Buell closing?

well here is a conspiracy theory for you...

he did build a bike with a better engine.. the 1125R with a Rotax
engine, its been out what? 12 months, suddenly HD have pulled the pin.

mh

 

well, for one, they have never given me an aqueduct

mh

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:34:27 +1100

They aren't working full stop.

It's the nasty nasty thing that's not being talked about much, ain't
no work for the young'uns.

Sure, the top level will get work, they always have. But the middle
and the lower middle, not so much. THe ones I know who aren't
students haven't had a full time job permanent job ever. Casual,
contract, bit here, bit there.

You don't get to spend $3k on a GPx on the dole or ausstudy, never
mind the money it takes to get your licence and buy your gear. You
instead spend $2k on a cheap car that takes your mates and your stuff.

(Or you make labrador eyes at your parents and few of those will stump
up for a motorcycle.)

If you can get a licence... not so easy in NSW anymore.

You definitely don't buy new bikes. Only people in secure paid
employment can do that.

I dunno who bought all those scooters, but given they mostly turn up
in the trendy inner city suburbs I can guess.

Way back in the distant past, cars were expensive and motorcycles were
cheap. Now it's the other way around and cars are much more convenient
and comfortable than a bike.

Why would a young bod want one?

Zebee

 

Oh bother.. im shattered.

 

To compensate for the short stick nature provided ?

 

Chicks dig em. : )

Fraser

 

Ah, bugger.

I hate being not young anylonger. Once, I was young.

When they're terrorists, mainly.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:54:14 +1100

http://xkcd.com/647/

Zebee
- who couldn't stand that show...

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:12:45 +1100

Me too, my joints worked.

I remember being one of only 2 people with jobs in a 7 person share
house and the other was a RAAFie.

That was the recession of the early 80s, no idea if the rate now is
better or worse.

Zebee

 

at least they supplied music...

it felt like home, overtaking them on the right side

mh

 

"well here is a conspiracy theory for you...

he did build a bike with a better engine.. the 1125R with a Rotax
engine, its been out what? 12 months, suddenly HD have pulled the pin.

mh

That 1125 is a very unattractive motorcycle IMHO. The Firebolt, on the
other hand, I think looks stunning and with lots of trick innovations,
perimeter disc, fuel in frame, oil in swingarm, underslung muffler along
with an ingenious method of mounting the motor to drastically reduce
vibration.

But I guess in these days of EFI 4 valve dohc liquid cooling an air cooled 2
valve motor with hid. lifters and a carbie, remember them, just didn't cut
the mustard with the sport bike brigade. So they brought along the Rotax,
probably an exelent motorcycle but it got wacked by the ugly stick big time.

I see that MV is also up for sale and HD only brought that yesterday. This
GFC is hammering all auto Co's and the little fellas are hurting the most


Sad to see em go

Capt. A. L..

 

Try the time warp. I'm currently staying in a uni sharehouse in
Yarraville. It's like I've flipped my mind back twenty years. They are
are all cool and good friends and mainly expat Taswegians, but I've
been there and done that. Bring on payday and my own place . . .

 

<SNIP>

Jacob (currently 17) just sold his XT250 and he's currently working on
getting an XR400 roadworthy so he can ride that when he gets his P
Plates soon.

He's already making noises about wanting Jodies Bandit when she upgrades.

Same reason as me? Because he likes riding?

There are a reasonable number of his mates with dirt bikes as well (ok
most of them aren't new but they tend to be fairly well looked after).

Maybe that's a living in the country thing?



G-S

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:48:27 +1100

Which he found out about how?

Almost certainly. There are bugger all places to legally ride
dirtbikes for most people. And the illegal places are hard to get to.

I see a few minibikes about, being ridden illegally and dangerously.
I doubt the young lads riding those will buy a legal bike compared to
a riced up 2nd hand Hyundai for $3k.

I note that hospitals see a lot of dirt bikes. According to the data
supplied to the MCC there are a lot of kids who get hurt riding on
waste ground, mainly by hitting hidden hazards.

(There's a lot of people hurt on dirtbikes who are wearing all the
kit. Apparently hurt by doing jumps....)

Zebee

 

<anecdote>
I had a cousin who died in a dirtbike accident - it was (as far as i'm
aware)
registered, and he was wearing a helmet. Head on with another bloke going
round
a corner on a fire trail, steering collapsed, headstem through the helmet.

The other bloke got thrown off/jumped clear.
</anecdote>

 

Yep, but it's a while now since Massey Ferguson got into strife....

 

From me I'd assume (as you alluded to)

However I'm not sure why you think that kids of other motorcyclists
won't get similar exposure.

Actually there's quite a few of them in Victoria (I don't know about NSW).

I suspect however that a lot of parents think a cheap chinese bike at
say $1000 and a $99 helmet is all they need to pay when it's more about
about ongoing costs of roughly $50 per riding session. [1]


G-S

[1] Blame the lawyers or the insurance companies (or better still both).

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:10:15 +1100

And how many of them are there? Drop in the bucket.... Most
teenagers don't get to try motocycles of any kind.

And the petrol and trailer and time. Might be somewhere close to your
country town, but look at the high population areas and work out where
legal riding is from there. Answer: getting further and further away
every year.


Zebee

 

Hey ? You reckon motorcyclists aren't breeding ? Dunno if that stands
up to scrutiny - most of the riders I know have bred (hey, come to
think of it there's a few on ausmoto letting the side down - get to it
folks ! Gerry you're excused, Agent Orange and all that (1) )

JL
Son and grandson of motorcyclists, not to mention nephew of about 10
riders - and yes my boys will get bikes- the other half's only comment
was "just as long as if the next is a girl she gets a bike too"
1 One of my cousins had a minor birth defect blamed on it - is it
actually a real cause of issues or is that just urban myth ?

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:55:45 +1100

It's about numbers.

Not about "how many who now ride bikes" but about "how many people".

Motorcyclists are a minority, the question is is there a smaller
percentage of people getting into bikes?

If you have 100 people under 25 how many get into bikes?

If you have 1000 people and 60% are over 30, 40% are over 50 and of
the 40% under 30 who are going to drive the bike market in the next 10
years there are few who ride bikes....

That people do get into bikes is obvious. What isn't obvious is what
will drive the motorcycle industry as the baby boomers age into no
longer riding.

Zebee