Is the Era of the Motorcycle Over?

[Grey Thumper]

Is the Era of the Motorcycle Over?
By FREDERICK SEIDEL
Published: November 5, 2011


ARE motorcycles passé? Are they sort of over? I ask as a rider of two-wheel Italian beauties that go very fast, gracefully streamlined subsonic technology from the Ducati factory in Bologna. I own two sport bikes and two racers. I ride racing motorcycles on the street. One of my motorcycles is capable of nearly 200 miles an hour. I write prose about motorcycles. I write poems about motorcycles.

So I ask with some authority. Are motorcycles — even superb and lovely Italian motorcycles from the land of Donatello and Bertolucci — being replaced as love objects, as arm candy, by other more contemporary show-off desirables?

Electronic ones. Mostly made by Apple.

The iPhone 4S, the iPad 2, the 11-inch and 13-inch thin, light MacBook Air computers — these are the sleek gorgeousness young people go on about, have to have, and do have, in the millions. These machines, famous for the svelte dignity of their designs — and of course, far less expensive than a motorcycle — are a lens to see the world through and to do your work on. It’s their operating speeds that thrill. Young people cut a bella figura on their electronic devices.

Now, of course, it is not just the young who buy Apple products. I lay emphasis on the young, particularly young men, because they are the ones who might otherwise be buying motorcycles, and aren’t, at least not at all in the numbers they did before the economic downturn. The great recession was disastrous for motorcycle sales around the country, especially, it seems, for sport bikes, the ones that perform with brio but have no practical point to make. In other words, they are not bikes to tour on, they are not a comfortable way for you and a companion — wife or partner or friend — to travel to work or to a distant campground. You can do it, but it’s not ideal. Young riders were not buying motorcycles of any kind, and especially, it seems, not sport bikes.

Or, to say it another way, it’s as if the recession induced a coma in all the potential new motorcyclists, and in so many of the already experienced motorcyclists, from which they woke changed, changed utterly, and found themselves standing in line outside an Apple store, patiently waiting to buy the latest greatness.

They are buying a slice of what Apple does — and how it does it — and how it looks doing it. They are buying function but, just as important, they are buying glamour. The device enhances the buyer’s sense of self. It helps the person think and at the same time not think. Once, not so long ago, motorcycles did the same thing.

In a few days, at the International Motorcycle Show in Milan, Ducati will introduce a radically new sport bike called the Panigale, after Borgo Panigale, the neighborhood on the outskirts of Bologna where the Ducati factory is. The Ducati people are being secretive about how the Panigale will look and how it will perform. But there have been spy photos of the bike being tested on the Mugello circuit, with the former World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss aboard, and plenty of rumors and speculation about the tech specs.

We know this much. It will make brave hearts beat faster. It will weigh less than its predecessor. It will have a new sort of frame. It will have an ingenious new exhaust system. It will handle. It will be fast. It will be beautiful. How many Ducati followers — the Ducatisti — will have to have one? Some.

Oh, for the days — not so long ago — when a boy’s world would have fallen to its knees before a new Ducati design.

In Dallas, at Advanced Motorsports, his motorcycle dealership, Jeff Nash, a gentleman and one of the great Ducati racebike tuners in America, and a racer himself, deplores the passivity of the young who would rather be home with their iPads playing computer games than astride the red-meat lightning of an 1198 Superbike blazing down a Texas highway making that unmistakable growling deep Ducati sound. Mr. Nash would go further.

Better to be out in the air astride just about any motorcycle alive!

Interesting opinion piece. I can't say I disagree, although I actually don't care if electronics have replaced bikes as objects of desire. To each his (or her) own.

[totalmotorcycle]

Very interesting opinion article. I don't really see how a sub-$400 Apple device really gives you the "mojo" a motorcycle would, nor the feeling of freedom or constant enjoyment. A 20 year old motorcycle would still make you feel awesome but a 20 year old Apple IIE? Not so much.

Like the author, I can speak with authority on both motorcycles and computers (I had a computer business for over a decade starting in the 80's), and the one thing about computers vs bikes is how quickly electronics fall out of fashion and drop in value. Take the The iPhone 4S, the iPad 2... anyone think the iPhone 3G or the iPad is a "status symbol" anymore?

But I do think the author has a point about the "because they are the ones who might otherwise be buying motorcycles, and aren’t, at least not at all in the numbers they did before the economic downturn. The great recession was disastrous for motorcycle sales around the country" but my take on it is motorcycles cost more than an Apple iPad2, and in a recession it's hard to justify a more expensive purchase over a cheap alternative.

