Why so soon?

RedNigel

RedNigel

Joined
Jun 14, 2012
Messages
362
Location
Richardson, TX
Bike
2010 Red NT700
I'm still looking for a bike to replace the NT and i see all the time bikes with almost no miles on them for sale. Do people buy a bike and then decide they hate it or do they buy a bike and realize they arent a biker? How does a bike end up with so few miles? or is the bike a lemon?
 
That scenario has always puzzled me too. If I buy a bike, I'm going to RIDE it. I can't afford to buy something and LOOK at it. My 2015 Spyder i bought used with just 225 miles on it. The same dealership sold it originally new, then sold it to me. So when I asked, why would only Ride that less miles for 1 year,, they said " buyer bought Spyder and 300 hp jet ski at same time". So they have money to burn, would usually be 1 answer
 
I agree. People got money. Around here they buy 100 acres and then build a 2+ million dollar house on it and then go to Europe in the summer and Florida in the winter. There’s some good deals on RVs too. They just didn’t think through the realities of traveling before they bought it.

And then I see a lot of people living at poverty level who are happier than the millionaires. Money buys toys but it doesn’t buy happiness.
 
Glass half-full outlook. Sellers are keeping decades old bikes low mileage for the next guy. It's an absolutely wonderful service. Imagine the storage fees you'd of paid to stash a minty low mileage bike for 20 years.

My NT had seen an average 900 miles a year when I bought it. I put 45K on it easy. My current ride saw an average 700 miles a year when I bought it. I've put 55K on it without much fuss. I much appreciate complete strangers storing bikes I didn't even know I wanted for me.

Real answer. A lot of people like the idea of motorcycle ownership more than they do actually riding.
 
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I've the suspicion that the folks' first intend is to buy themself "an image"...

Then the mount is there, but life-rhythm, schedule, or even the partner doesn't get along...

So then this garage-queen sits there collecting dust, often enough till it'll suffer deterioration...
 
I have a Son-in Law that bought a used 2015 Versys 1000 back in May of 2018. Since then he has put about 2600 miles on it. In the last two years he might have rode it 200 miles a year. I keep telling him to sell the bike as it is not getting any better sitting in his garage. He keeps saying he wants it in the event he wants to go ride. I answer "obviously that is not happing, sell the bike because if you don't ride it I am not going to maintain it anymore". We will see what happens when he needs to take it to the shop because the gas has gone bad. I think people want to have a bike in the garage just to say "Hey I got a bike also". To be fair he does have a busy family life and my Daughter can be a bit demanding that takes up most of his free time.
 
Millennials are finally getting their finances in order, and with that comes a wave of long-delayed purchases—motorcycles included. Many dreamed about owning a bike in their 20s or 30s but couldn’t afford one then. Now that they can, they’re pulling the trigger, but here’s the thing: for most, the passion was never truly there—it was more of a passing fascination than a deep-seated love for the ride. They never built their lives around motorcycles the way previous generations did. So, they buy one, take it out on a few weekend cruises, snap some incredible photos, and then… the excitement fades. The bike sits in the garage, unridden, because it was never part of their identity. They liked the idea of riding more than the ride itself. This is from the perspective of a Gen-Xer.
 
Brillot2000 said:
Millennials are finally getting their finances in order, and with that comes a wave of long-delayed purchases—motorcycles included. Many dreamed about owning a bike in their 20s or 30s but couldn’t afford one then. Now that they can, they’re pulling the trigger, but here’s the thing: for most, the passion was never truly there—it was more of a passing fascination than a deep-seated love for the ride. They never built their lives around motorcycles the way previous generations did. So, they buy one, take it out on a few weekend cruises, snap some incredible photos, and then… the excitement fades. The bike sits in the garage, unridden, because it was never part of their identity. They liked the idea of riding more than the ride itself. This is from the perspective of a Gen-Xer.
Click to expand...
I think that goes for everyone that buys a bike... doesn't matter what generation you are. You don't know if riding is your passion until you try it. I was 36 before I'd ever ridden a bike and then even tried to quit a couple times thinking maybe it wasn't a safe hobby... but, when it's in your blood, it's in your blood...

There's many of various ages that only go to Sturgis every year and that's all the riding they'll do.

I think you're spot on as far as having the finances to afford a bike.

I don't know if it will spike again like it did with the baby boomer era. I'm just happy I was around to experience what I have and what's left in my riding career.
 
Mellow said:
... as far as having the finances to afford a bike.
Click to expand...
Methinks at first many don't consider/know about maintenance costs...
Or how much you've to pay for proper riding gear...
Even with DYI service (for which you need to finance tools and maybe even equip a shed) the costs for tires, spares and consumables add up...
 
ST1100Y said:
Methinks at first many don't consider/know about maintenance costs...
Or how much you've to pay for proper riding gear...
Even with DYI service (for which you need to finance tools and maybe even equip a shed) the costs for tires, spares and consumables add up...
Click to expand...
True... nothing like a car where you can go years without doing anything to it and just be carefree... of course, that's not really true but a bike does take more attention... and the rider also has to have more attentive qualities...
 
