Another Year, Another Ride…

[ishoot308]

Another Freedom Ride in the books completed tonight! Love doing this ride for such a wonderful cause….

Always remember….

Dan

[tis]

Ishoot, Do you think bike week is a little quieter this year?

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by tis

Ishoot, Do you think bike week is a little quieter this year?

Yes, definitely! I would guess there were approximately 25% less riders in the Freedom Ride last night! Not sure why as the weather was great!

Dan

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Yes, definitely! I would guess there were approximately 25% less riders in the Freedom Ride last night! Not sure why as the weather was great!

Dan

Machines seem not to be a young person thing anymore?

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

[tis]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Yes, definitely! I would guess there were approximately 25% less riders in the Freedom Ride last night! Not sure why as the weather was great!

Dan

Ok, so it's not my imagination. Thanks for confirming. And except for one weekend day the weather had been great as you said.

[tis]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

Machines seem not to be a young person thing anymore?

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

I do think I read something about that. Wasn't it Harley that was trying to get younger people into bikes?

[Biggd]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

Machines seem not to be a young person thing anymore?

They ride on their phones now.

[ITD]

I think there are much less motorcycles and I think there are many fewer exhibitors on rte 3 than previous years. My buddies all have bikes, and have been going to bike week since the 70s.

One of them said a few years ago, that the current climate makes it difficult for kids to get into bikes. Years ago, there were loads of used bikes available for cheap money. Bikes that were reliable enough to take you hundreds of miles. My sense is that bikes that fit that bill are much more expensive now, relatively speaking. Putting bikes out of reach to these younger people who are starting out.

The next thing he mentioned was the massive police presence. Especially in the past 10 years, is discouraging the younger kids to come. If you are few miles over the limit, you are pretty much guaranteed to get pulled over and at a minimum walk away with a few hundred dollars in tickets. Not worth the aggravation.

Of course, on the other hand, the knuckleheads cause the need for some of the police presence. So, there's that.

The median age of the crowds now is too high IMO. If something doesn't change, this motorcycle rally may become a thing of the past in the next 20 or so years.

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by tis

I do think I read something about that. Wasn't it Harley that was trying to get younger people into bikes?

They created LiveWire in the hopes that was the issue and opened a new line of lower priced models. They have the best EBITDA in the powersports segment.
But you are correct... their customer base is getting much older.