At the Kawasaki event I went to last week where you can have a long ride of a brand spanking new bike for free I was easily the youngest person there bar the girls in tight tshirts (they had a BBQ and loud music to make it feel like a party). The models on offer show this, it's all middleweight touring, classic styled, commuting type bikes. They had one ZX-10R in the whole show room, although quite a few Z H2s. I don't think bikes are really all that interesting to most people, you either want one or you don't, whereas most people recognise a fast car or whatever.
Is biking dying?
- Thread starter Rilot
- Start date
Man of Honour
Look at it from the perspective of a young person about to take to the roads. Why would they get a motorcycle? Cars are more versatile, more widely available, and arguably better VFM in many use cases. And your average hussy would rather be fingered in the back of an A Class or an A3 - not side saddle on a Lexmoto.
Motorcycling in the UK is becoming dominated by the enthusiasts rather than the general public which is a shame because the throat of it is being cut. With fewer new entrants to the arena, it will ultimately be at risk of dying.
It can be cheap if you compromise with an older bike.
It can be safer if you acknowledge that you could benefit from advanced training.
It can be fun if you accept that riding skilfully within the boundaries of the law can be satisfying.
Motorcycling in the UK is becoming dominated by the enthusiasts rather than the general public which is a shame because the throat of it is being cut. With fewer new entrants to the arena, it will ultimately be at risk of dying.
It can be cheap if you compromise with an older bike.
It can be safer if you acknowledge that you could benefit from advanced training.
It can be fun if you accept that riding skilfully within the boundaries of the law can be satisfying.
Soldato
Yea I don't know I passed my bike licence a long time ago but keep hearing it's alright ballache these days, that can't be helping at all.
I would say the weather doesn't help in UK 
Also for me going to work, would take about the same time to go on the bike, car or bicycle.
If you consider that you have to put all the gear, unlock the bike then lock it back and removing the gear, my commute was less than 4 miles and would take me around 20 to 25 minutes to get there, on the bus would take me about 35 minutes.
Also for me going to work, would take about the same time to go on the bike, car or bicycle.
If you consider that you have to put all the gear, unlock the bike then lock it back and removing the gear, my commute was less than 4 miles and would take me around 20 to 25 minutes to get there, on the bus would take me about 35 minutes.
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Associate
its simply too hard for a youngster to get on the powerful bikes these days.
when i started, i could jump straight on a 125 with no training simply because i had a car licence. and the 2 strokes back then were a lot more fun than todays offerings.
then when i wanted to pass my test, i simply booked it. no driving lessons needed. rocked up at the test center on my bike, half hour later i had a full licence and could ride any bike on the market. all this could be done as soon as you reached 17.
today all sorts of obstacles have been put up to deter the youngsters. whereas a car is relatively easy.
when i started, i could jump straight on a 125 with no training simply because i had a car licence. and the 2 strokes back then were a lot more fun than todays offerings.
then when i wanted to pass my test, i simply booked it. no driving lessons needed. rocked up at the test center on my bike, half hour later i had a full licence and could ride any bike on the market. all this could be done as soon as you reached 17.
today all sorts of obstacles have been put up to deter the youngsters. whereas a car is relatively easy.
I'm in my 50's and just getting into bikes. You can just jump on a 125 with nothing more than a few hours CBT training. But I can see why a youngster wouldn't want to nowadays.
1) Bikes used to be a cheap mode of transport. Nowadays they seem quite expensive and certainly not great value compared to a used car. Even a "cheap" used 125 is now fairly expensive although this might be a temporary issue related to COVID. Most people would want a car and a bike is a secondary consideration. With huge insurance costs on both cars and bikes for young people it's rare they can afford to insure both. So a car wins.
2) Getting a full license is time consuming and expensive. It will cost around £700 to £800 to get a full license if you pass first time.
3) Cars on monthy finance are seen as "cheap" and certainly offer more weather protection and accident safety.
4) A lot of parents view a motorbike as too dangerous for their kids and discourage them. My 17 year old daughter really wants a vespa and I can see that she would want to get a bigger bike in the future. But even though I'm learning to ride a bike myself it worries me that she may hgave an accident. That's mostly down to lack of road experience but the consequences of an accident are far higher than in a car. My wife simply won't discuss her getting a scooter or bike. I know I would feel guilty if I encouraged her and she got hurt. I don't think the army of delivery scooter riders helps either. I've seen some terrible riding by inexperienced delivery scooters and this just cements the idea that all bikers take risks and should be avoided.
