Who’s going to save motorcycling? We are. And here’s how

‘The death of Motorcycling’, screamed the headline. ‘Dealers closing, bike theft soaring, insurance crisis, new bike price hike, Euro-legislation killing biking’.

That was 1991 and, for those of us who have been doing this a while, we’ve seen it repeated at least three times since.

The shouty headlines are back this year, only this time it’s social media where the shouting is loudest. I’m not convinced. While motorcycling is undeniably smaller than it was in the 80s and 90s, it is still here, still as brilliant as ever and there are still plenty of people wanting to join us.

56,581 riders (that’s 1076 a week) took their Mod 2 test in the 12 months between June 2023/24 and 40,306 (775 a week) passed. Somewhere around six times that number did CBT. That’s around a quarter of a million new full licences issued in the last six years and well over a million new riders on CBT.

The problem for the industry is that a lot of those new riders don’t see a main dealer for years. Many buy their first bike on eBay or Facebook and their second bike too. Their kit comes from online retailers with enormous stock, discount prices and no-quibble returns, while servicing – if done at all - goes to independent local mechanics.

By the time a main dealer sees these new riders it might be five years or more after passing their test.

Thankfully there’s still a healthy number of old folks like us buying new bikes on PCP or drawing down pensions or a bit of inheritance. New bike sales in the UK are only slightly down this year but the bikes we’re buying are changing. Growth in the 126-500cc category at the expense of the 1000cc+ bikes. Is this about older riders trading down for something more manageable or a tightening of belts to stay riding when times are tough? Who knows? The dealers, probably, but, while there’s plenty of information about which bikes are selling, there’s not a lot out there on who buys what.

In 1991 we had threats of 100bhp limits, motorcycle casualties were twice as high as now, and an epidemic of bike theft caused Norwich Union to withdraw their Rider Policy which underpinned the insurance market. That was a crisis and yet, by the end of the 90s biking was booming again.

One of the things that has changed are the ever-tightening emissions laws. The current Euro 5 regs are about to be replaced by Euro 5+ meaning manufacturers need to shift stocks of Euro 5 bikes. So, dealers are being loaded with stock at a time of year when customers are thin on the ground. That’s not helping.

There was a post about this on the BikeSocial Facebook group recently with the question ‘What is the MCIA (Motorcycle Industry Association) doing about this?’ It might be easy to point the finger, but I think we should give the MCIA and others the credit they deserve for a lot of hard work that we, as riders never see.

There have been numerous attempts by Governments, local authorities and other legislators to restrict motorcycle power outputs, access to bus lanes, green lanes, parking and inclusion in congestion and emissions charges. Plus, plenty of proposals to make it more difficult to get a licence. Organisations like the MCIA, the National Motorcyclist’s Council (NMC), MAG, BMF, Trail Riders Fellowship and more, fight these things at every turn. Rather than question the progress they’ve made, we should applaud them for the freedoms we still have. Riders can still do pretty much everything today that we did 40 years ago. Sometimes you run very fast just to stand still.

Can I be contentious here and suggest that maybe, as riders and as an industry, we should take it on ourselves to save motorcycling from within? You’ll be thrilled to hear that I have a three-point plan.

The first two parts involve the MCIA and dealers. First off, to the MCIA, NMC etc, please continue doing what you do behind the scenes to protect what we have and try to get the authorities on side. We appreciate your efforts and love what you do.

I’ll come back to the dealers in a minute…

For us riders, the Steve Rose plan for saving motorcycling involves doing more of the thing that we love – motorcycling.

The benefits are obvious. More miles mean more enjoyment, more confidence in our riding, more opportunity to see even more great roads and more of that wonderful sleep you have after a day out on the bike.

Which, for the dealers means more servicing required, more tyres fitted, more chain lube sold, more accessories and more visits because bike dealers are nice places to spend an hour or. And look, there’s a V-Strom 1050 with £500 off, I always fancied one of those…etc. – ‘Hello darling, you look nice…I somehow bought another bike…again’.

With the Steve Rose plan everyone wins, but especially, us the riders. You get closer to your dealer, who will look after you better when you need it.

The more miles we do the better we get at riding and the more we enjoy it. Riding to work again increases confidence in all weathers with more of that smug feeling arriving wide-eyed, grinning like only a motorcyclist can at 8.27am (‘Sorry I’m early, I came by bike’ etc), buzzing with adrenalin and ready to win your first three meetings while your colleagues mainline caffeine just to keep up.

Save your excuses about the time it takes to get dressed or unlock the bike or the weather. We all know they fade to insignificance the minute you filter past the first queue. And besides, we are on a mission to save motorcycling. This is our duty for future generations.

Insurance will still be expensive for a year or so because the whole insurance market is in flux right now. But it will settle – it always does. And at least if we ride more miles, it’s easier to justify the cost because £500 a year to do 8000 miles works out at just 6p per mile.

Bikes are more comfortable, practical and fuel efficient than ever. The latest tyres have incredible all-weather grip and last for ages too. If you’re worried about getting your immaculate, £10k bike dirty or adding too many miles, buy a 300cc scooter (I just did) or Honda CBF600 or Kawasaki ER-6 and use that instead.

And buy a big lock and some way to carry it because for all the scare stories and spark-filled social media grinder videos (please don’t Google that…), the reality is that too many riders don’t use any security and it’ll be their bikes, not yours that go missing.

There’s no point moaning about electric bikes and government legislation because we can’t change that. Leave those conversations to the MCIA, NMC and MAG.

And the dealers? They are the ones with the biggest challenge here. On the one hand they have to adapt to survive, but they can’t do that on their own. Dealers’ hands are often tied by the requirements of the brands they represent. How do they deal with eBay and Facebook and online kit retailers? How do they staff a workshop with sky high demand in summer and tumbleweed in winter? What does a 21st century motorcycle dealer look like? 

Marketing rule number one says ‘Understand who your customers are and deliver a message to them that they want to hear rather than the one you want them to hear. Apologies if that sounds patronising but we’ve all experienced traders in all walks of life who get that simple rule very, very wrong.  

The small old-school bike shop in Bromley where I bought my Honda SH300 was a great example of how to get it right. The two guys running it understand their customers, work hard on making them feel good and made it very easy for me to want to buy a bike from them. 

That model might not work for the pot plants and polo-shirts of a franchised dealer, but, with our support and an understanding that if we don’t use it, we’ll lose it, there’s hope for everyone.

The bike trade is full of talented, passionate people who choose to make a living by helping you and me get more from motorcycling. I’ve been lucky enough to meet hundreds of them in the last 30 years as a journo and I’m still thrilled when I meet someone new who has all that passion and more.

As riders we are the ideal customer – enthusiastic, knowledgeable with a canny ability to find space in the shed for Just. One. More. Bike.

Motorcycling is still the coolest thing ever and still has an appeal for any would-be rebel of any age. If you think a tattoo makes you cool, just wait till you win rush hour on the Coventry ring road. But you knew that already.

If motorcycling dies, it might well be because we stood back and let it happen. And future generations would never forgive us.

If you’d like to chat about this article or anything else biking related, join us and thousands of other riders at the Bennetts BikeSocial Facebook page.