A motorcycle industry crisis? Your thoughts

[Tarded]

A motorcycle is no longer 'cheap' transport - it was 30 years back but with the introduction of import cars a young man can pop down fuck all cash and load up the HP on a very high performance car that will carry him and his mates around looking for fat slags to pick-up and get high with. He can then park up his noise box outside Joe Publics house at 1.00am fuck one of the fat chicks in Joe Publics front garden, leave a sloppy used rubber and a few empty cans of RTD's on the drive for Joe Publics kids to walk past on their way to school, then do a few dounuts before driving off home to mums house to sleep off the night.

Plus if he rides a motorcycle the helmet will muck up his hair and he will more than likely have to pull up his bloody trousers so he can get a leg over the seat.

This guy for prime minister! Cheers for the post, cracked me up!

[jellywrestler]

A motorcycle is no longer 'cheap' transport - it was 30 years back but with the introduction

in 1969 a honda cb750 the biggest and best japanese bike was $1995
in 1989 a GSXR1100 Suzuki was $19999
in 2009 a GSXR1000 was floating around the $20000 mark

[geoffm]

in 1969 a honda cb750 the biggest and best japanese bike was $1995
in 1989 a GSXR1100 Suzuki was $19999
in 2009 a GSXR1000 was floating around the $20000 mark

And to put that into context, the 1969 CB750 was around $31000 in 2012 dollars
The 1989 GSXR11 was $35200 in 2012 dollars
Both from Reserve Bank calculator.
Having said that, in both cases they were the class leaders of the time, and cheaper options were around.
Geoff

[jafar]

Interesting thread so far.

The road bike industry doesn't do much to entice new customers through their doors, new customers seem to be more of the MX / weekend trail ride type than commuter riders.

Farmer's quads appear to account for more sales than road bikes.

The costs of consumables on bikes is high in comparison to cars.

Tyres for a car cost a fraction of bike tyres & the car tyres last a lot longer than the bike ones ever will.

Servicing cost on a bike is higher than a car.

Licence for a bike is a long involved process by comparison to the equivalent car licence.

You can drive a high performance V8 on a restricted licence, with a bike you are limited to a LAMS approved toy.

Bikes are overpriced.

Rego on a bike is nearly twice the cost of a car.

Small cars are more fuel efficient than motorcycles.

Car dealerships are often open 7 days, bike dealerships are not.

There are 2 bike dealerships near me, both of which now supply mainly farm or off road machinery. You can ask for a road bike but they have very limited stock if any as a rule.

[Big Dave]

You are running a complicated car motor in a bike frame though.

My KLR costs much, much less than my Jeep or Merc to run and service.

[nerrrd]

Farmer's quads appear to account for more sales than road bikes.

There are 2 bike dealerships near me, both of which now supply mainly farm or off road machinery. You can ask for a road bike but they have very limited stock if any as a rule.

This is really going to help then :

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farm...-quad-bike-use

[jafar]

You are running a complicated car motor in a bike frame though.

My KLR costs much, much less than my Jeep or Merc to run and service.

Your not comparing size to size. Jeep & Merc are large cars & your attempting to compare them to a single cylinder bike.
Try comparing a HD or a Ducati with your cars & the figures will be closer than you think

My DR 650 isn't a complicated car motor in a bike frame, yet my Ford diesel uses less fuel than the DR does

[spanner spinner]

There are 2 bike dealerships near me, both of which now supply mainly farm or off road machinery. You can ask for a road bike but they have very limited stock if any as a rule.

If your in business you stock and sell what makes you money, or else you go broke. Motorcycle retailers are no different to any other business, supermarkets don't stock was doesn't sell why would a motorcycle shop? If you sell 1 -2 road bikes a month in a good month your not going to stock a full range of 15 odd road bikes. Specially if that money tided up in road bike stock would be better spent stocking more quads which will sell, keep the doors open and the staff paid.

Unfortunately this is the reality of motorcycle retailing in NZ at present. Quads out number all other types of bikes bought into NZ by at least 10 to 1. The only importers that don't rely on quads are the likes of Harley, triumph, BMW etc and these are mainly bought by the baby boomers, the people with disposable income. Most of the motorcycle accessory importers rely on quad tyres and aftermarket parts to see them through most of the year, so with out quads most of these would go to.

