Happy New Year 2024 from Total Motorcycle! To all our readers, members, social media subscribers and supporters, I want to wish you the very best for 2024 to you and your family. Thank you for being part of our family here at TMW.
This year’s message for 2024 offers up hope as well as caution, I think you’ll enjoy the little read below.
2023 was quite an interesting year globally. I thought we would see more stability and peace return to the world, but we got more divisiveness, wars, destruction and, sadly, death across the globe. We also got to see the dawn of broadly common AI across the internet, Starlink satellites ring the world and thousands of Amazon satellites will join them in space, shutting down any “5G quiet zones”. Motorcycles entered an even more bizarre world in 2023 with the introduction of more electric, automatic transmission, hybrid (EV and Gas) sportbikes and even more $10k+ eBikes. Motorcycles now range between $5000 all the way up to $105000, if you can imagine. I think we have reached peak customer model choice as well as sales are down, a recession is upon us and manufacturers rush to ramp up EV bike production. More countries are introducing legislation to ban new sales of gas powered ICE vehicles by 2035, while ignoring the environmental impact of rare earth element mining (hint: it’s very toxic), recycling of EV batteries (not common yet), insufficient nationwide charging networks, the impact of freezing temperatures on batteries (-45% range) and, last but not least, the power grid’s ability to even charge mass EV adoption! As I’ve been saying, if you want a manual clutch gas bike, buy one now.
For TMW, the biggest worry I foresee is AI. Already, AI systems like ChatGPT have scraped the content of not only Total Motorcycle and ALL other motorcycle sites but billions of websites worldwide. If visitors stop going to websites and start mainly using AI (like ChatGPT) for questions, what becomes of these massive resources, hundreds of millions of jobs and who will continue writing new content? Just the AI alone? Will Web 3.0 be like TV with 100’s of channels instead of billions? For these reasons, support TMW please. All you have to do is visit or consider a donation.
Outside of TMW, I see a lot of financial issues thrusting into families and individuals lives right now. I’m a volunteer financial literacy mentor and the pain that’s now breaking through the surface in North America isn’t showing up in the stock markets (yet) but the middle classes and under are now hitting the Titanic iceberg. PREPARE FOR IMPACT! I really don’t see interest rates going down much in 2024, maybe 2025, but as long as there is war, uncontrolled government spending and investment speculation, you’ll have inflation. Inflation will keep rates going up. Stop the war, stop irresponsible local, national and global government spending and get elected officials in office passing laws you actually voted for and things will improve.
The hope I see is people will start to reassess their own personal values and ethics. More and more people are being divided against each other into smaller and smaller groups. Historically when this happened it was never good for the general populace of any country. Julius Caesar famously said (and successful used) the Latin term “Divide et impera” or Divide and Conquer. Look at the last 4 years alone and you’ll see how much division has occurred (vax vs anti-vax, G7 vs Global South, NATO vs BRICS, Ukraine et al vs Russia, Israel vs Palestine, Right wing vs Left wing, LGBTQ agenda, Indigenous demands, climate change, loss of personal freedoms, etc., etc.). So with your own personal values and ethics, try to be broad minded, respectful, hear both sides but also know what you stand for and be prepared to act. An educated mind is one that takes in all sides and comes to your own conclusions based on researched facts, not by being sucked into propaganda and emotion.
Total Motorcycle will be here in 2024 for you! I have renewed our www.totalmotorcycle.com domain for another 8 years so I plan to support you, motorcycling and motorcyclists as long as possible. You’ll also have to put up with my wittiness humor as well (sadly?). After 8 more years that will be 33 years of my life in Total Motorcycle doing something for no cost and no fees, with my only goal of helping others.
AI will be a challenge and I’ll keep making a strong point WHY YOU SHOULD USE AND VISIT Total Motorcycle in 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 and onwards… but I can’t make you come, click on ads or support me, that’s up to you and your values and ethics in knowing what is right and acting accordingly.
Have a wonderful 2024. Prepare for the worst but hope for the best. Don’t be scared, be prepared. See you on the other side!
Michael Le Pard
Owner of world’s largest motorcycle website, Total Motorcycle with 425,000,000 reading family members.
