Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

The importers are to blame as much as anyone.
They're busy bringing in big bikes and ignoring more useful machines.
The market in asia is full of 125 and 250 machines which would sell
by the truck load to people looking to beat jams and save on fu el costs.

I hesitate to make this point but is difficulty getting into biking really a bad thing?
During the boom young lads and bornagains were buying a lifestyle.
They had no real interest in biking and imo did more harm than good.
Thats the reason its now so hard to get started.
And at the end of the day,only guys who are really into biking will stick it out.
The rest will go off playing golf or whatever.
Quality not quantity:thumbsup2:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Vjmc.Cork;2652430]The importers are to blame as much as anyone.
They're busy bringing in big bikes and ignoring more useful machines.
The market in asia is full of 125 and 250 machines which would sell
by the truck load to people looking to beat jams and save on fu el costs.

I hesitate to make this point but is difficulty getting into biking really a bad thing?
During the boom young lads and bornagains were buying a lifestyle.
They had no real interest in biking and imo did more harm than good.
Thats the reason its now so hard to get started.
And at the end of the day,only guys who are really into biking will stick it out.
The rest will go off playing golf or whatever.
Quality not quantity:thumbsup2:[/quote]

.....:thumbsup2:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Fledermaus;2652322]True.Was at a rally for the first time in ages at the weekend,nothing but a load of ould farts like myself.Enjoy it while you can folks,it really looks like its on its last legs for loads of reasons-so get out on yer bikes now.[/quote]

What rally was that? Banna is the only one I think that was on this last weekend, if it was there I don't know what you where seeing, the gaff was crawling with young lads walking around an leathers and carrying lids... There are a fair few at a lot of rallies, I can only assume they don't get noticed either because of age or because they only go to rallies that are local so they aren't regulars.
Trust me they are there, I notice them mostly because they get drunk they are out talking to me and annoying me with stupid chat (weirdly enough in a desperate attempt to fit in with the same "old farts" that never seem to see them)

Price is the a main issue with biking true enough, but where is that expense to be found?
Tax? - bikes are cheaper
Insurance - true they ain't cheap, but back in 97 my first cage quote as 2000 punts to be added to the aul fellas insurance, even today at 32 the quote for a cage if I wanted to get one is sky high, they ain't cheap for young lads either.

That really leaves juice prices, but petrol itself is not that fooking expensive, according the pumps.ie the average is 164.9 per litre, THAT is expensive... But the cost of a litre before tax and duty is 74.45 per litre..... In comparison that is fairly cheap.... Figure out a way to get your juice without giving some Cnut an extra 90.45 per litre and your price issues are minimal.

Back when I was 15 I wanted a bike, I was too young for a license and couldnt afford tax or insurance or a lot of gear ... But I fookin got a bike! Where is that spirit today?????
These days wether it would be a heavy throttle hand, flaunting restrictor laws, not having tax, both wheels not being firmly on the ground........ Or finding a bit of tax and duty free juice, if you even have a wet dream about being on the wrong side of the law your the biggest Cnut in the world and "giving all of us a bad name"

[B][I][U]As far as I am concerned[/U][/I][/B] THAT is what is killing biking along with a lot of other things in life, a load of middle aged dryballs concerned about nothing but their own image, and not wanting to butt the fook out and let some lad do whatever he needs to do to keep his bike on the road. ESPECIALLY if he manages to do it cheaper or enjoy it a bit more then them.

