Interesting Statistics

[Circle-5]

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/05/7-motorcycle-statistics-thatll-floor-you.aspx?yptr=yahoo

[jm21ddd15]

Sounds like a Harley marketing sheet. Reason #6, talks about the decline of riders under 18 years old. That's because it's to hard for young kids to "text" and look at facebook, and that other bull crap, when they are on a cycle. Young people are lost with out their precious cell phones. I have one, but don't belong to any of the social media. If I go for a ride in my truck or on the bike, and have left my cell phone at home, well, I sure as hell don't go get it. it'll be there when I am done with my ride. I guess this Forum is as close to social media, as I ever will be involved in.

[F6Dave]

It mainly confirms what most of us already know: we're an aging group. I've been to several Valkyrie rallies and the youngest rider award often goes to a guy in his mid-30s. A few years ago I read that the AVERAGE age of Sturgis attendees was 58! Those may be promising demographics for trikes, but not for motorcycles.

To their credit, manufacturers are trying to appeal to new and younger riders. Just look at some of the smaller, innovative bikes in a Honda showroom. But they don't seem to be having much success. While I've seen a noticeable increase in women riders, I doesn't seem like there are any more young riders.

As for the 8 largest selling brands, I was surprised to see KTM on the list. I would have thought Triumph might be there instead.

[2wheelsforme]

This forum is not close to social media it is social media.

[VStarRider]

I think powersports, in general, is slowly aging out. Snowmobiling is also a dying sport. 150,000 sleds were sold annually by the Big Four just 20 years ago. That number now is about 50,000. My stepkids have almost zero interest in anything to do with an engine...the youngest one turns 18 in August and has never driven a car, and has no interest in it at this time.

The younger generation's interest, generally speaking, seems to be elsewhere. My opinion is that is comes from everything mechanical being so reliable now. Cars and trucks are just appliances, held in no greater esteem than the kitchen stove. It is there for a purpose, transportation, and nothing else. I was a car nut when I was a kid, because you had to have some basic knowledge about them to have even an mechanical awareness, even if you didn't know how to fix it. Cars do everything for you, so the experience is so much different than it used to be. That translates into a lack of interest in other things vehicular in nature. Hell, seems like few people even mow their own lawn anymore...another mechanical piece of equipment not accessed by a large number of this generation.

All this being said, people are people, kids are kids, and the interest level may swing back around. After all, who ever thought the 70s would be popular again?!? Motorcycling has a lot of potential because there are roads everywhere, so access isn't an issue.

[DMAGOLDRDR]

When I was a teenager in the 70s a Motorcycle was cheap transportation. I couldn't buy a car but a cheap bike was easy to find. Insurance, registration and cost to maintain was next to nothing. There is nothing cheap about todays vehicles. Cars, Trucks or Motorcycles.
Throw the amount of traffic into the mix and it is no wonder why younger folks don't want much to do with Motorcycling.

[bubbasparks]

I think for me now 38 I can thank my Gramps for getting me to ride at 4 on a 3 wheeler, and then moved to quads and dirtbikes. A lot of places and states there are no places to ride anymore do to developments being built, homes businesses ect. Even sleds are hard to sell unless your way up north cause even in northern Illinois, we don't get the snow like we used to. When I hit 18, I couldn't wait to get my first street bike!!!! I wSnt legal with an M class but was fully insured lol. I don't know what kids are into these days because they can't work on cars, seems like they don't like woman, but they sure in hell want everything given to them

[Retired Army]

I thought I read a motorcycle article that Honda came out with the F6B to appeal to younger riders thus the designation Flat 6 Bagger.

[VStarRider]

I think for me now 38 I can thank my Gramps for getting me to ride at 4 on a 3 wheeler, and then moved to quads and dirtbikes. A lot of places and states there are no places to ride anymore do to developments being built, homes businesses ect. Even sleds are hard to sell unless your way up north cause even in northern Illinois, we don't get the snow like we used to. When I hit 18, I couldn't wait to get my first street bike!!!! I wSnt legal with an M class but was fully insured lol. I don't know what kids are into these days because they can't work on cars, seems like they don't like woman, but they sure in hell want everything given to them

I hear ya about the lack of snow. I live outside of Rochester (NY) and there hasn't been rideable snow in this area for two years, and only three of the last six years have the local trails been able to open. All of the snowmobiling is in northern NYS, just like you guys in Illinois, Indiana have to go to Wisconsin and Minnesota.

