Skimmed the article as the writer seems far too full of himself. No surprise that he is listed as a consultant. Anyone that has worked with consultants has seen that the majority of their ideas work great in a boardroom, but fail miserably in the real world.
Car manufacturers are trying the direct to consumer model for the past few years and have not seen much, if any, success. The only exception that I know of is Tesla.
Besides all that, the writer seems to completely miss the point (or I didn't read it) that motorcycles are a toy in the North American market, not a utility. Scooters and small bikes make sense in Europe where the weather is largely much better, traffic is much worse, roads are a lot narrower, parking space is a lot more limited, and fuel is much more expensive.
The writer makes it all seem so simple. A cheap little bike, delivered to your front door and away goes Generation Z into fun, practical paradise. But...
It's a lot more complicated than that. There's licensing, insurance, and the deadly plague of distracted drivers on jam-packed roadways. I inspired a couple of the young kids at work with my little Honda 250cc commuter bike. One bought an electric motorcycle, then stopped riding it after some moron knocked him over with his car. The challenges for the motorcycle industry right now are many, but I truly believe the savior will be inexpensive Chinese motorcycles marketed to kids.
I’m a big believer in small displacement motorcycles and agree that if Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and Kawi offered their little Enduro and racer bikes here there would be a big number of young new riders.
if the mc manufacturers could swing an entry deal with an insurer (like Uber did for their drivers), the industry might just get things rolling. Let those new riders get a few years experience and the next bike will be bigger and cheaper to insure.
Honda sold a lot of CBR125 bikes with this strategy, I wonder how many of those new riders moved along to a bigger bike and how many quit?
On a continent where cars and trucks are getting bigger and heavier every year, convincing people to be atop the smallest, lightest and most under-powered vehicle on the road might be an insurmountable challenge.
There's a reason Harleys have done well in North America: If you can't beat'em, might as well be the biggest goddamn bike on the road, then!
Everyone should start driving more polluting cars. More global warming = longer riding seasons = easier to justify motorcycling costs and longer commuting months. Win.
Everyone should start driving more polluting cars. More global warming = longer riding seasons = easier to justify motorcycling costs and longer commuting months. Win.
I’m a big believer in small displacement motorcycles and agree that if Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and Kawi offered their little Enduro and racer bikes here there would be a big number of young new riders.
if the mc manufacturers could swing an entry deal with an insurer (like Uber did for their drivers), the industry might just get things rolling. Let those new riders get a few years experience and the next bike will be bigger and cheaper to insure.
Honda sold a lot of CBR125 bikes with this strategy, I wonder how many of those new riders moved along to a bigger bike and how many quit?
Business is all about making money and every year there has to be more profit. Any publicly traded company that shows signs of no improvement in profit down the line will tank.
You have to hype your product in a market where the selling feature is status. The $700 difference between a CB650R and a CBR650R isn't a deterrent to getting into biking. Just work a few extra shifts at burgerama. Insurance is a different matter when the agent gets out hand sanitizer before touching your CBR application.
The North American bike thing is all about fun and status. The Asian bike thing is about cheap transportation. We are looking at two different markets. One is a tool and the other an ornament.
Insurance here sees the fun part and recognizes the danger / risk. They see the medical bills. Someone has to absorb that cost. A new Grom lists at $3699, probably about the same as the insurance for a new rider. How much would Honda have to reduce the price of the Grom or subsidize the insurance to make a purchase viable.
More and more I hear of large companies screwing customers to show profit today. The shareholders want their money now. If it creates a problem down the road it's up to the spin doctors to fix it then.
"If everybody was fair and worked together we would all be one happy family" is a pipe dream.
Business is all about making money and every year there has to be more profit. Any publicly traded company that shows signs of no improvement in profit down the line will tank.
You have to hype your product in a market where the selling feature is status. The $700 difference between a CB650R and a CBR650R isn't a deterrent to getting into biking. Just work a few extra shifts at burgerama. Insurance is a different matter when the agent gets out hand sanitizer before touching your CBR application.
The North American bike thing is all about fun and status. The Asian bike thing is about cheap transportation. We are looking at two different markets. One is a tool and the other an ornament.
Insurance here sees the fun part and recognizes the danger / risk. They see the medical bills. Someone has to absorb that cost. A new Grom lists at $3699, probably about the same as the insurance for a new rider. How much would Honda have to reduce the price of the Grom or subsidize the insurance to make a purchase viable.
More and more I hear of large companies screwing customers to show profit today. The shareholders want their money now. If it creates a problem down the road it's up to the spin doctors to fix it then.
"If everybody was fair and worked together we would all be one happy family" is a pipe dream.
Some fair points however there are a few things to consider:
1) Japanese manufacturers typically have a long view on profits, they are not as 'next quarter' driven as North American companies.
