Is the Era of the motorcycle over?

Hello playlord,

I read the link to the article.

The author of the article made some interesting comments. It is my understanding there has been a marketing change in the sales of new bikes. Sales for many manufacturers are down after the recession especially in crotch rockets.

I read somewhere that the attactive to the consumer bike market price point is at about the 1/3 the cost of a typical averaged size new car. Bikes like the upper end Ducati are expensive and well out of this 1/3 price range.

Based on the 1/3 price range, what new bikes are available between the $5000 to $6000 range? If purchased, how quickly will they outgrow them?

This may become a major driving force for the good condition used bike market.

The next major consideration for the new young rider is the cost of insurance.

I am an older rider and have never had an accident. My cost in Canada to insure an old 28 year bike is $736.00 CAN for one year. I only use it for about 4 or 5 months of the year but still have to pay for the whole year. Of course I still have to keep a car to drive in the winter.

I am afraid to ask what the cost would be to insure a new Ducati 1198 for a new or young rider.

I suspect it may be more than IPODS and the internet that are keeping young people from buying new high end bikes.

Regards,

JAG

And european (britain included) bikes, but for a different reason again.

Incidentally, where is Triumph's Er6? Surely they're missing out on a slice of the market there? I don't mean in cubic capacity terms but market sector. More manageable in terms of bulk and peak horsepower/torque spread. + purchase/running costs.

Something to cut your teeth on.

Are we becoming too "risk averse". I'm in Oz and have to wear a "wally jacket" Hi-Viz shirt at work in a factory! In WA even Parking Wardens wear 'em.

Despite everyones' recommendations over my bike for here, I run an older 600 Hornet and if caught making good progress, will do time. Speedings a real big no no here.

My riding gear is all black, helmets, I've four! are blue-ish or white-ish. Headlights wired on though.

Shuggiemac: My wife wants me to go to Rehab for Media Addiction and she has a point as I constantly look at my 'smart' phone, laptop and now I-pad.

During early doors, at the Pub, on Friday I reckon 75% of the people had their heads down and thumbs in action. In fact there were courting couples just inter-reacting with their phones......this is probably why the birth rate is plummeting.

However Motorcycling is a leisure activity and assuming Tony Blair stays away from European Legislation it will continue to be so.

My best guess is that full colour Internet connected dash display will be required to sustain motorcycle interest for the addicted.

The Horror! The Horror!

Gadzooks man, we are going to hell in a handcart.
In alehouses hereabouts, there is an unwritten rule that the mobile phone and the minor should remain silent. As to "w*nking the gerbil" as Marcus Brigstocke so memorably put it, the village stocks should be pressed into service, a liberal supply of food waste & offal donated and the bestials pelted 'til they can text no more.

And that's letting them off lightly, say I.

Surely he's being serious?

Just heard today that George White has gone into receivership and closed its doors. That's a big dealer and what does it say about bike sales and the future of bikes?
I'm optimistic about the future of motorcycles, at least small capacity commuters but, with fewer dealers, if you can't easily buy/service a motorcycle locally then numbers will drop naturally not to mention draconian laws on training/capacity/bright clothing in Europe especially.

alanp. My guess is that George Whites demise is a combination of poor management judgement/strategy and vision. We can all use the excuse of recession but we have to dial economic cycles ( and for them moto-cycles) into business planning.

Piling it high and selling cheap need continuous high volume and flexible overhead......not fixed high overhead like they had.

You asked the question.......give me old fashioned service and reasonable deals!

Please discuss.

George White always reminded me of the Motorcycle City model of bike dealership. That is very quick to sell you a bike at a low price but not always able to back that up with a suitable level of after sales service.

Just my 2p's worth.

Ahhh, Motorcycle City, the Aldershot dealership at least often known as "Sh:tty City if I remember right.

If I buy a cheap bike I want it cheap and don't want to pay any dealership markup, it's good old fleabay time! For anything over a couple of grand I'll buy from a dealer, and I'll happily pay a little extra for the right one as I want them to stay around, and to do that they need to make a profit. I won't buy from a dealer I'm not sure of, might as well save the dosh and go for a cheap private sale if a risk is involved.

I never personally experienced George White dealership but I was aware of them from the press etc and had a flavour of what they were about.

I actually think that these very large organisations are in a much more precarious position than the smaller dealers. Unless you are the direct importer of the machines then the margin on a new bike is ridiculously small, once all things are taken into consideration. The overheads of these large places have to be paid for and I guess some of the big multi-franchise places just turn into unmanageable behemoths.

I feel sorry for the people who worked there and have lost their livelihood. I know how it is to suffer in the current motorcycle climate as the business my wife and I own is also soon to close the shop part and have to scale back on certain things just to survive. I am not going to get into it all again but a big part of it is that so many people feel that because they can buy things cheaper on the internet, from some spotty youth with a nice web site, no stock, working from his bed room and offering zero after sales service support for a couple of quid cheaper than a dealer then that shop must be ripping them off.

I don't think that the era of the motorcycle is over but I am not so sure about the motorcycle dealer!

I'll be looking into this a little more but I believe George White would sell bikes at almost zero profit and depend instead on the large volumes getting big bonuses from the importers for meeting high sales targets. Not only did sales fall and break that model, the importers weren't able to offer such big bonuses either. This left George White unable to offer its sole reason for existence, very low prices.