I was driving a car on my grandfather's farm when I was 11 years old. When I turned 16, getting my driver's license was just formality. My friends and I all passed our road tests on the first try. My older stepson passed on his 5th time. While that is higher than the norm among his peers, most of them failed once or twice. I blame his mom and her family (only here, not to her face ) for not exposing them to any mechanical equipment, like a lawn tractor. I think some of the basics come from driving the mower, riding an ATV, driving a boat, etc.

Also, socializing looks a lot different in 2017 than it did in 1987. I was always at my friends' houses because I would get yelled at for being on the phone without call waiting. I rode my bike, and drove when I got my license in 1991. There are many, many ways to socialize now thanks to technology. After all, look at what I and doing right now. We aren't sitting in a diner having this chat.

Okay, I am way off the point here. Cars and vehicles in general are not interesting to this generation because they don't represent freedom the way they did to us; everything is so reliable, they don't need to be fixed very often, leading to a lack of mechanical awareness and then interest; traffic is worse; and many, many other reasons.

[edgeman55]

We are seeing the same decline in the RC (remote control ) world as youngsters don't want to build something and have to learn to fly it..High tech equipment appeals to the younger crowd with instant gratification.When I was a kid we had to create our fun and I will never forget how mad my Old man was when he saw the mower engine sitting in a plywood Go cart I built.First motorcycle was a Wards Riverside 50 and man what fun I had on that street bike in the dirt.A kid today can put on a Virtual Reality headset and go for a ride anywhere they please.Heck by the time most of us here are dead and gone no one will be driving cars they will drive themselves.AHHH time marches on.

[Thor]

We are seeing the same decline in the RC (remote control ) world as youngsters don't want to build something and have to learn to fly it..High tech equipment appeals to the younger crowd with instant gratification.When I was a kid we had to create our fun and I will never forget how mad my Old man was when he saw the mower engine sitting in a plywood Go cart I built.First motorcycle was a Wards Riverside 50 and man what fun I had on that street bike in the dirt.A kid today can put on a Virtual Reality headset and go for a ride anywhere they please.Heck by the time most of us here are dead and gone no one will be driving cars they will drive themselves.AHHH time marches on.

Wow! Another Wards Riverside rider! My first was my grandpa's old 125cc model. I'll never forget the day that 2-cycle engine decided to start-up in reverse. Nothing quite so alarming as dropping the clutch and finding yourself rocketing backwards into a bush.

[unsub]

I thought I read a motorcycle article that Honda came out with the F6B to appeal to younger riders thus the designation Flat 6 Bagger.

Younger riders are 50+ ....lol the first wave of Harley resurgence from the 80's is over 70 now.....I think Honda hit the mark as the average age on this board must be around 50.

[MisterB]

It falls on us parents to get modern kids interested in things that their peers aren't in to. My 14 yr daughter and 13 yr son are both pumped to take the basic riders course as soon as they're able.
I want them to learn to ride in a controlled environment before they even start driving cars. They're excited because MOTORCYCLE! I'm excited because they'll learn a lot about driving and riding and hopefully be better at both.

There are roadblocks for kids nowadays: modern cars are just not candidates for the kind of mods that were done when I was young in the 70s and 80s. I took 2 years of wood shop, 2 years of metal shop, 1 semester sheet metal, could've taken electronics and auto shop when I was in high school. We had kids making roll top desks, grandfather clocks, I made guitars and speaker cabinets, sterling engines in metal shop, locking guitar nuts, anything we could think of.
We had access to fantastic instruction and machinery, and this was public school. Those kinds of classes are mostly gone.
A friend works at a big school and lamented the razing of the wood shop building. They needed the money and land for football program and insurance concerns or whatever, blah blah.
The kids get pre-cut kits that they screw together with drywall screws now. not a joke.

I try to show my kids stuff like changing oil and rotating tires, using drills and hammers, got a couple clock kits (not housed in a creepy briefcase) and will teach them how to solder and understand a few electrical components, but I feel it's only going to help them minimally in this "no user serviceable parts inside" society. There's little incentive to learn enough to troubleshoot a motherboard, it'll require years and years of study and by then motherboards may be archaic.

I'm an older dad and feel like I'll never be able to teach my kids enough about the analog world before I'm gone. Gonna try to show them enough basic skills that they can learn on their own and focus on them being able to prosper in the new digital world.

Regarding snow: I haven't seen a snow drift like we used to have for 3 decades or more. We've got a great hill in town for sledding but didn't get hardly any snow this year. I don't miss it but the kids love it.