5) Training courses and tests are backlogged right now due to COVID, although that will eventually ease.
1) Bikes used to be a cheap mode of transport. Nowadays they seem quite expensive and certainly not great value compared to a used car. Even a "cheap" used 125 is now fairly expensive although this might be a temporary issue related to COVID. Most people would want a car and a bike is a secondary consideration. With huge insurance costs on both cars and bikes for young people it's rare they can afford to insure both. So a car wins.
2) Getting a full license is time consuming and expensive. It will cost around £700 to £800 to get a full license if you pass first time.
3) Cars on monthy finance are seen as "cheap" and certainly offer more weather protection and accident safety.
4) A lot of parents view a motorbike as too dangerous for their kids and discourage them. My 17 year old daughter really wants a vespa and I can see that she would want to get a bigger bike in the future. But even though I'm learning to ride a bike myself it worries me that she may hgave an accident. That's mostly down to lack of road experience but the consequences of an accident are far higher than in a car. My wife simply won't discuss her getting a scooter or bike. I know I would feel guilty if I encouraged her and she got hurt. I don't think the army of delivery scooter riders helps either. I've seen some terrible riding by inexperienced delivery scooters and this just cements the idea that all bikers take risks and should be avoided.
5) Training courses and tests are backlogged right now due to COVID, although that will eventually ease.
Not just kids.
The food delivery people have taken up electric bicycles around here as probably the cheapest motorised transport option.
You can pay a lot but you don't have to and they're supposed to be restricted but no one cares so a decent number I've seen are de-facto electric motorbikes going uphill or through town at 25-35 while resting their feet on the pedals
Don't have a licence plate and it looks like a bicycle so dodge even more costs by not having a test, a licence or insurance.
They are as bad as uber drivers.
When I'm on my bike and I stop at a traffic light, I always stop at first white line. Where cars, motorcycles and also scooters should stop, but these delivery scooters always cut in front of me and stop on the bicycle box.
IMHO I think delivery riders should have at least an A2 licence.
There are days I miss riding a sports bike...usually hot summer days where I focus on the feeling of riding a bike fast. But then I remind myself why I gave it up...
I remind myself of leaving the office in the evening when you're tired, have a headache and just want to get home but it's freezing, dark and wet and your leathers are still damp from the morning... I remember the couriers and general other road users making you have to keep extremely alert. I remember it taking the same time as a car/train once all your gear is on, then off the other end, and wanting a shower on arrival. I remember not being able to carry much on the bike, spending a lot of time at petrol stations, back ache, ball ache, wrist ache. I remember crashing, the frustration of not being able to truly push it like a car which can just break traction where as a bike will spit you off instantly.
It just became a chore riding a sports bike anywhere if it wasn't nice weather and for fun with mates. Sadly I couldn't afford to keep 2 cars and a bike as a toy so it went. It's ok though I found something else. Unfortunately the first rule is that I can't talk about it.
I remind myself of leaving the office in the evening when you're tired, have a headache and just want to get home but it's freezing, dark and wet and your leathers are still damp from the morning... I remember the couriers and general other road users making you have to keep extremely alert. I remember it taking the same time as a car/train once all your gear is on, then off the other end, and wanting a shower on arrival. I remember not being able to carry much on the bike, spending a lot of time at petrol stations, back ache, ball ache, wrist ache. I remember crashing, the frustration of not being able to truly push it like a car which can just break traction where as a bike will spit you off instantly.
It just became a chore riding a sports bike anywhere if it wasn't nice weather and for fun with mates. Sadly I couldn't afford to keep 2 cars and a bike as a toy so it went. It's ok though I found something else. Unfortunately the first rule is that I can't talk about it.
As a new biker (4 years or so) when I talk to the young ones about bikes, all I hear is "Too dangerous", "too easily stolen", "getting your license is expensive".
I was at the local barbers, and all the staff in there are under 25 blokes, when I mentioned bikes, I swear they assumed I was some sort of Mad Max road warrior type. Riding a bike was a death sentence with the things they came out with!
