/hobby/ - Hobby

Gonna get my CBT once my new job starts 😎

i don't ride, but i recently got fired from the biggest motorcycle company in north america (guess) in their apparel department.

Crazy corporate culture, completely oblivious how to save themselves from extinction. They see a looming demographic dropoff in motorcycle sales among millenials/zoomers that will hit their big expensive bikes especially hard, but unable/unwilling to change.

I think this is a problem a lot of young riders have getting into it - the industry seems geared toward adult recreational riders with 7 figure savings. It also seems harder than ever to buy a small cheap bike that you can tinker with/customize unless it's an antique. Here in the major metro i live in, e-bikes are in huge demand, but none of the major motorcycle manufacturers seem interested in that market niche either.

am i completely wrong about this? is somebody still making cheap customizable bikes, is any manufacturer getting really serious about mass-market e-motorcycles? HD's LiveWIre thing seems like an expensive joke idk

fun tangential fact - HD wouldn't exist today without direct intervention by Reagan in 1983. They were being absolutely destroyed by competition from Japan due to their own complete unwillingness to adapt to changing markets. Reagan's tariffs on imported bikes increased tenfold within a year, saving the company.

The irony is that 35 years later, Trump would lay into HD specifically for building production plants overseas while laying off employees domestically. They could have just built smaller fucking bikes in the 70s smh.

>>40569
I don't have a driving licence for anything.

>>40571
An electric Solex or Peugeot 103 would be pretty kewl, much better than those stupid e-scooters that are everywhere in town, and something a bit more powerful than electric bicycles, but it probably already exists.

I have an ebike. I wouldn't want a motorcycle even if they were free.
t. Euro

I don't want to die.

>>40571
>It also seems harder than ever to buy a small cheap bike that you can tinker with/customize unless it's an antique.

You still can get used motorcycles for <4k that are in good condition and are relatively modern (past 20 years).

>the industry seems geared toward adult recreational riders with 7 figure savings.

It's true about most motorcycles, such as cruisers and liter ADVs, but a lot of young people I see usually go for standards or sport bikes, these you can get fairly cheap in good and new condition, but it is true that motorcycle cost as a hobby is very inflated, especially if you look at the cost of the gear and accessories.

motorcyclists have a very high rate of eating shit on the highway

I think if my car gives me much more headache I'll get a moped

>>40569
>What's preventing you from riding motorcycles, Anons?
The giant fucking nail I pulled out of my rear tyre yesterday
>>40571
HD? Fortnine made a good video about them a few years back. They've fucked themselves by not appealing to younger riders - one of their growth markets these days is trikes, because all the fat old men who used to buy cruisers are too old and fat to handle a bike that big. No young people can afford new Harleys, either - mind you, most young people also can't afford Japanese bikes.

Only manufacturer I see with electric bikes in dealerships in the UK is Zero. I heard years ago that KTM were experimenting with an electric Duke, but it obviously never made it into production. I think Royal Enfield might be getting into electric bikes at some point in the future as well, and they could beat the Japanese to it.

>>40573
I've been into these aesthetically but are they viable for everyday use in the city?
Feels like the only "moto culture" around most parts is just a copypaste of 50s American bikers and 60s brit rockers.

>>40574
This, except I don't own an e-Bike.

I use a Bullet 350 for my daily commute. The safety concerns are there, especially given how little civic sense and disregard for safety and traffic rules my fellow countrymen have, on top of the absolutely dismal state of our roads. I had to spend an absolute fuck ton on safety gear, which I wear all the time I ride despite people sneering at me. Honestly, it's better than being literally stuffed in a bus/local train for over an hour two times a day.

>>40641
My dad had a Bullet 500 Electra X for many years. Riding it was bit like riding a pogo stick, and it could do a maximum of about 85 mph. This was the trials version too, which had slightly more power than the other road-going versions. Still miss it, though; I have fond memories of working on that bike with him on weekends. We did a LOT to that bike over the years.

Still, I prefer commuting by public transport to motorcycle. Warmer (unless the heating is broken, which I've known before) and more comfortable, and allows me to relax a bit before I get to work. If I didn't have to get up an hour earlier and get home two hours later, I'd commute on the bus.