Surprise! Motorcycling isn't dying

U.S. motorcycle sales are in sharp decline.
(Graphic from CanyonChasers)

 Today we're told that motorcycling in the U.S. is dying. Riders are aging out, young people are on their phones, motorcycle prices are high, and insurance costs crushing. The police are always watching, and everyone says motorcycles are dangerous killers. 

The joy is gone. 

Except, it's not. 

Surprise! Motorcycling is booming. 

And why not? Motorcycling is fun. You remember your first ride, don't you?

I still remember my first time. A high school friend took me for a ride, as the passenger, on the new Honda step-through his parents had bought him. The little white motorcycle wasn't fast, but I was thrilled. 

I had dreamed of owning a sports car some day but, in high school in the 1960s, a sports car was way out of reach for me. But here was a vehicle maneuverable enough to be exciting, easy to ride as my bicycle, and not impossibly expensive. 

I loved that it had a horn, lights, and even a tiny luggage compartment. It carried two, just as my imaginary sports car would, and, best of all, it could take me anywhere right now. 

We innocently rode without helmets or protective gear.

Of course, we didn't actually go anywhere; just around his neighborhood and briefly out on Sepulveda Boulevard with real traffic! The thrill was in imagining where it could take us.

It would be years before I would ride a motorcycle on my own, when my brother handed me the keys to his medium-sized Honda and told me to "ride around."

That was all the training I got. (I didn't even understand how a positive-stop gearbox worked. I had to figure it out).

Motorcycling is a blast. So why does everyone seem to think it's going away?

In a surprisingly upbeat and even comic YouTube video, "Dave" at CanyonChasers suggests that U.S. bikers treat motorcycling as "a nostalgic hobby."

Worse, old-time bikers treat newcomers on anything less than a liter bike as "cowards." Their little bikes won't do double the Interstate speed limit and, besides, they're too quiet.

Even worse? Newcomers are being gruffly clued in that they are unworthy: they haven't "paid their dues," with scars on their knees and grit under their fingernails.

We forget that, back in our day, someone (my brother to name one) handed us the keys for free and told us to "go ride around." No one demanded "dues."

So who is killing motorcycling in the U.S.? WE ARE, Dave says.

Our behavior is stupid. Luckily, it isn't working.

Because two-wheel ridership is exploding! Young people are riding and having a whale of a lot of fun. Their mounts are inexpensive to buy, incredibly cheap to run, require no registration, no insurance, no training and are astoundingly reliable even compared to a Honda. They park for free.

And, yes, they're quiet.

They're electric mopeds and scooters.

Oh God: those zippy little vehicles that so annoy me when I am a pedestrian. They may have pedals but everyone knows that's a gag. These are motorcycles.

They're everywhere, and I mean everywhere. On the streets. On the sidewalks. On the handicap ramps. In the bike lanes. Shoving foot traffic aside on running paths. Lane splitting and even riding the wrong way in traffic.

Red light? No problem: they run right through. Few bother with helmets, none bother with gear. These are the "outlaw bikers" of this era.

And the police don't care!  Enforcement is nonexistent because it's impossible and, yeah, it's all just "kid stuff" anyway.

The riders are mostly young and many are even girls. This is the new-birth future of motorcycling, Dave suggests.

Peering back through the mists of old age I recognize myself, riding back seat on that Honda step-through. That experience of freedom, possibility and joy. It's still happening for people.

We should celebrate this.

And if it goes against the grain a little bit, old-timer, I know how you feel.

Because going back to motorcycling at 50 was my attempt to re-capture a little bit of my youth. My interest in Royal Enfield motorcycles, particularly the retro-models, is that attempt to get back to those happy days.

Yes, it's my "nostalgic hobby." It works for me.

But look around, look around. Watch the video: