Is motorcycling becoming an Old Man's Thing?

I only ask, because on my daily commute I see fewer and fewer young bods
on bikes. OK, yes, scooters, no shortage of Bright Young Things on
Vespas and the like.

But demonstrably young fresh-faced too-young-to-shave-every-day lads on
bikes, say, over 250cc? Nope. Nary a one.

But I see more and more grizzled veterans on.... well, on anything,
really, as long as it's over 400cc. Fazers, Bandits, Beemers, Triumphs
of every persuasion. Oh, and there's one hard-core scooter junky on a
cream-and-red 1960s Lambretta and some geezer on a very loud Honda
CB550.

Now maybe it's rose-tinted specs, but in my yoof, which is now 25-30
years behind me, lots of people my age were running what then counted as
a serious motorcycle on a shoestring. In my case, it was first a Suzuki
GT500, then an XS650, then a Honda CB750 and then a Guzzi Spada.

It's a bit worrying to think that my pastime and passion seems to be
falling into the same participants' age group as, for example, Crown
Green bowls or ballroom dancing.

 

I think most younger people feel they need a car for practical reasons
and can't afford to run both, especially once the kids arrive. Then
you get to a certain age and you can afford both and maybe even relish
having transport that the whole family can't fit in.

 

Is this a 'coming out' post?

 

Strange. I see a fair number of young lads - often black - on sports
machines like R6s or Suzuki Gixxers. Also a smattering of young chaps
on the 125cc copies of larger sports machines. You only need to see the
presence of sports bikes in rap and grime videos to see the reason why a
certain demographic are keen to be riding on the latest trick machine.

Being terribly un-PC for a moment I do sometimes wonder where they get
the money from given the bikes aren't cheap and I can't imagine
insurance costs are exactly low either.

Welcome to old age.

 

Demographics partially explains what TOG sees. There are fewer
teenagers/early 20s about at the moment as there was a dip in the birth
rate throughout the 90s. Add in the larger proportion that go to
university and therefore don't need a bike/car until they get a job and
demand has tailed off. The birth rate has revcovered in the last decade
and by 2020 there will be a lot more teenage/early 20s about.

I see quite a few 125/50cc trail bikes around here. Proper jobs, Aprilia
or Derbi not Chinese crap. About 50-50 with scooters. Hardly a surprise
as many of the kids attending the local high school come from rural
areas so a) they need transport to get about and b) they have access to
farmland to dick about on. There are quite a few enduro/motocross
dealers & clubs around here too - I get my MOTs done at a motox dealer.

 

I really hope that was meant sarcastically?

--
Gavin.

Moto Guzzi California Aquila Nera
Suzuki GSXR600K1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.eekafreek.com

 

maybe so in the little bubble you live in. This graph shows the dramatic
rise in the post 30 fertility rate but those in their 20s remain quite
fertile in the UK as a whole.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=951

 

Yeah, they seem to have made it enough of a pain in the arse to get a
licence now that many people are intimidated or just put off by the
process. You probably have to be a bit of a world-weary
don't-let-the-bastards-grind-you-down type just to be bothered with all
the dicking about with CBT, theory tests, figure of 8's around cones,
emergency stop from 31.0685596 mph, before you even get to do the
wobbling along with an examiner behind you bit.

Not sure I'd be bothered to go through all that myself TBH.

 

Well, not deliberately maybe.

 

<looks at driving licence>

A 09-11-92

FOYRNB

 

ICBW, but I suspect it has something to do with insurance costs. I got
my full license 4 years ago at 26, and bought a Bandit. Living in a posh
bit of London, TPFT was still over £500, so I imagine for a real
young-un it'd be eye watering (especially when taken with lower earnings
as well). I don't know what insurance prices were like 30 years ago in
comparison as a proportion of earnings.

When the cost of buying/fuelling/insuring your motorbike/gear is double
or more the cost of a season ticket on the train, I can understand why
younger people don't want to commute by big bike. I learned to ride as
a hobby, commuting was a byproduct.

 

On 04/11/2010 23:13, Champ wrote:

<fx: considers crash record over past 4 years since passing test at 26>

*ding*

 

The relative costs of buying and running "serious" motorcycles has greatly
increased compared with the same costs for cars. Good quality cars can be
bought new for less than the new price of many bikes. On the secondhand
market, the value of used cars has plummeted whilst bikes tend to retain
value for longer. At the same time, insurance costs have been moving closer
to each other. Likewise, in the age of electronic everything the costs of
maintenance/repairs have also been converging. The mpg figures have also
been converging. There are few large capacity bikes that can get better
than 45mpg whilst plenty of cars can achieve this. Then there is the
increasing difficulty of the test to get a full bike licence, the reduction
in the number of test centres and the bad publicity around the swerve/brake
test.

It is factors like these that are deterring the younger buyer. Years ago
bikes used to be cheap transport and/or cheap thrills but this is much less
true now.

 

Considers crash record since 17 - although I didn't actually <cough> get
round to passing my test until 20.

 

I dont have stats available to me at the moment, but isnt the UK the
highest in Euroupe for teenage pregnancies.

It was on the news the other morning that the Isle of White is
considering giving the pill to girls at the age of (ICW: 14) to try and
stop the trend that they feel is a real issue.

Here on the IOM, there is a very high rate of young unmarried mothers.
Again I dont have stats but you only have to walk down Strand Street on
any lunchtime to see.

Maybe it just hasnt hit Gloucester yet?

Thinking about it, almost everyone I know has had kids in their very
early 20's or before. Few of my mates have taken on other guys kids as
their ew GF's have had children very early.

I realise that this is only an opinion, so dont pull me up on it, but I
think your statment "Hardly anyone has kids before they're 30 nowadays"
is wrong.
--
Gavin.

Moto Guzzi California Aquila Nera
Suzuki GSXR600K1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.eekafreek.com

 

Ah - maybe thats the difference I failed to pick up on?
--
Gavin.

Moto Guzzi California Aquila Nera
Suzuki GSXR600K1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.eekafreek.com

 

What's this?

 

We're high but not the highest - and probably not as bad as the Daily
Mail will have you believe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global...y#Teenage_birth_and_abortion_rates_by_country

It's got to be true it's on the internet - which is probably a little
more accurate than it's on Strand Street and who's to say the young women
you're judging are not in stable relationships?

The young mum pushing my daughter about 20 years ago was in a stable
relationship, I suspect Lozzo will say much the same.

 

You're confusing 'high rates' with 'a high proportion of the total'.
Most children are, I feel sure, born to much older mothers.

And anyway, the teenage unmarried ones are hardly the demographic
being referred to as potential car/bike owners, are they? Maybe a
motorised pram...

 

TMack has hit the nail on the head.