Is biking dying?

Rilot

Rilot

Rilot

Don
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
23,265
Location
Wargrave, UK
I'm getting the feeling that motorcycle riding is dying. The guys riding seem to be getting older and older with very few new riders entering.
Take the school I work at as an example. We have 1400 students with around 300 of them being in the 16 - 18 age group. We have 0 bikes in the school car park.
Back when I was at school and of biking age (admittedly, this was 30+ years ago) there were 20+ bikes and mopeds for a school of similar size.
 
I'd say for sure it feels like it's more expensive, though I'm sure someone will do some inflation calcs and we'll know for sure. Or maybe that's just as I've moved from looking at stuff like SV650s when I started, to H2 SXs now!

I was at the 16-18 range around the millennium and there were never any scooters or bikes at my school though.

https://www.statista.com/statistics...ests-passed-in-great-britain-uk-by-age-group/
Hm, 5 year stats not very useful! To the (even more) internets!
 
Is it possible the messed up year we had has contributed to that? What was it like 2 years ago?

I remember back when i was 16 and getting a moped, a handful of people in my year who had turned 16 before Christmas were riding to school, and then November/December you get the cold wet weather. I'd turned 16 just after Christmas and had done my CBT pretty much straight away, and as we got into the better weather more and more lads had turned 16 and got bikes. By end of school year (which back then was about mid-May - cut short as you were allowed on study leave) it was probably about 1/4 boys had a bike. There's obviously an element of your mates having a bike so you jump on the bandwagon which increased ownership.

We've not really had much decent weather so far this year either. So might be a few factors at play here.
 
2004 when I turned 16 there wasn't a single person I knew who had a CBT.

Plenty of people ripping up and down the field on little peddle and pop type things but none of them legally AFAIK.

It definitely seems like an older persons game these days, licencing is a pain in the backside for anyone under 24 and new bikes are now mostly north of £10k for anything slightly more fruity than the entry level stuff.
 
A lot of our kids are drashing about on e-scooters these days too. Maybe that is contributing.
 
Something I noticed the other day - 15 years ago or so I'd leave at the end of the day at work and there'd be like 5 people in the up to 20 or so age group hanging around having a chat/smoke as they unlocked their bikes/mopeds - now they just get lifts with parents and/or get into driving earlier.

I'm still not used to seeing so many who seem to be driving soon as they turn 17 and so many seem to have nice cars - not sure if borrowing a parent's vehicle or finance.
 
Is the high price of 125s putting 17 year olds off biking as an alternative to a car?

I remember having just missed passing my test on my RD200, so I purchased my circle of biking mate’s “CBT ****” of a Yamaha 100 for £200 and then sold it on a few months later for the same once I’d passed both Part 1 & 2 tests.

There seemed to be loads of unloved, but mechanically sound 100s and 125s around for not a lot of money back then. The Honda 4 strokes were particularly indestructible as long as you didn’t run them out of oil.
 
Maybe a combo, if 125s are more expensive, and then first cars can be got 'cheap' for £n per month, the "I want cheap freedom... bike!" doesn't happen anymore so much at 16/17.

I suppose the stats I linked above do show a 1/3rd drop in the 17-20 range over the last five years, can't be ignored!
 
Restrictive licencning and the price these days. 125s are usually abused at the lower end of the scale which is likely to be affordable for young people.

I was fortunate that in 2009, a strong pound meant I could buy a brand new YBR125 for £1800 which included my helmet, first year's insurance and CBT. It was a bargain.
 
Rilot said:
I'm getting the feeling that motorcycle riding is dying. The guys riding seem to be getting older and older with very few new riders entering.
Take the school I work at as an example. We have 1400 students with around 300 of them being in the 16 - 18 age group. We have 0 bikes in the school car park.
Back when I was at school and of biking age (admittedly, this was 30+ years ago) there were 20+ bikes and mopeds for a school of similar size.
Click to expand...

Think your example is probably just an example of the costs of things these days so maybe that puts a lot of young uns from taking up biking - it's probably easier for them to be a named driver on a car, and pinch that from Mum or Dad.
 
It's been dying since the late 90's IMO, and costs for young people to get into it are horrendous.
 
I think the sports bike market kinda killed off a lot of people and the aging of bikers yes. I hung my boots up 2.5 years ago at 46 now and do I miss it? I miss the Euro trips but biking in the UK is crap tbh now... crappy roads, full of traffic, to enjoy biking now you have to go to Europe... not sure... probably a lot of factors really but I would be inclined to agree, deffo no new blood coming through!
 
pugheaven said:
crappy roads
Click to expand...

Was gonna mention it above - one of the reasons I suspect people don't bike to where I work any more - within months of them resurfacing it the main road to work looks like the surface of the moon. They've done major resurfacing work 4 times in the last 5-6 years. Back in the day it used to last near a decade - though I guess increased usage as well as doing it cheap is compounding how poorly it lasts now.
 
I know a guy at work who has decided to get a motorbike licence. The earliest he has been told he can take the test is December. Not sure if it is the same all over the country but that may be having an effect?
 
pugheaven said:
I think the sports bike market kinda killed off a lot of people and the aging of bikers yes. I hung my boots up 2.5 years ago at 46 now and do I miss it? I miss the Euro trips but biking in the UK is crap tbh now... crappy roads, full of traffic, to enjoy biking now you have to go to Europe... not sure... probably a lot of factors really but I would be inclined to agree, deffo no new blood coming through!
Click to expand...

To a level I agree, but there are still plenty of great roads too. Yes, traffic can be a nuisance at times, but again, depends on when and where you decide to go.
 
It used to be a cheap way to get motorised transport. Cheap as chips to get good cars now thanks to finance.
 
lol's i still ride a 125 .. great for split shifts .. but at 4-5k no 16-18 yr old can afford them .. never bothered with my test as a 600 would be a waste and up keep would be more expensive.
change the bike every 3 yrs daughter works for Yamaha so get it cheaper .. if i need to go far we just use the wifes car cmax :)
 
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