Why Millennials Aren't Buying Motorcycles - Scientific Research Reveals...

[FJ1100mjk]

Why Millennials Aren't Buying Motorcycles 
- Embedded Article

[ZOA NOM]

Sad, really.

[Pat Conlon]

I enjoyed reading the comments.

Millennials are Pussies with a capital P.

[FJ1100mjk]

Early on, I fell victim to the gateway drug myself.

[aviationfred]

Why Millennials Aren't Buying Motorcycles 
- Embedded Article

Great find Marty, 

Good read and the comments are even better. IMO a few hit the nail on the head.

Fred

[Bill_Rockoff]

The comments thread is  a riot. There's a guy whining about how millennials are too interested in screens to develop an actual skill like riding motorcycles, and he posted the same comment twice because he is too inept to figure out computers. "Okay, Pawpaw, it's 5:30, time to log off AOL and go to the kitchen.  Meemaw has dinner ready and Hannity is on."



The millennials I've worked with, and the ones I've raised, seem to be pretty good at stuff. I spent Saturday riding motorcycles with mine in the north Georgia mountains, trying to keep up. The ones I have worked with have been top-notch. If you your experience is substantially different, maybe you just need to find a better crowd to run with.

"These kids today!"
"Get off my lawn!"

Some of the manufacturers did okay for a while, because they finally figured out their marketing and it happened to coincide with unusually easy credit. Consequently, they were able to steer the buyers of their $20,000 1300cc V-twin cruiser into a new $30,000 1800cc V-twin cruiser. Unfortunately, that buyer's 401k is in the toilet, and so is his home equity, and so is his job, and his next purchase isn't going to be a $40,000 2200cc V-twin, it's going to be a golf cart - or a  Rascal mobility scooter - and 8 months of the new medication his new doctor put him on. Imagine how great Nakamichi and Teac would have done if cheap credit came along 10 years earlier, or digitized music had come along 10 years later? That's how good the motorcycle manufacturers have had it. They didn't invest in small low-margin bikes for new riders, they each built their own a friggin chrome colossus with fringe saddlebags and tassels on the handlebars. Indian and Harley and V Star can adapt, or they can subsist as Nakamichi and Teac are doing, or they can join BSA and original-flavor Indian in the dustbin of history. Screw 'em. They should have built at least one goddamn Exciter 400, and either priced the 2014 Rebel 250 to make it a compelling choice versus a 2004 one, or made it marginally better than "exactly the same as the 1986 one." They crapped this bed, they can clean it out

At last, though, the Japanese manufacturers are finally building inexpensive entry bikes that work properly every time and don't suck, so maybe next year a millennial whose dad DIDN'T start him out on dirtbikes in the 90s will have an actual hope in hell of learning to ride a motorcycle. Because let's face it, manufacturers in the last 20 years didn't do themselves any favors by leaving the "entry bike" niche mostly empty. The only choices for a newbie 3 years ago were bikes that were too tall / too heavy / too expensive, or air-cooled carbureted bikes from 40 years ago that barely started and ran 35 years ago, or a brand-new example of an air-cooled carbureted bike from 40 years ago that somehow still cost $4,200 new?? IN 2015??  If they had priced that Rebel 250 at $2,600, they'd be about to take those as trade-in on an NX700. Instead, the gal who balked at $4,200 spent that money on golf or climbing equipment instead.

Yeah, screw 'em, they did this to themselves. Those quarterly financials sure looked great in 2016, though!

[PaulG]

...They didn't invest in small low-margin bikes for new riders, they each built their own a friggin chrome colossus with fringe saddlebags and tassels on the handlebars.... they can join BSA and original-flavor Indian in the dustbin of history. Screw 'em.

... They crapped this bed, they can clean it out

There's something wrong when a new bike is as expensive or even more so than a car or truck.  This is what you get when accountants start running companies rather than those with a genuine enthusiasm for the product.  It just about killed GM in the 90's-2000's.  The overhead for assembling a $30K bike is the same as a $10K bike, so why bother?  Make our quarterly profits now for my bonus, and let the company die a slow death by neglecting entry level customers.

There's a market for all that bling, but I would have thought it's too narrow to be sustainable in the long term - especially during harder times.

If they would look back at how Honda entered the N/A market in the 60's they might pick up some pointers that would appeal to the youngins'.  But that would require reflection on the errors of their ways and admitting at least some failure.  Doesn't mix well with bloated stock options.

If companies like Mahindra from India start importing into N/A you might see a major change like there was in the 60's & 70's.

There's been a change over the last few years but I think they missed a whole generation of entry level buyers and repeat customers. IMHO.

[fj1289]

I'll throw my rocks in the pond and see the ripples they make..

I'll blame it on the extreme risk aversion that has become the norm these days.  Overly protective parents have actually rubbed off on their kids instead of the kids rebelling against it!  My own kids think I'm nuts for the things I think are fun - but they think are too risky.  I never thought the day would come where you'd have to try and talk your kids into jumping out of a swing or walking along the top of a short wall. 

If the reward of driving isn't enough to warrant the effort of getting a license, then a motorcycle will be so far out of reach it won't even be considered. 

