Are we at the end of the era for motorcycling?

[Voltaire]

Must be how horse riders felt when cars and motorcycles started taking over....

" I hope my kids will still ride a horse and not one of those noisy petrol powered things"

" internal combustion powered vehicles are just a fad....'

[shrub]

Must be how horse riders felt when cars and motorcycles started taking over....

" I hope my kids will still ride a horse and not one of those noisy petrol powered things"

" internal combustion powered vehicles are just a fad....'

probably not far from the truth there. I doubt that motorcycles will exist outside of museums and private collections inside 50 years.

Most motorcyclists are aged over 40, so in 20 years time how many will still be riding? It's easy to say "I'll ride till the day I die", but what happens if your body starts to crap out? Motorcycle riding is a reasonably physical activity and i know guys who can't ride any more because their backs, hips, knees, eyesight, wrists, hands etc have crapped out.

My guess is in 20 years less than 50% of the current motorcyclists will still be riding because they just aren't able to. Add to that our beloved leaders with their passion for protecting us from ourselves, and within 10 years we will see some pretty onerous rules attached to riding bikes, much more intense policing of speed restrictions as well as much higher ACC levies/rego costs. Plus fuel will be significantly more expensive, so a day ride will cost a couple of hundy or so.

The answer? Ride every chance you get now while we're in the golden days.

[Voltaire]

I was in Shanghai on business last year and our 'guide" said motorcycles were not allowed on the motorway and the Govt gave financial incentive to swap the plate to a car. Motorcycles are seen as a transition from bicycles to the ultimate status symbol...the car.
Did I not read that the Indian company who makes Vespa type scooters were stopping making them due to lack of demand..?

I won't be encouraging my boys to take up motorcycling, they probably see it as an old mans thing...like Lion Red and Bowls...

[Big Dave]

I doubt that motorcycles will exist outside of museums and private collections inside 50 years.

I don't. The fuel source might change, but as urban congestion becomes more and more problematic a solution will be smaller, non polluting personal transport.

Yamaha plans to build 10 million electric vehicles in the next few years - other manufacturers are following suit.

[swbarnett]

I was in Shanghai on business last year and our 'guide" said motorcycles were not allowed on the motorway and the Govt gave financial incentive to swap the plate to a car. Motorcycles are seen as a transition from bicycles to the ultimate status symbol...the car.

How to create traffic congestion. I saw a documentery that talked about places like Bangkok where traffic flowed quite well when not many people could afford a car (most were on motorcycles, not bicycles). As soon as the economy improved the traffic ground to a halt.

I won't be encouraging my boys to take up motorcycling,

Why not?

[bogan]

I reckon late 80s and early 90s was the golden age of motorcycling anyway, well combustion engine bikes anyway. Next era will be electrics, in about 10-20 years will be the golden age of electrics, followed by another period of incremental and unnecessary improvements.

So no, not end of the era of motorcycling, but certainly winding down the era of the ICE bikes.

[SMOKEU]

Petrol engined bikes are not going to go the way of the moa anytime soon.

[phill-k]

When we did the plastic boat in Perth in the 80's and the Americans called foul, no one would have believed that the next cup would be raced in multihulls with wing sails, still sailing but the pinnacle keeps shifting.
Will be the same with bikes.

[Big Dave]

I reckon late 80s and early 90s was the golden age of motorcycling anyway, well combustion engine bikes anyway. Next era will be electrics, in about 10-20 years will be the golden age of electrics, followed by another period of incremental and unnecessary improvements.

So no, not end of the era of motorcycling, but certainly winding down the era of the ICE bikes.

You talk to 70 year olds and they tell you the 50's were the Golden Age. 60 year olds guarantee it was the 60's. Ask me I'd say it was the pre-radar and $2 a gallon 70's.

The older I get - the better I was.

[bogan]

You talk to 70 year olds and they tell you the 50's were the Golden Age. 60 year olds guarantee it was the 60's. Ask me I'd say it was the pre-radar and $2 a gallon 70's.

The older I get - the better I was.

very true, though I was thinking more the bikes themselves rather than the cost and environment, though people will still have different ideas about that. I suppose there are two certainties, motorcycling will always be changing, and I'll always be riding So get a bike from your favorite era (or a few from here and there) and go hard I reckon.

And if some are worried about others forcing us off the roads, there are plenty of opportunities to make them reconsider.

[_Shrek_]

three out of four of our boys ride bikes & horse's two out of seven daughters rode bikes before they got married etc.. & five of them still ride horse's I don't think its the end of an area just yet, but we can start beleiving it, if we let them brain wash us/our kids through TV, headlines, schools, pc brigade etc...

[_Shrek_]

You talk to 70 year olds and they tell you the 50's were the Golden Age. 60 year olds guarantee it was the 60's. Ask me I'd say it was the pre-radar and $2 a gallon 70's.

The older I get - the better I was.

Dave I still remember paying 30cents a ltr in the 70's

[Big Dave]

Dave I still remember paying 30cents a ltr in the 70's

Wasn't riding in flares a pain.

[Gremlin]

Was thinking... While I have no intentions of stopping riding, all you need is a group to stop, high levies etc, and the shops won't survive. Can't look at, browse and buy bikes if there is no shop supplying them

[BiK3RChiK]

Both my son and my daughter bought their first road bikes when they were 15. They enjoyed getting out on the road. The great thing about being on a bike for them was at their age, their mates who had cars couldn´t go anywhere without mum or dad in the passenger seat, whereas our kids could jump on the bike and they were off.

Both my kids have extensively now travelled the North Island on their bikes while their mates have hardly left town...

I know some other younger people around who ride, so hopefully motorcycling will be around for a while yet