The future of motorcycles as daily transport?

[Potter]

My perception is that there are more smaller bikes, budget bikes and 'Mondeo' bikes being built than there has been for ages.
I know it's hard to buy a crap bike now, it's not like years ago where some would be awful, but I'm seeing a shift from high end stuff that are pure luxury products for the stereotypical born-again bloke that we saw for a period and there seems to be more useful stuff that you could go to work on.

It would make sense at the moment when economy is the thing, I don't mean the pandemic, I mean the challenges on your pocket that started before that. If I was in the UK now and could go to work on a bicycle then I would, but failing that it would be a sensible motorcycle like the RE650 or one of those Mash 650's.

Will we see a return to motorcycles being the commuters choice?

[weeksy]

I don't believe so honestly, there doesn't seem to be that desire in society any more. Motorbikes were a 1950-1980s rebellious streak, raging against the machine, battling against the man. The guys who picked it up in that time then went on to become the motorbikers. However the kids now rebel by getting stoned instead and playing x-box. Even the commuter has dwindled as society becomes more WFH as being the norm.
Kids have also become soft, big bunch of girls blouses who want the creature comforts. They're more likely to go for a robot driven electic car than they are to buy a motorbike so they can still sit there and vLog or YouTube while commuting.

It's a sad shame, but i think motorbiking in that context and many others too is a fading activty, a dying breed which we're part of but the masses are not.

Just look at this and other forums/bike media, it's all 50+ year old blokes, not 18 year old kids.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I agree with Weeksy, I think motorcycling in the UK is very much a leisure activity rather than a means of transport, I think the UK motorcyclists taste in motorcycles has changed from race replicas to more sensible bikes, but the over 50s find it difficult to cope with low bars and high pegs.

[Scotsrich]

I would say the cost benefit of using a motorbike rather than a car has narrowed over the years.

Mpg, service costs and service intervals, tax and insurance, general running costs eg tyres all can be the same or less in a small car.

Why get kitted up, helmet, boots, gloves when you can pick up the car keys and go?

Biking when I started was a social activity. A few mates out for a run, maybe call into a bike shop for a nose around.

Those days are gone and youngsters are no longer interested in that lifestyle.

New bikers nowadays are coming from the older generation who have done the car bit and are now trying out something they’ve always wanted to do. Maybe today’s kids will do the same? If they don’t then motorcycle as we know it will die a death.

[Rockburner]

I think the UK is a micro-environment where bikes are concerned, for various reasons.

[Yorick]

You see lots of little bikes in the big city here.
But at weekends, hundreds of big bikes come out to play.

[Skub]

I think the UK is a micro-environment where bikes are concerned, for various reasons.

Yeah,that's very true.

Our climate isn't as suited as some countries to motorcycling and as Weeksy says,folks are getting softer. Loads of kids on scoots and stuff in the warmer climes. From what I see locally commuting by bike still goes on,maybe not as many as when I was doing it. There'll always be folk who for economic reasons or just an unwillingness to sit in traffic jams,will choose a bike for the job.

The likes of Harley are now seeing a slow down in bigger stuff because customer age is causing a change of the guard,so who knows what way the big stuff will go.

All the talk of mandatory speed limiters on vehicles from 2022 won't encourage punter to shell out for 200bhp to do a max of 70mph. Lots of changes coming.

[MingtheMerciless]

Self driving cars will kill off bikes as a daily transport. Cheap insurance, you can look at the internet whilst the AI removes most of the nasty risk of driving by removing most of the human element. I think journeys will simply be a period of time getting from A to B with AI systems doing all the thinking and traffic management/navigation. Non self driving stuff will be taxed/insuranced out of the market.

[The Spin Doctor]

Bikes are still highly affordable transport for younger riders and the less well-off and as has been said, there are plenty of riders on smaller capacity machines in the cities where they have a real role in getting people to work. The idea that motorcycling is a leisure activity has been promoted by the manufacturers and the industry generally as a good way to justify up-pricing bigger bikes. All you need to do to see which bikes sell best is have a look at the MCIA's own registration figures that are published every month. I think it was for November or December that Lexmoto were the top selling brand in the UK. This last 12 months has been a bit exceptional in terms of sales of small cc machines, but the sales are there.

In the last seven or eight years, there's also been a huge effort put into providing the next tier of bikes - the 300 to 700 machines - to help riders move beyond the entry level models, something that the manufacturers steadfastly ignored from the mid-90s onwards, when the 600 supersport was being sold by dealers and magazine articles alike as the 'ideal' bike for a newly qualified rider.

But there's also a chance at the bottom end. For years, learner bikes have been old tech endlessly recycles. How many iterations of the Honda 125 or Suzuki 125 motor have there been? But emissions regs have changed all that, and new 125s are actually using up-to-date design.

And it's worth pointing out that many manufacturers are moving backwards towards entry / midrange models because they know that the top end bikes they've been selling have been bought by riders from the 70/80s generations... and we're rapidly moving towards the end of our riding! Triumph are an example, KTM have already got there with their 390s. There is a younger rider market, the problem is exploiting it. Harley are an exception. Their recent restructuring plan was to abandon developing markets and affordable bikes, and slash the model line up. The result - big drop in revenue. Ducati also lack an entry model - the 'affordable' Monster hasn't been for years.

Otherwise, the problems are the same ones they have always been...