[mr blackstock]

As a teenager I found it damn near impossible to get near girls for any reason other than being laughed at.  They all liked older guys.  so we all rode bikes, back when you're covered in pimples and awkwardness, a bike is about the only thing you get a chance to ride....

I think kids these days are getting some way earlier than we did in the "old" days.

Plus we never had internet where I grew up, and the only things on t.v were "I love Lucy" and Mash".  Who's not gonna jump on a two wheeled death trap if those are the options?!  Too many easy entertaining distractions these days.  If i had YouTube growing up I would have never left the house. 

[JPaganel]

So, this is the actual article:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/motorcycles-why-millennials-arent-buying-and-what-to-do-about-it-1523632340

They're more likely than previous generations to attend college—which means they're more likely to have student debt. That, naturally, leads to less discretionary income. "The difference between $15K and $26K of student debt is $130/month, which is equivalent to a monthly loan payment on a ~$8,000 bike," the analysts wrote.

Yep. Used bike market is still out there, though.

Other possible contributing factors, they wrote, include decreased use of dirt bikes, which could be seen as a "gateway drug,"; fewer motorcycle-rising mass media role models; and a trend toward urbanization—the latter which they doubt, because motorcycles are small and comparatively easy to park in crowded areas.

"Perhaps millennials prefer 'experiences' over 'things' because they cannot afford to buy 'things.' Perhaps they don't like owning cars and houses because they do not want the burden of debt that accompanies the ownership of those things," the analysts wrote.


How to fix it? They had two suggestions: "If Harley and other manufacturers want to attract more young riders, the mode of delivery might need to change," they wrote. "That is, instead of loans being the primary means of financing, try leases. Or, experiment with some of the concepts embodied by the sharing economy."

And if that doesn't work, they wrote, they might have to try something more creative—perhaps subsidizing kids' dirt bikes or producing a TV show with a "young, cool" motorcycling protagonist.

Skipping over the "millennials prefer experiences" nonsense, where have i seen this before? Um....

AHA!

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=17674.0

The main problem, though, is that it's ridiculously hard to get a kid on two wheels.  Mopeds need a car license, over-50cc motorcycles need a bike license, which is a pain to get under 18. Over 18, see above - need two licenses. A farm kid can bomb around on a dirt bike, but if you live in the city, you're pretty much screwed. I tried to get my kid a moped permit at 16, but it's a huge pain the ass, and even the DMV doesn't know how that's supposed to work. Plus, the only mopeds we have these days are scooters. There isn't anything that would look like a bike.

Harley is making some motions to appeal to the younger crowd. They aren't going far (or young) enough.

Manufacturers need to look at getting teenagers interested. Make small-engined bikes that look like bikes, and aren't sized for 5-year olds. Put some money in riding schools and tracks. Help them get permits so that a small bike can be a ride to school transport.

Some lobbying to change laws to make motorcycles more appealing would be nice, but there doesn't seem to be anyone to do it. AMA only cares about dirt trails and resisting helmet laws, and I haven't heard of any other organizations.

It ain't rocket surgery...

[FJ1100mjk]

"Make small-engined bikes that look like bikes, and aren't sized for 5-year olds."

Here's a 2015 Honda CBR300r in excellent condition, for $3,000, and it only has 800 miles on its clock. Nice looking too.

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/mcy/d/2015-honda-cbr300r/6564654113.html

I paid a little over $1,000 out the door for a new 1977 YZ125 back in the day. $3,000 for the CBR300r above seems pretty reasonable to me. But insurance cost, who knows?

[JPaganel]

"Make small-engined bikes that look like bikes, and aren't sized for 5-year olds."

Here's a 2015 Honda CBR300r in excellent condition, for $3,000, and it only has 800 miles on its clock. Nice looking too.

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/mcy/d/2015-honda-cbr300r/6564654113.html

I paid a little over $1,000 out the door for a new 1977 YZ125 back in the day. $3,000 for the CBR300r above seems pretty reasonable to me. But insurance cost, who knows?

By "small" I mean 50cc.

300cc is a motorcycle, requiring a motorcycle endorsement on a car license. Which is no good to anyone under 18.

This is exactly what I'm talking about.

[FJ_Hooligan]

In my teenage youth of the '70s, everyone was riding around on 2-stroke Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki and 4-stroke Honda 100cc and 125cc bikes.

These only required a M/C license and cost was in the hundreds, not thousands. 

My Hodaka 100 was $400 brand new in '72. 

INsurance was NOT required back then

If there was an undeveloped open field anywhere, there was a flat track on it and crowded with riders every weekend.  Industrial areas, near railroad tracks, and open drainage ditches were fair game.

Even when they tried to "discourage" us by dumping truckloads of dirt piles in our play area, we responded by incorporating them as new jumps in the track.

Seriously doubt we'll ever see that again, which is a shame.  Those were some of my best friends.  Some still ride, most grew up and moved onto life.

[PaulG]

  .... most grew up and moved onto life.

.... or just stopped swimming upstream? 

[johnod]

Up here in Ontario , the insurance is out of sight for young guys too.
Talking about the $2500+ a year, for a 600cc and up,and you can only ride for 6 months of the year.

At those prices I doubt I'd be riding either.