We are indeed seeing the return of the 90's motorcycle recession, but that isn't a bad thing, it cuts the "fat" from the market, and those who are out there riding do it because they love it, not because it's popular or a "status symbol". Not good for sales maybe, but good for the motorcycling community as a whole.

Mike

[flw]

I guess I can see for some materialistic people that having the latest objects is the focus of their lives.

So Idevices, mamoth flat screen TV's with surround sound amoungst other itmes does displace money for a bike that was never a dream for them.

Having a bike has always been a dream of mine before I could drive and then till I could afford it with. Unless someone lives in a area where you can ride all year, it does require some justification. Also all things optional do go through cycles. How many of you have your own horse because they are fun to ride? Few I bet. Not practical and expensive for option purchase.

I use a horse above because I'd like one but cannot have it all.

Just my 2 cents.

[Johnj]

I like using my "smart" devices while I'm out riding my bike.

[Wrider]

I know at least amongst 20somethings motorcycles still outweigh electronic devices. I think the author may be getting the impression that the electronics are more desirable because more people have them. They're more affordable than a motorcycle, they won't crash and physically wound you, the worst you're gonna do is lose some information if they do crash.

I don't think they will ever replace motorcycles as objects of desire.

[High_Side]

Is the Era of the Motorcycle Over?
By FREDERICK SEIDEL
Published: November 5, 2011
They are buying function but, just as important, they are buying glamour. The device enhances the buyer’s sense of self. It helps the person think and at the same time not think. Once, not so long ago, motorcycles did the same thing.

"They" may be the "riders" who were propping up the motorcycle market but the core riders who will always ride will do so because they love to ride. We all get attracted to flash and blinky lights, but if you take all of that away, if I had to choose between a '70s communist 2-stroke crappy motorcycle or a new I-Pad, I'll take the bike every time. There are a lot of riders out there that will always ride - no matter what.

[ceemes]

Is the Era of the Motorcycle Over?
By FREDERICK SEIDEL
Published: November 5, 2011
They are buying function but, just as important, they are buying glamour. The device enhances the buyer’s sense of self. It helps the person think and at the same time not think. Once, not so long ago, motorcycles did the same thing.

"They" may be the "riders" who were propping up the motorcycle market but the core riders who will always ride will do so because they love to ride. We all get attracted to flash and blinky lights, but if you take all of that away, if I had to choose between a '70s communist 2-stroke crappy motorcycle or a new I-Pad, I'll take the bike every time. There are a lot of riders out there that will always ride - no matter what.

What he said, in spades. Fewer "status seeking" riders the better.

[dr_bar]

Like johnj said, I travel with my iPad, iPhone, laptop, whatever. Though I doubt any of them will give me the pleasure my bikes have. Sure I can google niagra falls, see all the pretty pictures, but the journey there and back on a bike would make the pictures so passé, especially when I can take my own pictures. I consider my electronics as just another tool in making my life enjoyable, connected, informed... I consider my bikes as a part of an incredible lifestyle that can't be copied in any way...

[mogster]

I agree that a downturn in economy will almost certainly affect the sales of motorcycles both new & used, & that this may well keep some weekend bikers off the road.

However, I think the apparent drop in numbers of young men trusting after a bike has wider social reasons. Is it not a sign of "the apathy of youth" where people expect "someone else" to sort things out. I know Iam generalising but there does seem to be a generation (certainly in UK) which expects everything to be given to them. The effort of learning then the sheer physicality of riding is probably too much effort!

To liken now to the 70's is a misnomer. The roads are busier, fuel prices are exhorbitant (UK), likewise insurance. The culture of hanging out at biker cafes has been superceded by alcopops & theme pubs. Even fashions have changed, girls probably don't lust after greasy bikers anymore but want a coiffured metrosexual with clean fingernails!

Like I said these are sweeping generalisations but maybe times have changed

[vito]

I fail to see any connection whatsoever between owning new electronic gadgets and owning a motorcycle. The gadgets may be fun to use but how that relates to a motorcycle escapes me. The fact (if it is a fact) that some folks buy motorcycles, or used to buy one, merely because it was an "in" thing at the time could mean that such folks today do not do so, but so what? There are certainly plenty of folks who seem to be concerned with looking like riders than actually riding; just look at the bikes parked all day at local bars rather than being ridden on the roads. I love to ride my bike, and I get a kick out of the newest electronic gizmos but one has nothing to do with the other.