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Slaon;2652451]What rally was that? Banna is the only one I think that was on this last weekend, if it was there I don't know what you where seeing, the gaff was crawling with young lads walking around an leathers and carrying lids... There are a fair few at a lot of rallies, I can only assume they don't get noticed either because of age or because they only go to rallies that are local so they aren't regulars.
Trust me they are there, I notice them mostly because they get drunk they are out talking to me and annoying me with stupid chat (weirdly enough in a desperate attempt to fit in with the same "old farts" that never seem to see them)
.[/quote]

Thats where i was,and if thats the case,i stand corrected:thumbsup2:.But anyone i talked to who was a rally regular(i'm not) said that there is a lack of new blood coming in,at least to the clubs/rallies.And anyone i spoke to was friendly and welcoming,and an ould fart;could it be that the younger folk want f-all to do with us,and will continue on their own terms:biggrin_old:..?.One thing i do not see on the roads much anymore is lads tearing around on cheap fixed up bikes,there seems to be an idea thet you need 5 grand for a bike before you even begin.Younger folk seem to be obsessed with getting the latest and greatest,kind of a reflection on greater societys "stuff" obsession i think(cos when i started,i was glad just to have two wheels,did'nt care that it was crap)and would not be seen dead on a cg125 or the like.I hope it's not that grim for biking when all's said and done,i've had 20-odd great years of it so far,i'd like to think that others will get at least that:thumbsup2:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Fatboyslim;2651167]Thats another important one..apart from motorways which are useless for biking, the roads are pretty crap. I had a lovely mint condition low miler Africa twin and 5 minutes after sellin hit I regretted it , and still do .
:thumbsup2:[/quote]

Me too Fatboy, had an Africa Twin, sold it, instantly regretted it and have been on sports bikes ever since.

I have a ZX12R, and after being out on it all weekend, I have decided to sell it, and buy a KTM 990 Adventure R, the roads are just too shite over here, just no fun dodging potholes and trying to figure out at warp speed what the camber is gonna do round the next bend.

It a great bike for the likes of Touring in France or going to see me mates in GB, but I only do that once a year, so for me I'm going full circle and looking for something similar to the Africa Twin once again.

The ZX12R is mint and will be on Done Deal just after this post if anyones interested

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Roz;2652490]
The ZX12R is mint and will be on Done Deal just after this post if anyones interested[/quote]

Pop it up in the for sale section here too, just make sure ya use the template:bikerie:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Fledermaus;2652462]Thats where i was,and if thats the case,i stand corrected:thumbsup2:.But anyone i talked to who was a rally regular(i'm not) said that there is a lack of new blood coming in,at least to the clubs/rallies.And anyone i spoke to was friendly and welcoming,and an ould fart;could it be that the younger folk want f-all to do with us,and will continue on their own terms:biggrin_old:..?.One thing i do not see on the roads much anymore is lads tearing around on cheap fixed up bikes,there seems to be an idea thet you need 5 grand for a bike before you even begin.Younger folk seem to be obsessed with getting the latest and greatest,kind of a reflection on greater societys "stuff" obsession i think(cos when i started,i was glad just to have two wheels,did'nt care that it was crap)and would not be seen dead on a cg125 or the like.I hope it's not that grim for biking when all's said and done,i've had 20-odd great years of it so far,i'd like to think that others will get at least that:thumbsup2:[/quote]
:thumbsup2:
Ah they do be around allright, generally they are just local lads tho so unless seen in leathers and textiles they just blend in with the rest of the locals.
I see them at the stall but if I was just at a rally meself to be honest I'd by looking to hang out with the regular rally heads that I know and see each weekend and everyone else would really just be background crowd.

T'is like anywhere else really I s'pose if I go down the local pub with mates I tend not to pay attention to the lads 10 years younger then me at another table, but if I see them week in week out I eventually get to know them.

It's not much I know but there was atleast one club at Banna with a new lad that seemed young enough at his first rally:thumbsup2:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Slaon;2652451]..
Price is the a main issue with biking true enough, but where is that expense to be found?
Tax? - bikes are cheaper
Insurance - true they ain't cheap, but back in 97 my first cage quote as 2000 punts to be added to the aul fellas insurance, even today at 32 the quote for a cage if I wanted to get one is sky high, they ain't cheap for young lads either.
[/quote]

Insurance for young lads is cheaper on cages. My first quote at 17 was just under 2k but in terms of cost and image a comparable bike would have cost a fortune more. If even possible.

