Creating New Riders - Page 2

Magician16 · 05-18-2022, 08:41 AM

I think the reason there are fewer people riding motorcycles is the urbanization of the country. I live halftime in North Dakota and half time in Arizona. I live on the fringe of the city in both places, so I can quickly hop on my dual sport and be out in the country. I absolutely will not ride the Interstate Highway system around Phoenix, and the motorcyclists that do seem to have a death wish the way they zoom through traffic.

Also, I'm retired, so I took the cheap way to get back into motorcycles and have 2 China bikes.

Falkon45 · 05-18-2022, 09:58 AM

I've wanted to ride since I was a kid. I didn't buy my first bike until I turned 37. As soon as I got my bike, my youngest said he wanted to ride. I was all about it. That, in turn, got his friend across the street wanting to ride. That, in turn, got two of my nephews and a niece wanting to ride. It's just all in who's exposed to it, and if it captures them at the time. My youngest wants to ride at a competitive level. Everyone else just wants to ride for fun, although one of my nephews has the aptitude to ride competitively.

But so far, social media has been the largest way to expose new riders. It's been a huge motivator. Especially amongst women riders. There's been a lot of new female riders showing up. And a lot of them are between mid 20's to early 30's. Because I mostly stick to the sport bike crew, I've seen a rather large boom in sport bike riders. I'm thinking the cruiser/bagger scene has gotten larger as well, but that's mostly the late 30's to mid-life crisis crowd (that's both male and female).

As for the the urbanization, Honda, Kawasaki, and the Chinese clones of said bikes are addressing that issue with the minis and scooters, with hopes of people moving up to larger bikes.

I think the biggest thing is that there are so many different types of bikes. Back in the day, it was standards or cruisers. Then, standards had dirt tires, then true dirt bikes. Then, standards got faster, and fairings, and sport bikes were born. Also, people wanted sport bikes that could do long trips, so sport cruisers were born. Then, people wanted something that could be a cruiser, but also could go off-road, and thus, ADVs were born.

There's just so many different types of bikes, and there's people who want to ride, but are more concerned with what type of bike to ride, instead of just riding. That amount of variety makes it quite confusing for people who are trying to figure out what group they want to fit into, instead of just going out and getting on the road. They're looking to fit in. They want to know who to group with before they make the decision to get a bike. It's the double edged sword of social media, unfortunately. lol.

locke · 06-06-2022, 12:08 AM

Whole reason I bought a bike this month was due to the benefit of gas mileage, 80mpg vs my 17mpg truck, great commuting vehicle during the summer. Completely anecdotal, but I've seen 5-6 people buy a bike recently because of the gas prices. I think there are going to be a lot more bike riders in the future.

05-18-2022, 08:41 AM	#16
Magician16 Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 469	I think the reason there are fewer people riding motorcycles is the urbanization of the country. I live halftime in North Dakota and half time in Arizona. I live on the fringe of the city in both places, so I can quickly hop on my dual sport and be out in the country. I absolutely will not ride the Interstate Highway system around Phoenix, and the motorcyclists that do seem to have a death wish the way they zoom through traffic. Also, I'm retired, so I took the cheap way to get back into motorcycles and have 2 China bikes. __________________ 2018 Bashan Storm(sold) 2016 Magician 250
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05-18-2022, 09:58 AM	#17
Falkon45 Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Savannah, Ga Posts: 759	I've wanted to ride since I was a kid. I didn't buy my first bike until I turned 37. As soon as I got my bike, my youngest said he wanted to ride. I was all about it. That, in turn, got his friend across the street wanting to ride. That, in turn, got two of my nephews and a niece wanting to ride. It's just all in who's exposed to it, and if it captures them at the time. My youngest wants to ride at a competitive level. Everyone else just wants to ride for fun, although one of my nephews has the aptitude to ride competitively. But so far, social media has been the largest way to expose new riders. It's been a huge motivator. Especially amongst women riders. There's been a lot of new female riders showing up. And a lot of them are between mid 20's to early 30's. Because I mostly stick to the sport bike crew, I've seen a rather large boom in sport bike riders. I'm thinking the cruiser/bagger scene has gotten larger as well, but that's mostly the late 30's to mid-life crisis crowd (that's both male and female). As for the the urbanization, Honda, Kawasaki, and the Chinese clones of said bikes are addressing that issue with the minis and scooters, with hopes of people moving up to larger bikes. I think the biggest thing is that there are so many different types of bikes. Back in the day, it was standards or cruisers. Then, standards had dirt tires, then true dirt bikes. Then, standards got faster, and fairings, and sport bikes were born. Also, people wanted sport bikes that could do long trips, so sport cruisers were born. Then, people wanted something that could be a cruiser, but also could go off-road, and thus, ADVs were born. There's just so many different types of bikes, and there's people who want to ride, but are more concerned with what type of bike to ride, instead of just riding. That amount of variety makes it quite confusing for people who are trying to figure out what group they want to fit into, instead of just going out and getting on the road. They're looking to fit in. They want to know who to group with before they make the decision to get a bike. It's the double edged sword of social media, unfortunately. lol.
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06-06-2022, 12:08 AM	#18
locke Join Date: Jun 2022 Posts: 4	Whole reason I bought a bike this month was due to the benefit of gas mileage, 80mpg vs my 17mpg truck, great commuting vehicle during the summer. Completely anecdotal, but I've seen 5-6 people buy a bike recently because of the gas prices. I think there are going to be a lot more bike riders in the future.
	3