- riders who are poorly prepared to take to the road (and that applies at pretty much any age - there's no significant risk difference between a 17 year old hitting the streets and a 30 year old when they have zero experience bar CBT - they both fill out accident stats).

- bike theft and lack of secure parking.

- lack of work place facilities for people who ride to work.

[Horse]

There's a sad irony when at a time when a lot of people want to avoid public transport and small bike sales were going up, bike training schools are shut down so new riders can't get CBTs.

Biking needs numbers. I walked into town a couple of weeks ago, noticed that Pro Bikes has either gone or moved out of the big showroom (having halved in size a few years ago).

And just for context on how much biking has shrunk, in the late 1970s Honda had 12 125s in their range.

[Taipan]

A few years ago, there was deffo a surge of scooters as commuters in London, but I don't think that's the case anymore. They are giving way to cycles and leccy scooters. Also, I don't think i see anything like the bikes I used on my main road commute. I think younger generations are much more environmentally aware and will embrace the move from ICE vehicles to electric ones, so unless leccy motorbikes drop dramatically in price, people will just use eMtBs and escooters instead.

[G.P]

As Spin says, Lexmoto were the biggest seller last year. so yes, there is clearly a need.
I think Ebikes will take a chunk of that market and in the next few years, an electric, funky looking Honda Cub may rule the roost.

[Dodgy69]

Bikes are great for combating congestion, so in reality, they make good sense.

Trouble is, the big bike test is too expensive and too much trouble for many and I know a few who gave up trying. Also CBTs need renewing every 2/3 years, whatever it is. It all puts people off.

If bike ownership was a cheaper, simpler affair, from start up, more would do it i reckon.

[Taipan]

As Spin says, Lexmoto were the biggest seller last year. so yes, there is clearly a need.
I think Ebikes will take a chunk of that market and in the next few years, an electric, funky looking Honda Cub may rule the roost.

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Note
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[The Spin Doctor]

Bikes are great for combating congestion, so in reality, they make good sense.

Trouble is, the big bike test is too expensive and too much trouble for many and I know a few who gave up trying. Also CBTs need renewing every 2/3 years, whatever it is. It all puts people off.

If bike ownership was a cheaper, simpler affair, from start up, more would do it i reckon.

The first reason it was made complex and expensive was because the motorcycle industry refused to do anything about bike crashes. The industry was told to put its house in order in no uncertain terms in the 90s, and simply ignored the UK government and the EU. After all, so long as the rider survives the crash - and most do - they're back for spares and repairs, or even a replacement bike courtesy the insurance company.

The second reason was that the DVSA saw the opportunity for empire-building. When the EU licence directive gave the DfT / DVSA the opportunity to gold-plate all the changes to the tiered licences via a pair of off-road and on-road tests which had to be repeated at each level, they grabbed it with both hands, both feet and their prehensile tails.

Most people don't realise that the EU offered an option for just ONE test pass, with the upgrades to the higher A2 and A licences to be signed off by a qualified INSTRUCTOR after an approved training course. The DVSA promised to review that option. To date, they haven't done so.

[Bigyin]

When Covid hit last year and the first lockdowns kicked in we were inundated at the school for CBT training for people who had never in their life ridden or even considered riding on two wheel motorised transport but felt they needed to and also lots who wanted to avoid using public transport.

Lots of auto CBT's just to get people legally onto twist and go bikes form kids with new shelf stacking jobs and getting to college to ladies of an age starting with 5 who worked in care homes and wanted to get there for shifts . we had a few who loved it and came back for lessons on geared bikes and now want to get full bike licenses


Picking up on Spins post above there are many we get who have spent their time on a A2 license and could easily shift to an A license having being assessed by an Instructor but they have to currently jump all the hoops and expense to be tested again through Mod 1 and Mod 2 on a bigger bike

[JackyJoll]

The bikes-as-transport market collapsed after the 1959 buying season.

[The Spin Doctor]

Picking up on Spins post above there are many we get who have spent their time on a A2 license and could easily shift to an A license having being assessed by an Instructor but they have to currently jump all the hoops and expense to be tested again through Mod 1 and Mod 2 on a bigger bike

Nevertheless, the A2 is a perfectly valid motorcycle.

We've been battered to death by the industry to believe that anything less than 100 hp isn't worth riding.

I spent years riding bikes with 47 hp or less for pleasure and work, and I still 'only' ride an XJ6 for work (around 75 hp) and no-one's lost me yet!

[weeksy]

Picking up on Spins post above there are many we get who have spent their time on a A2 license and could easily shift to an A license having being assessed by an Instructor but they have to currently jump all the hoops and expense to be tested again through Mod 1 and Mod 2 on a bigger bike

Nevertheless, the A2 is a perfectly valid motorcycle.

We've been battered to death by the industry to believe that anything less than 100 hp isn't worth riding.

I spent years riding bikes with 47 hp or less for pleasure and work, and I still 'only' ride an XJ6 for work (around 75 hp) and no-one's lost me yet!

is that a challenge ?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Nevertheless, the A2 is a perfectly valid motorcycle.

We've been battered to death by the industry to believe that anything less than 100 hp isn't worth riding.

I spent years riding bikes with 47 hp or less for pleasure and work, and I still 'only' ride an XJ6 for work (around 75 hp) and no-one's lost me yet!

350LCs are actually about 43bhp (and that's a good one) 350 Power Valves, a good one 49bhp, but I bet most were under 47bhp with a few thousand miles on them, both great fun bikes, and neither had a reputation for encouraging sensible behaviour.