2) Outside North America TCO is the driving factor as a small bike is a big investment in many countries. That same thing is starting to happen here, the cost of ownership - repairs, insurance in particular - are driving people to alternatives. A car if you have money, ebikes and scooters if you don't or are frugal. 5 years ago an 18 year old could get a used Ninja 250 for $2000 and insure it for $800. Today the only thing he could insure for under $1K is a 125cc bike, something you can't get because nobody sells them.
3) If the MC manufacturers watch the pie shrink, they are not only flushing a sale they could have today, they flush a few future sales away too. This is business 101 and I'm sure this discussion is going on in powersports boardrooms around the world as they see the cash cow regions getting skinny, I think you will see a couple focus on the entry market.
The manufacturers need to bring out bikes that have smaller displacement without the incredibly small dimensions. Where is the 200cc bike that a 6' man doesn't look like a clown on? I sat on the cbr250 when it first came out and it is a joke. The cbr125 was worse. Make the frame slightly larger and maybe $300 more...and you'll have easier sales. Even a 150 on the same frame as a 300 would work. But beginners aren't always small.
The manufacturers need to bring out bikes that have smaller displacement without the incredibly small dimensions. Where is the 200cc bike that a 6' man doesn't look like a clown on? I sat on the cbr250 when it first came out and it is a joke. The cbr125 was worse. Make the frame slightly larger and maybe $300 more...and you'll have easier sales. Even a 150 on the same frame as a 300 would work. But beginners aren't always small.
The manufacturers need to bring out bikes that have smaller displacement without the incredibly small dimensions. Where is the 200cc bike that a 6' man doesn't look like a clown on?
In the cruiser segment, I rode my wifes Vstar 650 a few times. It was actually fun, and a bike of that displacement fits the needs of probably 80% of the motorcycling public, and nearly 100% of the urban beginner category.
But it was SMALL. I looked like a beach ball humping a tennis ball riding the thing.
If the manufacturers would just wake up and make something that looks like a big bore cruiser but with a small bore engine, I have a hard time believing they wouldn't sell to a younger crowd on insurability alone. As it stands right now anyone north of 200# and/or over 6 feet tall looking to get into a cruiser is stuck buying something big-bore simply to get a bike that they can ride without being all crunched up. The older crowd can probably afford the $$$ insurance, but the young crowd, not so much.
Many of the same equivalencies hold true for the sport market as well.
you know, I used to go horseback riding in the southwest US. They started using draft horses as a quarter horse were good for about 250lbs an the cowboys kept getting "bigger". maybe you fat fuckers needing 125's to have larger frames maybe need to stop saying yes to biggee size me...
Those who start with a small bike, tend to ditch them before they actually learn to ride, and those who skip them, I suspect never do.
You can use the bike to compensate for your deficiencies up to a point, but then things will quickly start going south.
If you look at the historical weather patterns it's been the reverse.
Some of that's due to modern innovation, but you can't completely engineer against the world.
millennials will buy bikes
by making the transaction possible on a phone?
idiocy
they are starting to get into buying stuff
just a generation that was slow to launch
about a decade behind the rest of us in growing up
the Boomers are going away, finally
though you wouldn't know it if you follow US politics
2 of the possible next Presidents are too old to be classed as Boomers
current one barely qualifies
X-ers are now running things and we need the Millenials to step up - grow up
small bikes of decent quality at a reasonable price will appeal to them
they all want >10K scramblers, but won't sacrifice the beard wax and lattes to afford one
someone needs to develop a more affordable standard/scrambler that is not junk
Japan, didn't this used to be your thing? get on it
Maybe Yamaha can re-introduce the RD250 (btw mine started 2nd kick this afternoon) or something like it in terms of size/style/weight...maybe not a 2-stroke though .
you know, I used to go horseback riding in the southwest US. They started using draft horses as a quarter horse were good for about 250lbs an the cowboys kept getting "bigger". maybe you fat fuckers needing 125's to have larger frames maybe need to stop saying yes to biggee size me...
1/ A 6' tall guy that weighs 150# on a small framed bike is going to be just as cramped as a 6' tall guy that weighs 250#. It's the height that matters...which was my point you seem to have missed. Weight is one thing but a lot of small cc bikes seem to be designed around some ill conceived assumption that only 5'3" people are going to be riding them. CAN you ride it? Sure. Is it apt to be an ideal experience? Nope.
2/ Draft horses are actually capable of carrying less weight on their backs as a percentage of their overall weight than smaller horses. Yes, because they weigh more, they can haul more as an overall number, but because they carry so much more of their own weight to begin with there are still limits.
Also, put a 150# 6'6" guy on a pony (perfectly within allowable percentage limits for a good sized pony) and see how silly he looks. Now, go re-read #1 above. See the comparison?
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