I'm a millennial and I fukken love my motorcycle. The reason millennials aren't riding is because none of the major brands stepped up to the plate to offer an entry level bike for $5k and market that fucker - among millennials in America, motorcycles are synonymous with enormous $30k weekend machines that can't replace a car therefore making it a 100% luxury purchase.
Same thing happened with electric motorcycles. A millennial might consider an electric moto to get around town with even if it doesn't have a huge range or speed - just look at eBikes - but the offerings from the major manufacturers are all trying to be cutting edge flagship machines with a premium price point, and nobody is going to drop big money on an advanced motorcycle unless they've been riding for a while already (and the boomers and Xers who've been riding for a while all think that electricity is for beta males).
Give it time and Chinese electric motorcycles will reach Western markets, and Harley will beg the Trump admin for a tarriff on them, only to continue to refuse to actually bring an entry level electric motorcycle of their own to market. Maybe we'll get lucky and a Taiwanese company will evade the tariff, or the Japanese companies will finally step up to the plate and put some out there as they fight China for the export market around the rest of the Pacific, but I kinda think that roadgoing motorcycles are on the way out in the USA and it would take a major cultural shift to change that (dirt bikes and atvs should be fine).
In kunming they had ranks upon ranks of hire ebikes and the streets were packed with them. It was amazing.
Norway sucks, but one great thing about Oslo was the adoption of escooters that meant you could ride anywhere and just leave the scooter basically anywhere. The freedom it afforded was incredible. They even had a fun mini game you played on the app when it suspected you might have just left a bar and might possibly be drunk.
I'm a millennial and I fukken love my motorcycle. The reason millennials aren't riding is because none of the major brands stepped up to the plate to offer an entry level bike for $5k and market that fucker - among millennials in America, motorcycles are synonymous with enormous $30k weekend machines that can't replace a car therefore making it a 100% luxury purchase.
Same thing happened with electric motorcycles. A millennial might consider an electric moto to get around town with even if it doesn't have a huge range or speed - just look at eBikes - but the offerings from the major manufacturers are all trying to be cutting edge flagship machines with a premium price point, and nobody is going to drop big money on an advanced motorcycle unless they've been riding for a while already (and the boomers and Xers who've been riding for a while all think that electricity is for beta males).
Give it time and Chinese electric motorcycles will reach Western markets, and Harley will beg the Trump admin for a tarriff on them, only to continue to refuse to actually bring an entry level electric motorcycle of their own to market. Maybe we'll get lucky and a Taiwanese company will evade the tariff, or the Japanese companies will finally step up to the plate and put some out there as they fight China for the export market around the rest of the Pacific, but I kinda think that roadgoing motorcycles are on the way out in the USA and it would take a major cultural shift to change that (dirt bikes and atvs should be fine).
In kunming they had ranks upon ranks of hire ebikes and the streets were packed with them. It was amazing.
Norway sucks, but one great thing about Oslo was the adoption of escooters that meant you could ride anywhere and just leave the scooter basically anywhere. The freedom it afforded was incredible. They even had a fun mini game you played on the app when it suspected you might have just left a bar and might possibly be drunk.
Anyway. Fun times