.jpeg (61.84 KiB) Viewed 1951 times
I saw a few L plates on the way down,
It's a lot easier to ride in Europe than here in England, the test situation is having its toll on younger ones, is that what the government wants.
Trev
Posts: 997
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:52 am
Has thanked: 104 times
Been thanked: 160 times

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by Trev »

Interesting question about why so few younger people taking up biking, I suspect a whole range of reasons but, speaking as a Dad with a 20 year old lad now keen to get into biking the main reason is cost of entry v practicality & fun of riding. In my day (early eighties) it was possible to buy, insure and run a bike on an apprentices wage (just) and the performance of a decent 250 was way better than most cars a teenager could afford. Now it costs a small fortune to get on the road (you have to add the cost of all the poncey kit we 'have' to wear now :whistle: ) on a 125 which really isn't practical to commute any sort of distance on let alone have much fun on and your car driving mates blow you away in their 1000cc city car. Add to the fact that you'll be a lonely yoof in a sea of grey hair & Goretex and it doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. :dry:
One unlikely antidote could come from the checked shirt & beard fraternity, I do see a few late twenty/thirty somethings round here getting doing their test to get into the bobber/retro/cool biking scene. Not my cup of tea (was never cool when I was kid and deffo ain't got cooler :( ) but may just be where a fair chunk of the next biker generation come from. Judging by the models coming out quite a number of the manufacturers seem to think so.
sidestand
Posts: 784
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:48 pm

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by sidestand »

It's certainly the training & costs that keep the youngsters away
Cost me a fortune to get my boy through his bike test - and at 23, he's still only on an A2 licence
Got a garage full of bikes he could be riding, but for now, the only one I can let him use is a restricted 650 X-Country. Even that is going to cost him £400 to renew his insurance next time, as he's had a minor prang
He wore out his learner CBF125, & now he's wearing out my lovely X-Country :pinch:
Zookman
Posts: 1993
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2010 2:07 pm
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 36 times

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by Zookman »

I've noticed for at least 10/15 years now, that most young uns aren't interested in bikes at all. Motorcycles just dont seem to be cool to them anymore.
Must admit though, i cant really blame them, when the biking scene is dominated by middle aged geezers like myself.
Then there's the H&S obsessed society we have now..... and of course motorcycles are very expensive toys now.
AustinW
Posts: 1024
Joined: Wed May 11, 2011 6:37 pm
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 16 times

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by AustinW »

My two sons have ridden bikes since age 16 and still do now aged 27 and 25 (Shit, how did that happen :huh: ). But they have always complained that wherever they go (physically or on the internet) its "old men". Their route to full licence was just before it got really complicated: CBT, test on a 125, ride 125 for 2 years and done. Of their friends only a couple also have bikes, although a few more started at 16 but didn't bother after that.

TBH I don't understand why they didn't stick with it: some of their friends were paying insurance premiums of £2000+ and seem to need to buy a car no older than 3-4 years costing £3-4,000. Add in a black box in the car and driving restrictions and a car is no fun whatsoever. My sons bikes until recently cost less than £1000 with insurance around £200. Even with riding gear and tyres and stuff for youngsters its waaaay cheaper to get a decent bike on the road than it is a decent car . Maybe a little inconvenient but its fun transport.
Zookman
Posts: 1993
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2010 2:07 pm
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 36 times

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by Zookman »

The real bottom line is that every generation is different and has different interests and priorities..... I could easily bang on about lazy feck young uns now with their 'gaming' and watching shyte like TOWIE and being obsessed with celeb culture, even though these celebs have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Also, they cant get off their arses to vote but will whinge and whine like like feck about the outcome.
But i would just sound as boring as my Father used to in the early 70's..... and as you can see, i've inevitably turned into him.
waynecoluk
Posts: 796
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:37 am
Been thanked: 6 times

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by waynecoluk »

I think it's mainly about cost. The license is a pain in the arse to get now and costs a small fortune. Then you look at the price of bikes, you can get a small new car for 8k. How many "cool" new bikes can you get for that nowadays. A top line sports bike is costing nearly 20k.
Then you take into account servicing, tyres etc. It's just not a cheap hobby anymore and when you look at the British weather and ask a kid would you like a new Fiesta to blast around in or a bike where its going to be pissing it down for 50% of the year, or snow etc. There's only one answer.
2016 BMW 1200GSA

2013 Triumph Street Triple
Africa John
Posts: 1122
Joined: Sun May 19, 2013 7:44 pm
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 58 times

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by Africa John »

I think the cost of the bike is broadly the same in proportion as when I started

1989 and my first big bike after passing my test could have been either an RGV250 or GSX600F both costing £3300 (I wish I'd chosen the RGV and never listened to my mates about unreliable 2 strokes!). My salary was about £5000 as a 24 year old architectural technician

Today a decent bike say £10k and that salary is now £14k

But the big difference is insurance. Back in '89 a Norwich Union rider policy to ride ANY bike up to a CC limit was about £100. That meant me and my best mate could swap between my ugly teapot and his gorgeous (and faster) ZZR600 with ease and be legal. I'm an old fart now of 52 and my insurance is still about £100 but I dread to think what a 24 year old would pay for a new 600cc
User avatar
AlanHolt
Posts: 1230
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 6:28 pm
Location: West Yorkshire
Has thanked: 382 times
Been thanked: 398 times

Re: Average age of bike riders generally

Post by AlanHolt »

I think the opposite sex have an effect also. When I was a lad, some girls wanted the excitement of riding pillion. Small groups of girls would buy their Honda/Suzuki/Yamaha/etc jackets, hang around places bikers ride past in the hope the bikers would stop and take them on the back. Us young bikers loved showing off to the girls on our FS1E and RD's. I also remember this changing, the girls wanting lads with cars instead of bikes. And i was one who sold my bike to get a car purely because that's what the women wanted. I doubt there are many young women out there now who's idea of a great time is getting picked up on a bike, taken for a bag of chips or a shandy at a pub and then dropped off with helmet hair and splats of chain lube on the seat of her jeans.

Life's different now, boys still want girls but girls don't want bikes.
Current bike is a Yamaha T7
Post Reply

Return to “THE PUB”