Brillot2000 said:
Millennials are finally getting their finances in order, and with that comes a wave of long-delayed purchases—motorcycles included. Many dreamed about owning a bike in their 20s or 30s but couldn’t afford one then. Now that they can, they’re pulling the trigger, but here’s the thing: for most, the passion was never truly there—it was more of a passing fascination than a deep-seated love for the ride. They never built their lives around motorcycles the way previous generations did. So, they buy one, take it out on a few weekend cruises, snap some incredible photos, and then… the excitement fades. The bike sits in the garage, unridden, because it was never part of their identity. They liked the idea of riding more than the ride itself. This is from the perspective of a Gen-Xer.
Click to expand...


Millennial here. Not riding bikes that are in the garage is not a specific generational phenomenon . I've bought plenty of lightly used motorcycles from GenX and Boomers.
 
When I was fourteen my neighbors the Rehmeier twins bought Honda Cubs when they were sixteen. They would take me along on some rides and from that moment on, I was hooked! I began saving up for "my" motorcycle when I turned sixteen. When I was one week shy of sixteen, I cracked open the pig and took $365 to my local Honda dealer and bought a new S65. They delivered the bike to my house and I spent the next week learning how to ride it around my yard. On my sixteenth birthday, I was at the Missouri license office when they opened and took my written exam for my motorcycle license as there was no riding test at that time. I walked out of the license office license in hand and there was no turning back. I spent every waking moment when I wasn't working riding the bike. Winter came and unless the roads were snow covered I was on the bike. The Harley dealer in St. Louis had leather pants, jacket and fleece lined mittens which made winter riding practicable. I never thought that there would ever be a day when I didn't own a motorcycle. That day did arrive however when I succumbed to matrimony and fatherhood. It was a sad day indeed when my CB750 and DT175 went down the road to be enjoyed by their new owners. Life went on but there was still a small burning ember deep in my psyche that called for a motorcycle. I dismissed this calling until at age 62 the ember reignited and once again in spite of my wife's protestations I returned at last to two wheels. I have enjoyed my return to riding immensely but now I must acknowledge that my riding days are truly numbered. I plan on taking advantage of each day that I can ride until the time comes that I can ride no more....

Mike
 
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Red: This Dallas weather has got to you. You need another camp/ride trip with us again. Its cause " Ride for the cure- male pattern baldness" also needs support in this group. This group has allot of Honda Pacific Coast riders who are immune to marketing hype. You dance/ride with the girl who put up with you and got you home
Russ Foster. NT700va
Dallas
 
Shot in the dark here... The majority of the thousands of low mileage Harleys sitting on the used market most likely did not come from Millennials' garages.
 
How many HDs get ridden once a year? Bike Week in Daytona. At the end of the week, they go on a trailer for the ride home. The bike and trailer go to the far end of the garage or machine shed until next Bike Week.
If you're ever in Florida during that time, look at the odometers on some parked bikes. (The ones that still have old fashioned analog dials) Check out the 30 year old Harley from Ohio with 12,000 miles on it. Check out those ozone cracked tires.
I lived in Kissimmee from 1984 thru 2005. I have seen what I speak of.
 
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I have been to several of the big "Pirate" rallys, Sturgis, Myrtle Beach, etc and I was astounded at the number of pristine, low-mileage Harleys on trailers. Also, take a peek at your local Craig's List and you will find the same supply of barely used Harleys. It seems that the Japanese, German and Brit bikes do seem to accumulate more miles than the MoCo's but still low mileage bikes are in abundance.

Mike
 
RedNigel said:
I'm still looking for a bike to replace the NT and i see all the time bikes with almost no miles on them for sale. Do people buy a bike and then decide they hate it or do they buy a bike and realize they arent a biker? How does a bike end up with so few miles? or is the bike a lemon?
Click to expand...

I noticed that, ever since I started riding Motorcycles back in 1969, the first bike that I bought was almost new with low mileage, over the years I have purchased a number of near new bikes with low mileage.

My theory is that they as a neophyte bought a motorcycle and quickly discovered that this was not the bike that they wanted or that riding a motorcycle was not for them after after all.

I once bought a motorcycle from someone that had bought it for his wife, she dropped it twice and didn't want to have anything to do with it, I bought it at a good price, it had a little over 200 miles on the odometer.
 
Whatever the cause, the motorcycle industry is in serious trouble. Prices for new bikes are skyrocketing, while used bike values continue to climb. What once seemed like a temporary slump is now evolving into a full-blown crisis—one the industry may never recover from.

The largest demographic of riders is aging out, and the new generation simply isn’t stepping in to fill the void. Fewer young people are taking up motorcycling as a lifelong passion, leaving dealerships struggling with unsold inventory and manufacturers facing declining profits. If this trend continues, we could witness the slow-motion collapse of an industry that has been a cornerstone of freedom, adventure, and rebellion for over a century.

Is this the beginning of the end for motorcycling as we know it? Or is there still time to reverse course? The future of the sport—and the industry—hangs in the balance.

 
I'm not going to play that clickbait nonsense. That same channel has a bunch of other !shocking! videos on the same topic. Thumbnail I saw the other day has Twump next to a M109r. :rolleyes:

That video thumbnail would make sense about the end of the Fury (if that ever happens) which is somehow still going after 15 years of production. Who in their right mind would walk into a dealer in 2025 and buy a brand new Fury with the color code "baby Bilious vomit"?
 
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