Millenials and motorcycles

Bumblebee

Donating Member
Registered
I came across a link which talks about the ideals of the millennials and how they are viewing motorcycles and their use. There are always exceptions to everything of course...

Not real cut and dry but even my conversations with a few younger people equated to the same views.
Maybe motorcycle companies are coming to the same conclusions, why develop bikes which won't be bought in enough quantities to create profits.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/autos/auto...ey-to-save-motorcycling/ar-BBSQKCk?li=AAggFp0
 
Interesting read... but people are changing as a whole and are more worried about being able to text while riding than the actual joy it brings to the soul.

I actually saw a guy texting on a KLR one day....I just couldn't believe it.

Now they have text by talk so they'd be ok.
 
I can understand some sort of connectivity. To be totally honest I have to be 100% alert to every phone call that comes into my phone for work reasons so I ended up buying an Apple Watch. I can text via voice at red lights as an emergency. If I could throw away my phone I would and I’m in my early 30s.

Sometimes people forget to live in the moment. Even the gf can’t stay of off Facebook while we drive somewhere. I keep trying to teach her that life is about the journey and not always the destination. Hopefully I’m a positive influence.

Harley Davidson stock is definitely struggling like the article mentioned but I think it has a lot to do with the quality of the bikes themselves. I had a 2011 HD with 3k miles on the clock. The oil cooler was leaking already. You know the typical HD isn’t HD unless it leaks oil jokes. I went to HD to get tires and they tried to charge me close to $900 for 2 tires and acted like they were doing me a favor. I did it for 1/2 cost at an independent. I considered getting another and test drove the HD Streetglide which I thought was boring as hell. Mentioned I was considering other brands and of course the sales guy smirked and made me sound crazy for even thinking that. It’s not just about young people, HD needs to restructure because not all educated buyers drink the KoolAid.
 
Harley's are not finding the younger buyers at all, most of the older guys I know ride Harley's but the younger guys ride the 1000cc bikes. Both my son's went to a High School with about 3,500 people the kids who rode motorcycles were between 3-5 depending on the year that my son's went, none rode anything but a sports bike.
Sadly I see less and less younger riders here in Florida, where we have the 2nd most riders in the US. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/who-rides-the-most-motorcycles-in-the-us.html
This is seen were in the US were motorcyles sales peaked in 2006 and now are roughly half that. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-05/can-millennials-save-the-motorcycle-industry.
The above article shows also the older riders make most of the market.
 
My brother is the president of a vintage motorcycle group and he would agree that older riders make up 90% of his group and every meet they go to he said you can actually count the younger riders and the meet consists of hundreds of riders. Insurance rates and lack of disposable income will kill off motorcycles.

He is also the president of his local sportsman club and he gets younger members but here in Canada, you have to be a member of a gun club to own a hand gun, the young people join, pay dues but have nothing to do with the club or it's activities.

Just the way things are and will be going.
 
I can understand some sort of connectivity. To be totally honest I have to be 100% alert to every phone call that comes into my phone for work reasons so I ended up buying an Apple Watch. I can text via voice at red lights as an emergency. If I could throw away my phone I would and I’m in my early 30s.

Sometimes people forget to live in the moment. Even the gf can’t stay of off Facebook while we drive somewhere. I keep trying to teach her that life is about the journey and not always the destination. Hopefully I’m a positive influence.

Harley Davidson stock is definitely struggling like the article mentioned but I think it has a lot to do with the quality of the bikes themselves. I had a 2011 HD with 3k miles on the clock. The oil cooler was leaking already. You know the typical HD isn’t HD unless it leaks oil jokes. I went to HD to get tires and they tried to charge me close to $900 for 2 tires and acted like they were doing me a favor. I did it for 1/2 cost at an independent. I considered getting another and test drove the HD Streetglide which I thought was boring as hell. Mentioned I was considering other brands and of course the sales guy smirked and made me sound crazy for even thinking that. It’s not just about young people, HD needs to restructure because not all educated buyers drink the KoolAid.
H-D sat on top of the pile for so long they got comfortable and complacent.

I heard a similar story from an old guy in the early '90s when he mentioned H-D was catering to the "yuppie" and "poser" crowd and really didn't care about his business even though he rode H-D his entire riding life of over 50 yrs. he was dismayed even then...I could only imagine what he would be thinking now.
 
My brother is the president of a vintage motorcycle group and he would agree that older riders make up 90% of his group and every meet they go to he said you can actually count the younger riders and the meet consists of hundreds of riders. Insurance rates and lack of disposable income will kill off motorcycles.

He is also the president of his local sportsman club and he gets younger members but here in Canada, you have to be a member of a gun club to own a hand gun, the young people join, pay dues but have nothing to do with the club or it's activities.

Just the way things are and will be going.
That is actually very unfortunate. I know that a lot of younger people think the definition of fun is sitting on a couch playing video games and going out to eat each night. Honestly...that is the definition of life passing you by. I can't stress enough the importance of doing outdoor activities! I can't say I don't go out and eat or play video games once in a while but there is a balance. If you go out in the world today at least in SE U.S you barely see kids playing anymore. I remember being able to ride bicycles around with friends etc as a kid for hours at a time but you rarely see that anymore either. That's going to do a lot with how people are as grownups. I can guarantee you that everyone on this forum has drank water from a garden hose.... but I bet 10% of 16-25 year olds right now have.
 
