Interesting take on state of motorcycle industry

[spaceprobe]

I am a BMF memeber and their current magazine arrived today. There is a large article by Paul Clarke of Moonraker Motorcycles of Norwich. He feels sports motorcycle sales are falling off but what he is seeing is people who in the past had 2 cars getting rid of one and replacing it with a scooter. He says once they are on them they enjoy them and people are primarily getting them for commuting. So perhaps the UK tide may be starting to turn and we start to see an increase in larger scooters as on the continent. Interestingly on my trip to London today I hit Hammersmith at rush hour. There were so many motorcycles tearing past me into town and yet to the best of my knowledge I only saw 3 maxis, a TMax, and X10 and a Wing.

[MrGrumpy]

Well, yes, Sportsbike sales have collapsed off a cliff, but people seem to be buying daft nakeds or faux Trail bike chelsea-tractor equivalents.

Whilst I'm ranting - the naked bike riders seem to have inherited the sportsbiker disdain of lesser mortals eg Scooter riders. I stopped at a biker cafe last week, and there were two tossers on the naked bikes (with race exhausts, obviously). Parked up right next to them and they just blanked me completely!!!

[smeghead]

''Parked up right next to them and they just blanked me completely!!!''
Who said that....

[Fizzy Rascal]

there were two tossers on the naked bikes (with race exhausts, obviously). Parked up right next to them and they just blanked me completely!!!

They probably knew that you thought they were 'tossers'.

[Ferret]

Grumpy are you sure you did not say it as you thought it lol .

[MrGrumpy]

Grumpy are you sure you did not say it as you thought it lol .

No....I was going to say Hello nicely...I decided they were tossers after they blanked me!

[irev]

The industry fucked itself with the sportbike market, and now they are mindlessly expecting the next big thing to come along and save them, when the Real Big Thing (commuter transport for the masses with social conscience, practicality, and ease of operation) was parked at the back of the showroom for years. 190hp was never as important as 190mpg... and where are the really frugal maxis? My fucking car averages >56.8mpg, while carrying four people at 70mph...

They can all go bust as far as I'm concerned. It will then make space for genuine retailers who understand customer service, train salesmen to sell not wheelie, and have innovative and fresh ways to introduce products to the New Commuter Market.

[spaceprobe]

Makes a lot of sense

[Gerard C]

Anybody see that article about if only 10% of commuters took to two wheels then it would solve congestion problems overnight? Some studies have been done and the conclusion was reached that the result would be fantastically beneficial to all road users.

Yet to me it seems as if the license requirements make it very difficult to get onto two wheels. At the least if someone has their full car license then they should be able to ride a 125 without L plates and carry a passenger. If they could then there would be a fighting chance of people maybe getting a commuter / pop to the shops b bike. A small Scoot with some carrying capacity would make good sense. Keep the Cars for distances when its full.

[Bluebottle]

I would have thought that most of the drop in sports bike sales is due to changes in fashion.

Adventure bikes have become fashionable and sales are rising. Sports bikes are less fashionable and sales are declining

With the rise of adventure sports the idea of "he-man" credentials has moved from racing to expeditions and adventuring. It is the same in film, culture and design etc.

The image people want to project has shifted - car choices have moved from sports cars to 4x4's, clothes have gone from sporty to outdoorsy, watches are rugged instead of having a timer etc etc
Bikes are just showing the same trend

There is definately a wave of replacing the second car with a scooter as the OP said. It is the most car-like choice (comfy, easy, protected and can carry the shopping)