Motorcycle industry is in deep trouble and needs help fast | Page 18 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Motorcycle industry is in deep trouble and needs help fast

油井緋色;2541173 said:
... I'm pretty sure you guys know Yoshi cause he's really into trials ...
If that's his real name I think I did meet him either last year or the year before! Possibly at Sparrow Lake or Kearney. I attend the majority if not all of the ATA events, went to Ioco the last time CPTA hosted the CMA national but it will be very difficult to attend this years event, it costs me about 3 grand just in diesel fuel to go there. Shipping a bike out there and back plus air flight is about the same cost. It's an awesome venue if any ever get a chance to ride Ioco and the people are terrific, awesome skilled riders too!
I promise my post count is weather dependent and once riding season starts internet holds very little interest.
 
If that's his real name I think I did meet him either last year or the year before! Possibly at Sparrow Lake or Kearney. I attend the majority if not all of the ATA events, went to Ioco the last time CPTA hosted the CMA national but it will be very difficult to attend this years event, it costs me about 3 grand just in diesel fuel to go there. Shipping a bike out there and back plus air flight is about the same cost. It's an awesome venue if any ever get a chance to ride Ioco and the people are terrific, awesome skilled riders too!
I promise my post count is weather dependent and once riding season starts internet holds very little interest.
I wouldn't worry about post count. I'm very into offroad riding and trials (never owned one, but spectate many events) so I personally enjoy your posts.
I've also found knowledge to be gained in other areas not associated to motorcycling. Glad you joined, we need new blood every so often.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
 
You think the motorcycle industry has problems....how'd you like to be a sports car manufacturer

[video=youtube;lrTwDollrco]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrTwDollrco[[/video]
BTW ....the Merc-AMG E63 S eats the Audi E8 and the Porsche 911 for lunch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=453&v=WFPz3YMKN6s
 
I spent most of today helping setup a booth at the Supershow.I've been doing this for a few different organizations for quite a few years and this year doesn't look smaller than years past.So is the industry in trouble?

Defining trouble is different if you're talking about a publicly traded company. It isn't good enough to make a profit. The profit has to be bigger every year or shares tank and accountants slash away at frills, like modestly selling lines.
 
Changes that would benefit motorcyclists and the industry would require political lobbying/power. We and the industry have zero power which is why, since 1990 and having seen governments from all three major parties -- NDP, PCs and Liberals -- we have seen little to no legislation or action to aid us in any way, shape or form.

According to StatsCan there are ~220,000 motorcycles and mopeds registered in Ontario. We probably could form a decently powerful political lobby to advance our cause(s). In 2015-16 there were "only" 124,000 "FTE" (full-time equivalent) teachers in Ontario. They wield significant political power because they're organized and politically (over)active. We could probably muster similar numbers of motorcycle enthusiasts (and spouses and significant others and friends etc) into a vocal bloc but we're too lazy, too disorganized and, as demonstrated in this thread, too busy fighting each other over stupid **** to organize effectively.

Of the 220,000 bikes there are fewer owners. I once had three ready to ride as have many on the forum.

Regardless there is a generic problem in that our roads were meant for transportation not recreation. They were not meant for stunting, racing, impressing chicks or any variation of playing "Look at me." Nor were the roads designed for roller blades, skate boards, Segways, hover boards, joggers or pogo sticks.

If you look at the teachers or other cultural / ethnic groups you will likely find a large degree of common goal that doesn't exist in motorcycling. I wish I had a copy of a M/C cartoon I saw where two bikers cross paths at an intersection, one on a dresser the other a bobber. Both give the other approving nods but once the other is out of sight they both do a thumbs down.

Name your argument. Loud vs quiet, sport vs touring, metric vs SAE.

Since the majority of cars are used for transportation there is a relatively small percentage of drivers that are openly annoying.

Since the majority of bikes are used for recreation there is a relatively large percentage of riders that are openly annoying.

If you add the performance potential of modern bikes to the testosterone of a young male rider you do not get a long term common goal.

Responsible hunters and fishermen / women follow sustainability guidelines unlike bush butchers who kill anything they can.

The bigger overall problem is that if everyone became as big a wet blanket as me the economy would collapse. We'd all be driving K car equivalents and be making our own coffee at home.

What if we ended up with blue plate restrictions on anything over 500 cc's?
 
this is unfortunate, though a short season, we have some fantastic routes to show off our scenery

there probably would be some insurance companies willing to look at a fleet policy
with a realistic risk profile and consummate pricing

all you should really need is public liability
risk to the bikes you could make the renters pay for
accident benefits should be optional for the renter
you could arrange private one-off coverage if they wanted

but they are handcuffed by the Ontario Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act

Our fantastic roads are overshadowed to the ones slightly south of us. Add in cheaper gas, food and accommodations down in Trumpville.

We have nice scenery up north but our thin population means poor roads or semi private "Cottager" attitudes. I can be very critical of American policies but they wrote the book on hospitality.