I see a lot of people my age and older getting into bikes though, so I suspect we will just see the age ranger shifting, which will leave a few years looking a little sparse. I think perhaps there may be a place for electric bikes making younger people more interested over the next few years. Easier to park in city centres, and I think the prices might come down for low power (125 eqiv) leccy bikes over the next decade.
I was at the local barbers, and all the staff in there are under 25 blokes, when I mentioned bikes, I swear they assumed I was some sort of Mad Max road warrior type. Riding a bike was a death sentence with the things they came out with!
I see a lot of people my age and older getting into bikes though, so I suspect we will just see the age ranger shifting, which will leave a few years looking a little sparse. I think perhaps there may be a place for electric bikes making younger people more interested over the next few years. Easier to park in city centres, and I think the prices might come down for low power (125 eqiv) leccy bikes over the next decade.
I don't think it's dying necessarily just changing. I think when we see electric bikes taking off properly there will be another resurgence in numbers purely because of convenience and cost. The "old school" community feel that biking had does seem to be dwindling in the same way that younger people nowadays drink less than they did 10/15 years ago. Trends change and come full circle again ususally.
Well, I have 5 friends that are/were bikers (not counting the guys I know here from the forums that have bikes)
From the 6 of us, only myself and 1 friend still have bikes.
3 don't have where to keep the bike safely, as 2 of them already had bikes stolen and 1 of this 2 had bikes stolen 4 times (3 times the same bike stolen and recovered + another bike).
The last one had an accident, not too bad, but gave up ridding.
So as I can see, the major problem, at least in London, is where to keep bikes safely.
You don't see many bikes over 125cc around London anymore
From the 6 of us, only myself and 1 friend still have bikes.
3 don't have where to keep the bike safely, as 2 of them already had bikes stolen and 1 of this 2 had bikes stolen 4 times (3 times the same bike stolen and recovered + another bike).
The last one had an accident, not too bad, but gave up ridding.
So as I can see, the major problem, at least in London, is where to keep bikes safely.
You don't see many bikes over 125cc around London anymore
Soldato
Can't say I've noticed any decline around here. Regularly see bikers, and plenty of instructors with their students, as well as a fair amount of mopeds and smaller bikes with L plates.
Soldato
Motorcycle registrations in the UK have been holding steady for the last two decades at between 1m to 1.2m a year. So someone must be replacing the old timers that are hanging up their helmets.
The large parts of the UK (Wales, and maybe parts of Scotland excluded) aren't really that nice a place to ride, drive or use any other form of transport. Daft signage, stupid road layout aimed at traffic calming which only makes accidents worse, speed cameras everywhere etc.. Then you've got the weather.
In the EU, France, Spain, Italy, motorcycle registrations are actually going up.
I did a mock Spanish car theory test the other day, and was pleased to find it had multiple questions about motorcycles. One I remember was "It isn't a good idea drive along side a motorcycle.." then a bunch of answers 'except in... etc.. etc..
The large parts of the UK (Wales, and maybe parts of Scotland excluded) aren't really that nice a place to ride, drive or use any other form of transport. Daft signage, stupid road layout aimed at traffic calming which only makes accidents worse, speed cameras everywhere etc.. Then you've got the weather.
In the EU, France, Spain, Italy, motorcycle registrations are actually going up.
I did a mock Spanish car theory test the other day, and was pleased to find it had multiple questions about motorcycles. One I remember was "It isn't a good idea drive along side a motorcycle.." then a bunch of answers 'except in... etc.. etc..
Looks like pretty consistent numbers over the last 10 years or so, it actually raised from 1995 > 2005 then staid pretty steady since.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/veh03
VEH0301 file can be opened in excel or google sheets.
It's always been a fair weather activity though, and some places seem to change more than others. Where I'm from it's only older riders on the road. There's a load of young-mid riders but they are off-road or on motocross tracks
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/veh03
VEH0301 file can be opened in excel or google sheets.
It's always been a fair weather activity though, and some places seem to change more than others. Where I'm from it's only older riders on the road. There's a load of young-mid riders but they are off-road or on motocross tracks
Associate
I'm probably going to try to get my licence and buy a bike soon, so I'm doing my bit to keep it going. Look forward to a noob biker thread with loads of silly questions soon