Article from DDN about motorcycle sales

John250

John250

PR Founding Father
This article was on the front page of todays business section in the Dayton Daily News. Thought it was interesting. The way it reads to me, less new bike sales, more used bike sales, more bike on the road. Guess guys are riding what they have rather than buying bikes.

Side note, Joe Seyfferle (Little Joe), is a racer. He has raced flat track forever, and still races.

Here is the link to the article. Not too often motorcycles account for a front page article in the paper.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/business/motorcycle-shops-surviving-tough-economoy-1079797.html
 
I think that trend is obvious just from looking at MX. Less expensive 2 stroke bikes are gone and replaced by more expensive 4 stroke bikes. In order to keep people buying 4 strokes they raised the prices of all the 2 strokes to match. Nobody can afford new bikes....and if they DO go buy a new one, they are keeping it for a while.

Of my own little circle of friends, we all used to buy brand new bikes every year, or at minimum every two years. Now out of that same circle, not one of them has bought a brand new current year bike for as long as I can remember. The last year I bought a brand new current-year bike was 2002, almost ten years ago!

What do we all do now? We look for that gem of a used bike that some Vet guy rode around and put about 10 hours on. Then we buy it off him for about 4k less than a new bike. Or we look for that 2-3 year old brand new model sitting at a dealership that we can get for a hugely discounted price.
 
Pit hit the nail on the head. It's just a rip off these days. My 06 RMZ450 has 73 hours on it and I plan on keeping it for a while. I have never had a 5 year old bike... like you guys I got a new bike every other year, and a couple year to year. They're killing they're own industry...
 
My current 450 is the longest I have ever had a bike. Used to trade every year.......but then again, I did not have a 7 year old that needed $3700 new 50s either.
 
I'm not surprised about plummeting sales in the region. Especially in Dayton, once GM closed, we lost a lot of revenue. We used to have two of the largest OEM dealers in the region or nation, depending on what year you debate. F&S Suzuki and HOT / YOT. When I worked at Honda R&D, I was shocked to see how actively they were pushing 4t development. Seemed they couldn't make the 2ts go away fast enough. I was amazed. Most people didn't really understand how to fully clean and service a simple 2t powervalve. Now, they are expected to have the training, tooling and expertise to build an entire motor? Let alone the budget?

I think bikes can easily be nursed several years, regardless of if it's a 2t or 4t. The biggest hitch in a 4t is valvetrain life. What can I say, check early, check often. Replace them before something bad happens. Use good air filter oil and make sure your exhaust doesn't leak (preventing scorched exhaust valves. I made a 1995 CR500 last from late 1994 until 2002. I would love to know how many hours were on that old bike.

Now, I have a 01 RM250 with, as Pit said ", that gem of a used bike that some Vet guy rode around and put about 10 hours on" and a 02 YZ426 with about 50 total hours on it. My problem? I need to get rid of one of 'em. Anyone want a good bike?
 
It also seems like there hasn't been any drastic change in technology as far as the MX bikes go. I said drastic!
 
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