If I raised my child the same way I was raised, I'd be in jail. I was a free range child. Most weekends I got kicked out of the house and was told "go play outside". So I did and came home when it was time to eat or if I got hurt playing tag, riding bikes, etc.

As soon as I leave work I shut off the electronic devices. I will admit to watching more TV than I should in the winter but the tube is almost never on once the weather turns.
 
If I raised my child the same way I was raised, I'd be in jail. I was a free range child. Most weekends I got kicked out of the house and was told "go play outside". So I did and came home when it was time to eat or if I got hurt playing tag, riding bikes, etc.

As soon as I leave work I shut off the electronic devices. I will admit to watching more TV than I should in the winter but the tube is almost never on once the weather turns.

I was raised similarly, I was a farm kid and out the door before the sun was up and in the door before the sun went down. Even had a .22 Marlin lever that I carried since I was 10 for taking out ground hogs and anything bothering the livestock. Never had one incident with that rifle-I could only imagine a 10 yr old today having that freedom...people would be dead.
 
That is actually very unfortunate. I know that a lot of younger people think the definition of fun is sitting on a couch playing video games and going out to eat each night. Honestly...that is the definition of life passing you by. I can't stress enough the importance of doing outdoor activities! I can't say I don't go out and eat or play video games once in a while but there is a balance. If you go out in the world today at least in SE U.S you barely see kids playing anymore. I remember being able to ride bicycles around with friends etc as a kid for hours at a time but you rarely see that anymore either. That's going to do a lot with how people are as grownups. I can guarantee you that everyone on this forum has drank water from a garden hose.... but I bet 10% of 16-25 year olds right now have.

My wife and I noticed there are no kids playing street hockey anymore...we have lots of kids in our neighbourhood but rarely see them and when we do they have their heads stuck on their phones...and we are talking young kids as well...

Unfortunate is the word, sad is another and it will get worse.
 
I'm sure our predecessors looked on our respective generations with similar disdain, but I agree that things are fundamentally different in the millennials. For me it's the sense of entitlement that they carry. Sure, technology has shifted how we entertain ourselves and interact with each other, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, like this place for instance. Perhaps it's technology that has promoted this entitlement, but it's definitely a feature of the 30 something and younger crowd.
 
I'm sure our predecessors looked on our respective generations with similar disdain, but I agree that things are fundamentally different in the millennials. For me it's the sense of entitlement that they carry. Sure, technology has shifted how we entertain ourselves and interact with each other, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, like this place for instance. Perhaps it's technology that has promoted this entitlement, but it's definitely a feature of the 30 something and younger crowd.

Exactly...the difference was out predecessors raised us by the seat of their pants and the backs of their hands. We couldn't raise our kids like that and our kids definitely don't raise their kids like that. Then technology came into the picture and it is an easy way of keeping kids occupied so the parents can use their own tech.

We didn't have tech to use so we kept our own kids occupied by going places and spending time outside. This generation is allergic to being outside.
 
I second that... Growing up, there used to be children playing in the neighborhood. But now, the trend is to not have kids, and, when they do have them, to keep them inside. I know a lot of younger people are addicted to tech, but there are also parents keeping their kids/teens inside for many reasons.
 
I second that... Growing up, there used to be children playing in the neighborhood. But now, the trend is to not have kids, and, when they do have them, to keep them inside. I know a lot of younger people are addicted to tech, but there are also parents keeping their kids/teens inside for many reasons.
I live in an upscale neighbourhood where we all have huge yards and a quiet street..we don't even hear kids playing outside in their yards or see snowmen being made or anything....

My own kids who were raised to be outside rarely go there because their spouses either don't like the heat or the cold and now our grand kids echo that sediment-it's a chore to get them outside.
 
I absolutely raise my kids as I was raised, whoopins and all. Had DCFS called on me and told the worker A) if I'd wanted to hurt him I would have, and B) if she wanted to address my son's mother as a stupid b!tch in my presence, she would get popped in the mouth just like he did. She said "I get that" and left. There's a difference between abuse and discipline, be it physical or mental, from others or within one's self. Abuse is unacceptable, discipline is necessary.
 
A former co-worker of mine and his wife never had kids, both professionals. They have every toy imaginable, travel whenever and wherever they want and never have to worry about having rude and "sense of" entitled kids...

He just bought a brand new Beemer S1000R, and everything that goes with it paying cash.

I said but it must get lonely without grandkids and such. he said, when the wife and I feel we are lonely, we go on a cruise, there are enough people there to make us relish being alone later....
 
In this day and age, safety is a big concern for a parent. In my day, and my kids, we didn’t worry about some crazy sob doing something to them.

I find this interesting because statistically we are safer today than when we were kids. I think this has to do with the fact that as a society we are much more mobile today than say 40 years ago. So more "strangers" in the neighborhood so to speak.
 
Back
Top