NEWS

 

SO... the world wide sales of "Cruiser" motorcycles is in decline.  The average age for riders of cruiser motorcycles (and motorcycling in general) are aging annually, the market for cruisers is uniquely North American.  Blah blah blah...


I say, gee... what a surprise.  I was around during the seventies (and still am) when the concepts began morphing bikes that were primarily designed to suit your body into what has eventually gone through the "burger bike" style, to "choppers" to "easy boy* recliners"  In fact if you look at the totally absurd riding position that is inherent in the cruiser genre, you'll see it resembles an upright easy boy in the semi relaxed position to the dropped off into blissful slumber of the completely reclined version.  Feet extended on forward pegs/floorboards to highway pegs that are most often used mere nano seconds after leaving a stop light, miles away from brake and shift controls.  Of course when you have big lumbering V-Twins with their buckets of torque, you don't need to shift or brake much anyway, except in an emergency, and that never happens, right.  Many adhere to the "put her in top asap, and leave it there."  The power-band is only 2000 rpm in width but that extends from idle to 3000 revs.

I have often wondered how the designers arrived at this foot forward riding position?  Of course you need only glance at the typical North American living room to the Monday night foot/baseball game, to understand why.  Then there is of course the family sedan.  Low seat height, adjustable steering wheel and pedals on the floor.  One for brakes, one for gas and with ABS and cruise control, you may little touch either on an Interstate drive!



What's the problem here, you may ask?  Well for one, control.  It takes fractionally longer to remove your foot from a highway peg, to find the floor board, to press the brake pedal and that is what they have also morphed into, pedals... like a car you know.  Big massive rubber things.  That extra second or three could be the difference between your life and death, but hey... it looks cool, right!

Then of course there is that easy boy sitting stance that places all your sometimes extravagant body weight on your spine.  I can see class action lawsuits coming up now in the not too distant future in overweight Americans (and Cdns) with a bevy of lawyers jumping on the bandwagon, for spinal type injuries suffered during those long drones across Interstate freeways, bouncing across pavement strips and potholes... you watch and mark my words.  I know what I'm talking about.


I even predicted the collapse of this giant shell game known as the Sub Prime Mortgage meltdown, back in 2002-2003 when I was a licensed  independent financial adviser... course no one was listening, the forces of evil are too powerful and we are easily seduced.  I hope that carrot was yummy, 'cuz it left a lot of ordinary folk jobless and homeless.  And how come no one, not a single bank exec or politician has been prosecuted.  They stole us blind while we had our eye on the carrot!  That's another blog.

How often I heard someone say while sitting in the showroom on a showroom tourer, how 'comfortable' the bike is, low seat height, broad, feet out there, hands up in the air at shoulder height.



On the flip side, the manufacturers and in fact the dealers of these 800 pound behemoths on wheels, have been literally sitting on their own backsides selling and promoting these bikes over here.  NO where in the World do you see these bikes except here.  Why is that?  Think about a culture that would rather watch sports on TV than taking part in it, that would rather have their car do the driving than have to learn to use skills... (I mean cars with back-up camera's, that park themselves!) and if one more person says to me, they "drive their bike" I'm gonna slap them silly!

We've had great bikes like Honda's PC800 and Suzuki's VX 800 that no one bought over here, 'cept a sensible few that didn't need to impress anyone. Even their own manufacturers promoted (I use this term loosely here) them little in a half hearted almost apologetic fashion.  Trying to lure car drivers with the Pacific Coast from their cars instead of telling them to just park the car in the garage on the weekend and ride the PC, to well... the PC!

The new Yamaha Bolt, and little GW250 Suzuki and the upcoming KTM 390, although not anything new really, are at least U-turned towards a sensible riding position and a sensible price.  I know many a rider that mortgaged the house or leveraged the business, to ride a Fat Boy or similar high priced cruiser bike.  Still, the most fun I have ever had on two wheels, was riding the streets of Moncton or carving up Burlington's 1/2 mile go cart track on a YSR 50 with a bunch of non pretentious, fun loving men and women of a wide age group as it turned out.  Remember them days gang?

Then of course there is that ever increasing age thing.  This year (as in year's past) the manufacturers are trying to entice new riders (not drivers) into the fold with lower budget, smaller displacement and dimensioned 'beginner bikes.'  A Yamaha exec is quoted as stating that the new entry level model falls in between 800 and 1100 cc.  I say, WTF!  Why, while the world rolls around on tiddlers... a middle aged man or woman on the far side of 30, okay 40... alright already, 50... needs a 700 lb 900cc bike to feel, what?  Manly/Womanly?  Cool?? What??? 

I can't tell you how many times either at my shops or during motorcycle training, I heard guys telling their wives/girlfriends that a 650 was too small!  I bet Bert Hopwood or Edward Turner are spinning in their graves.  Me, I'd look her straight in the eyes and say in front of the Bad Boy besides them, "don't let anyone push you into something you won't feel comfortable with... you can always go bigger."



Here you have Honda promoting the 30 cubic inch, 500 cc class again.  Geez, I remember when the Mach III would near squash your eyeballs into their sockets.  Is it too little too late for N.A.  Do they have the resolve to push this trend into another cycle... somehow me doubts it.

On the home front, I am in the process of teaching my soon to be wife, to ride.  I have a garage full of bikes, an XT600, far to tall for her, an 900 Thunderbird, a CBR 919, and my newest, a 955 RSi.  She's learning on a bike that I have taught my daughters and countless girlfriends and friends on... a lowly DT 50.  A bike I find has been an excellent learner bike.  I can then move her up through stages on one of my TTR 125 dirt bikes and maybe settling her on my XT 225 Serow, a former CSC training bike itself, that I have owned for more than 20 years. 

So... cruiser sales are in decline, what else is new...

*no offence intended to Easy-Boy