We could do well in Eco-tourism but granola crunchers don't spend a lot of money, the whole basis of the tourism INDUSTRY. Tourism depends on fat arsed people in SUVs buying steaks and quaffing beer before loading their trunks with overpriced garbage.
 
Our fantastic roads are overshadowed to the ones slightly south of us. Add in cheaper gas, food and accommodations down in Trumpville.

We have nice scenery up north but our thin population means poor roads or semi private "Cottager" attitudes. I can be very critical of American policies but they wrote the book on hospitality.

We could do well in Eco-tourism but granola crunchers don't spend a lot of money, the whole basis of the tourism INDUSTRY. Tourism depends on fat arsed people in SUVs buying steaks and quaffing beer before loading their trunks with overpriced garbage.

agree with this....when I have the time to put some miles on
sadly, I usually head across the border

last summer was an exception, tour of the maritimes and stayed in Canada the whole time
lots of slab riding and tons of dough for accommodations and meals
would have been more scenic and saved dough to go through New England states
 
We could do well in Eco-tourism but granola crunchers don't spend a lot of money, the whole basis of the tourism INDUSTRY. Tourism depends on fat arsed people in SUVs buying steaks and quaffing beer before loading their trunks with overpriced garbage.

I think you are just a bit out of touch. Ecotourism is an expensive proposition - the trips are very expensive and they are very often well heeled travellers.
 
There is a huge demand for Ecotours.All of the tours my daughter Jessica has done are fully booked.Of course none of them involve the use of ICE powered anything.
https://worldwidequest.com/?page=trips&cmd=leader&key=119

Jessica has never talked about "fat arsed people" on any of her tours.They usually have some money tho.
 
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Is way off the thread topic course but here goes anyway:
Ecology tours are all about go see it before it's all gone.

Wife and I did a Madagascar tour in 2015 and it was extremely enlightening. Besides a Lot of walking and hiking there was a great deal of time spent on a small tour bus plus a Lot of air flight from one part of the island to another. Lots of fuel was consumed on that trip. Tour catered to about 20 some guests plus one company tour guide plus one local guide who provided the majority of the information on the country, politics, religion, local customs, flora and fauna as well as translation and travel negotiations. It was an awesome trip and well worth the money. Group tour by far is the best way to visit that country in a relatively short time! I turned out to be the most fit person in the bunch and had the best knowledge of first aid or medical anything and that was almost completely from exposure to veterinary medicine and animal care. Most were either old and/or in poor physical condition, most were very well traveled and more then half were from the USA.

As you might guess from my avatar :/ my motivation for going there was to see Lemurs and the native birds in their native habitat, as well as learn about the Malagasy people. Cost was ~17 grand per couple including everything for 2 weeks, probably would be more by now. We seen people doing tours by BMW which would be a blast, but there is no way you would learn as much and it would take way more money and time to see as much as we did in only 2 weeks. Any other form of transportation like say bicycle and you would need a year plus and you would want to learn the language to better survive.

Friends we travel with just left for Ethiopia yesterday on a 3 week tour, I'm minding their dog and that's fine with me, Ethiopia is definitely not on my bucket list.
 
Is way off the thread topic course but here goes anyway:
Ecology tours are all about go see it before it's all gone.

Wife and I did a Madagascar tour in 2015 and it was extremely enlightening. Besides a Lot of walking and hiking there was a great deal of time spent on a small tour bus plus a Lot of air flight from one part of the island to another. Lots of fuel was consumed on that trip. Tour catered to about 20 some guests plus one company tour guide plus one local guide who provided the majority of the information on the country, politics, religion, local customs, flora and fauna as well as translation and travel negotiations. It was an awesome trip and well worth the money. Group tour by far is the best way to visit that country in a relatively short time! I turned out to be the most fit person in the bunch and had the best knowledge of first aid or medical anything and that was almost completely from exposure to veterinary medicine and animal care. Most were either old and/or in poor physical condition, most were very well traveled and more then half were from the USA.

As you might guess from my avatar :/ my motivation for going there was to see Lemurs and the native birds in their native habitat, as well as learn about the Malagasy people. Cost was ~17 grand per couple including everything for 2 weeks, probably would be more by now. We seen people doing tours by BMW which would be a blast, but there is no way you would learn as much and it would take way more money and time to see as much as we did in only 2 weeks. Any other form of transportation like say bicycle and you would need a year plus and you would want to learn the language to better survive.

Friends we travel with just left for Ethiopia yesterday on a 3 week tour, I'm minding their dog and that's fine with me, Ethiopia is definitely not on my bucket list.

Sounds like a good one. The gf and I have safari across Africa set for next year.
 
The show seemed pretty busy.