[jafar]

This is really going to help then :

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farm...-quad-bike-use

This will lead to a reduction in the number of Quad bikes sold in NZ. The positive is that most of the farm bike dealers also sell small farm vehicles (Yamaha Rhino. Kawasaki Mule, Suzuki Farmworker, Honda Big red to name a few) so hopefully they will be ok.

[spanner spinner]

And to put that into context, the 1969 CB750 was around $31000 in 2012 dollars
The 1989 GSXR11 was $35200 in 2012 dollars
Both from Reserve Bank calculator.
Having said that, in both cases they were the class leaders of the time, and cheaper options were around.
Geoff

Yes but with tariffs and restrictions on importing cars into NZ check out what the cost of ordinary car was for the same year, and the price was irrelevant if you didn't have overseas funds you weren't getting one no matter how much money you had. This is why most young people bought bikes as there first vehicle. When the only car you could afford to buy was a 30 year old badly build British clunker that was guarantied to break down at least once a week you bought a bike. The bike would be faster, more reliable and way cooler that a shitty old 850 morrie.

[Big Dave]

Yeah Jafar - what I was pointing at is it's too broad a field.

Even so - I reckon in the 'weight for age stakes' the Harley will still be in front.
One of the attractions of the push rod motor is a 8k service is $350
(Last time I had one done anyway). Tyres last very well and they are quite fuel efficient and (regardless of what some write on here) they go for a long time.
The insurance might bring it back to the pack though.

Ducati I don't know at all - except by reputation.


One of you numbers johnnys should do a breakdown - 'typical' car V bike running costs.

[spanner spinner]

This will lead to a reduction in the number of Quad bikes sold in NZ. The positive is that most of the farm bike dealers also sell small farm vehicles (Yamaha Rhino. Kawasaki Mule, Suzuki Farmworker, Honda Big red to name a few) so hopefully they will be ok.

Why would you buy a Yamaha Rhino, Kawasaki Mule, Honda MUV when you can buy a Suzuki farmworker as you said (see link for details http://www.suzuki.co.nz/Automotive/Farmworker/) for less money which is a CAR!!! sold through the car dealerships. Not much help to you local motorcycle shop when the Suzuki car dealer down the road is taking there sales.

[spanner spinner]

Yeah - what I was pointing at is it's too broad a field.

Even so - I reckon in the 'weight for age stakes' the Harley will still be in front.
One of the attractions of the push rod motor is a 8k service is $350
(Last time I had one done anyway). Tyres last very well and they are quite fuel efficient and (regardless of what some write on here) they go for a long time.
The insurance might bring it back to the pack though.

Ducati I don't know at all - except by reputation.


One of you numbers johnnys should do a breakdown - 'typical' car V bike running costs.

You are talking about bikes that someone who is already into the motorcycle thing would own, the running costs become irrelevant if you want one you buy it and pay the price. The issue here is how do you get new people on to motorcycles. When your basic DR650 costs more in fuel that your truck what is the reason to buy one just for transport, this is what use to get people into the bike thing. Motorcycles use to be cheaper to buy, service, rego and use less fuel than a car this is why people bought them as there first form of transport.

[jafar]

Yeah Jafar - what I was pointing at is it's too broad a field.

Even so - I reckon in the 'weight for age stakes' the Harley will still be in front.
One of the attractions of the push rod motor is a 8k service is $350
(Last time I had one done anyway). Tyres last very well and they are quite fuel efficient and (regardless of what some write on here) they go for a long time.
The insurance might bring it back to the pack though.

Ducati I don't know at all - except by reputation.


One of you numbers johnnys should do a breakdown - 'typical' car V bike running costs.

I've done the break downs on car v bike before, it isn't pretty.

Get 2 machines valued @ say $25,000 each, 1 car & 1 bike. Then do the maths on the total ownership cost over a period of time / km, Say a year & 20,000 km, don't forget to include the depreciation factor.

[caspernz]

The costs and convenience (or lack thereof) of car vs bike...2008 GSX750F for first 3 years cost $0.50 per km and my 2008 XR6 cost $0.65 per km to run...and given that my bike was a budget kind of bike, try it with a GSX-R and the numbers would end up lineball me thinks.

So it just comes back to passion doesn't it? You'll get a bike if you want one, for once you apply logic why would you get a bike nowadays?

But what do I know, trying to work out whether to get a Busa or a ZX14 next? No logic in that question at all...mind you, I did tell the wife both bikes are speed limited