Buell closing?

A puzzling comment - the MF40 was to backhoes what the TE20 was to
light tractors - both hugely successful and models on which respective
industries were based.
The parallel with HD is a bit tenuous, isn't it?

 

It's real, and That Authoritative Source Wikipedia backs me up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

Selective quote: " In 1963, the United States (suspecting the negative
effects) initiated a study on the health effects of Agent Orange that by
1967 confirmed that the chemical caused cancer, birth defects and other
serious health problems. "

 

I still have a te20 with slasher as a mower ... amazing how it just does
it's 4 hours a month forever ....

 

I was talking about Melbourne, there are a number of legal riding areas
within an hours drive of the CBD. Most of them cost somewhere around
$50 a riding session.

Yes the trailer/car/fuel cost is on top of that (which is why I said a
lot of parents have the wrong impression it costs $1000 for a chinese
bike and a bit more for a helmet when it's really quite a substantial
ongoing cost).

But legal riding spots are available (just expensive).


G-S

 

You could make the same argument about the car industry (or half a dozen
others).

It's only relevant if the drop in motorcycling is greater than one would
expect compared to other industries, ie if we see a disproportionate
shift towards other modes of transport and away from motorcycling over
and above the drop directly attributed to lower numbers of people in age
brackets of an age to own/use their own transport.


G-S

 

We don't seem to see quite so many bikes around here these days bar
Sunday when all the return trade heads to the dams parks etc well out of
town

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:21:20 +1100

I think it will depend on who is buying them as to what flow on effect
it has.

Childless inner city types? PRobably not much of an effect on getting
younger riders into motorcycles.

As a replacement for the 2nd car for people who have kids? Possibly
some effect there.

I dunno which it is, but the people I see on scooters tend to be
older (meaning they might have kids) and I see far more of them parked
in the trendy suburbs than the ones with kids.

Zebee

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:54:09 +1100

Cars are ubiquitous. The families without them are statistically
insignificant.

I would say most teenagers wouldn't think twice about getting a car if
they could.

The changes in licencing laws in NSW might have an effect on car
driving vs motorcycling if they don't bugger up the bike Ls in the
same way...

Which is what I think we will see.

And even if the proportion stays the same, that's a massive drop in
absolute numbers.

Zebee

 

Yeah, fair call... it was mainly the tractor analogy (!) although IIRC, MF
did go through a bad patch in the 60s with older product lines, increasing
competititon and a shrinking overall market. Mind you, the number of grey
Fergies doing light routine work and puling the odd boat around the
Shoalhaven is significant.

 

I never said that they weren't

However the car industry are expecting a big drop in numbers of vehicles
purchased per year in first world countries due to the baby boomer
bubble as well. That's one reason they are working so hard in
developing countries.

Of course not, but that's not different to the situation in past years
either. Only a minority of teenagers considered motorbikes.

I'm not familiar with those changes so I can't comment.

I'm not so sure, the figures so far line up pretty much with the car
industry and there are already 'early release' baby boomers at retiring
age now.

Oh it is and will be a huge drop in absolute numbers, I'm not disputing
that. I just don't haven't seen evidence supporting additional losses
on top of that.

I guess only another 20 years will answer that question...


G-S

 

I guess I was thinking of the old and tired Brit designs of the 60's
trying to survive on customer loyalty ahead of innovation and quality.

It seems to me that there is a parallel today in the niche where the
big cruisers live. The market that forgives the down-sides of owning
one is peaking. Is there a market to replace the boomers? I'm sure
that market researchers are scratching their heads over just this
issue as we speak. It's just that some manufacturers' solutions so far
seem to be so far outside the box as to appear to be a bit weird.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:09:46 +1100

I'm wondering about the full on sportbike.

In Oz it's getting harder and harder to find somewhere to ride the
larger ones. Twisty roads are being swallowed by suburbia and have
low speed limits and more policing.

Ride days are expensive especially on weekends.

I suppose like the full on Harley cruiser thing they are mostly
selling dreams not riding, but if there's no way to even pretend to
live the dream, will fewer people try?

<waits for the hard core sportbikers to erupt in indignation>

Zebee

 

As I walked to work this morning looking at overflowing bike bays full
of scooters and commuter bikes, with mostly 20 somethings getting off
them (and just as many girls as guys I'm pleased to say), I was
thinking about this thread.

I have no fear of the baby boomers giving it up, in fact I think it
will be a good thing, the shape of bikes to come can change without
the constant references to 50's and '60's archetypes (Brit bikes, mods
and their scooters, and Hell's accountants channelling easy rider).
Young people mostly ride sportsbikes, I think the sports and funky
design scooters will do just fine, particularly in a world of ever
more expensive petrol (assuming that's the future).

JL

 

<baffled look> The average scooter rider in the CBD is about
20something and often female as far as I can see - where are you
gathering this perception from ?

The weekend scooter riders are often older though - the ones I see
toodling to the inner city coffee shops are a wide range of ages.

JL

 

Man Zebee, you were chewing on the pink tablets before you got onto
this thread weren't you ?

The Old Rd may have been turned into a parking lot, but there's still
plenty of places to take a sportsbike - they're all the same roads I
was riding when I was on my L plates yonks ago.

Depends on your priorities - cheaper than coke...and better value

Myaah - I probably don't count, but I won't disagree that an R1 or
ZX10 sells on the dream as well as the reality - doesn't that go for
any bike ? You're the possessor (sp?) of a poser permit last I looked..

 

JL wrote:

You say that like it's a bad thing.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

Not at all - I was making the point that anyone who can be given a
poser permit can't be only owning a bike because it's a method of
getting from a to b (ie there's something more than just functionality
about it).

I don't think I actually want to know people who own bikes for the
same reasons they own whitegoods...

JL

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:12:20 -0700 (PDT)

Of course not, and I've never said I've bought a bike for that, indeed
I've often said how practicality has never been much of an issue.

But I'm also the person who keeps what's probably her most desirable
and valuable bike in Adelaide because there's nowhere to ride it here.
The Devil is about dreaming on many levels but there's no point in
having a dream if you can only enjoy it when asleep....

Zebee

 

You mean you can buy a bike that'll keep your beer cold?

 

If you collect enough CO2 from the exhaust and pressurise it in a
container, you can release it on your beer and it will make it cold.