I bought a new helmet, ordered a set of tires for one of my street bikes (they didn't have the right size on hand, otherwise I would have bought them right there), ordered 2 sets of tires for my race bike, arranged to have my leathers cleaned up and the inside lining repaired, made plans for suspension rework on one of my other bikes, got a status update on the shock rebuild for my race bike, renewed my racing license, and generally couldn't make it more than a few minutes the whole time without either recognizing someone else or them recognizing me. Talked to Tomas Casas for a bit. Spotted Jordan Szoke but he had a crowd around him. Talked to many people whom I've known for 20 plus years and lots of SOAR people whom I've only known for a few.

Good stuff.
 
If you go to the show,drop by the SOVT booth.We have videos of beginners on vintage and modern bikes with no big logs or walls.

Fak, wish I saw this earlier today. I went with a friend and we kinda rushed though.
 
One only has to go to the Forks on a warm day to see there is a lot of two wheel activity ...from wears leathers to bed like Brian to classics collectors to tons of warm weather only riders etc etc

Lots of riders, lots of interest not so much in new machines....
 
One only has to go to the Forks on a warm day to see there is a lot of two wheel activity ...from wears leathers to bed like Brian to classics collectors to tons of warm weather only riders etc etc

Lots of riders, lots of interest not so much in new machines....

Personally, I have an insurmountable mental barrier to spending $20K or more on a motorcycle. I simply WON'T do it. While at the show I overheard a number of conversations that shared that point of view. In some cases they were talking about buying late model used as opposed to new, in some cases it was that the technology was "nice to have" but not worth it in the grand scheme, and in other cases it was why spend so much on this when I can do the same ride, or type of ride on something that's thousands less?
 
Personally, I have an insurmountable mental barrier to spending $20K or more on a motorcycle. I simply WON'T do it. While at the show I overheard a number of conversations that shared that point of view. In some cases they were talking about buying late model used as opposed to new, in some cases it was that the technology was "nice to have" but not worth it in the grand scheme, and in other cases it was why spend so much on this when I can do the same ride, or type of ride on something that's thousands less?

The motorcycle industry is just like any other.

There are products available for all price points. New bikes come in all shapes, sizes and configurations, ranging from $5,000 to $50,000. Just because you and your friends won't spend $20K on a motorcycle, doesn't mean nobody will.
 
Personally, I have an insurmountable mental barrier to spending $20K or more on a motorcycle. I simply WON'T do it. While at the show I overheard a number of conversations that shared that point of view. In some cases they were talking about buying late model used as opposed to new, in some cases it was that the technology was "nice to have" but not worth it in the grand scheme, and in other cases it was why spend so much on this when I can do the same ride, or type of ride on something that's thousands less?

I guess that's why I'm not all that excited about the new Goldwing. My 20 year old one is in great shape and I'd rather spend the 25-30 G financial hit on gas and going places.

Has the market been spoiled by the upper crust needing all the bells and whistles? Somehow a $500 Briggs and Stratton minibike has morphed into a $30,000 couch rocket, not that I'd want to put in 8 hour days on a minibike.

In the late 60's cars had become gigantic road barges and everyone bought into it. Bigger was better. Then the oil crunch came and they started downsizing. I wonder how may people today would want a car eight feet wide, with fins.

I'm hinting at a small Goldwing but the old Silverwing (Not the scooter) and Pacific Coast don't appear to be out there in great numbers.

Insurance is a factor. I was thinking of adding a Rukus to the fleet but the insurance was almost as much as the wing. Why ride a pony if for the same price you can ride a horse.

A few more people would own multiple bike if insurers would give a break on rates but in spite of one rider only being able to ride one bike at a time there is no break in rates.
 
...
A few more people would own multiple bike if insurers would give a break on rates but in spite of one rider only being able to ride one bike at a time there is no break in rates.
Bingo!
[start rant]
If logic prevailed; Liability insurance should be levied on the rider and not on the bike, any rider is the same risk no matter what they are riding at any given time. Plus, no discount is offered to a single passenger vehicle, if I pull the passenger pegs off a motorcycle there is immediately half the risk or less.
I pay higher motorcycle insurance because my wife has her M license :/ I informed the agent she is incapable of solo riding either of my street bikes and it didn't matter.
If somebody wants the bike bad enough they will find the means to afford it, but due to the insurance system the cost to keep that bike on the road after purchase is a complete unknown. Anybody could be subject to insurance rates that might make a motorcycle they own unaffordable to ride and that's why there are so many motorcycles for sale that are not currently plated.
[end rant]
 
And I pay higher because my husband doesn't have his M, or have to sign a waiver stating he will not go near the bikes.

I get a bit of a multi-vehicle discount when I have 2+ 4 wheel vehicles on the road , but not enough to make it a deal breaker when you look at coverage/company satisfaction with claims. Last time I did this it was $150/yr difference, but TD was a nightmare compared to SF. Not worth it.

Last time I added another streetbike to my policy it was $246/yr extra (2 2w on the road) . The rules are not in place to switch machines mid policy, and that sucks. However it's not as expensive as it seems, especially if you sign that exclusion paper.
 

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