Even now the price of rubber and petrol means I am spending way more on the bike than cage. And when your 17 your mind is mostly on women and its damn near impossible to ride some young one on the passenger seat of a ninja 250... even if she does get wet on a drissly night:devil:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=pryrates;2652502]...... but in terms of cost and image .....[/quote]

There is a large part of it, image image image as fledermaus pointed out it's all about the latest and greatest, and as said by a few others there is very few "latest and greatest" on the market for young lads(or wimmins of course :lbhbh: ) it's not a new thing, when I was that age I didn't want to be seen by females on a Honda 50 but an RG80 got me more then a fair share of tail... Times moved on but the 17 year olds of today are still on the auld RG's and NSR's
The latest or greatests are beyond them and they ain't willing to put the time in to get there. Ride down the street on anything from a nice sports 600 to a 'bird or 'busa and lads on the street a nearly giving themselves whiplash.
And even if the young fookers in shitboxes want to convince themselves they are better, the look on their womans face as she glances over tells the real story :devil:

The image culture isn't just young lads either, I pulled in for petrol last Friday dripping wet and freezing after doing Dublin to Newcastle west in jeans and dirty leather jacket in the pissing rain, got petrol and parked up next to a spanky new cruiser, whose owner sat inside the window in pristine gear sipping coffee, as I peeled off soaked thru gloves and stuck them on dirty exhausts to warm up, the look I got out the window said how dare I use the same petrol station as him, and even worse bring down the tone of his cruiser by actually parking next to it

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Slaon;2652547]the look I got out the window said how dare I use the same petrol station as him, and even worse bring down the tone of his cruiser by actually parking next to it[/quote]

ugh, not much worse than a snobby part timer :thumbdown:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

Bikes are cheaper for the most part for young lads, I'm 20 and fully comp on my cbr it's 1700 for the year and the cage is the guts of 1900 an that's cause I got very very lucky with a broker. Any other company I went to was well over 3K for insurance. One I think it was aon wanted 6 fuckin grand...:woots: and for the record it's only a wee 1.4

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

how the feck did ya even get insured on a 600 sports at 20! liberty/quinn wouldnt touch most lads and me on anything over 400 till 21!
saying that im only paying 300 odd tpf&t on a 650 at 21. sure beats the 2000 i paid for an zerox few years back, if i could manage that then at 16 theres no reason lads cant do the same now that insurance is ALOT cheaper!

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

Went into them and got the quote within seconds.

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

My Fazer easily costs me as much to run as my 'Diesel Bucket'. The mpg of both is approximately the same. But when it comes to the fun factor there's no contest. The bike wins hands down every time. It's also so handy if I need to nip into town to do a quick job, no problem finding a parking space. OK, I'll be the first to admit that biking won't appeal to everybody, that goes without saying. But for those of us who love & appreciate our bikes, I don't think anything can compare to the buzz of a nice, quick blast on a good road on our day off. And TBH I don't expect the non-bikers to understand that either, especially when they haven't tried it for themselves. When I hear the cappuccino-drinkers making remarks about middle-aged bikers & their 'mid-life crisis' I don't get mad or offended. Instead, I have a private little snigger about them & their boring, nine-to-five lives. They don't realise what they're missing out on & they probably never will, either. I [B]do[/B] regret the fact that so few young lads are taking up biking nowadays, but there are so many obstacles put in their way that I can understand why many of them would consider it not to be worth the effort. When I was a young fella, you got a bike because it was the only form of transport that you could possibly afford & that was that. That scene has changed & nowadays it is probably easier to start out on four wheels than on two. Also, there is the issue of parental disapproval where bikes are concerned. A parent is more likely to buy a car than a bike for their seventeen-year-old, largely because of the perceived dangers associated with biking. Of course, that may all change in this generation or the next, but I ain't holding my breath. But I believe the secret to restarting the biking scene lies initially with the bike manufacturers, who should get their shit together & start producing affordable small-to-mid-sized bikes. As has been said more than once in this thread already, very few can afford the 200BHP, 200MPH rockets that we see advertised in the bike magazines. They really are toys for big boys. What's needed is a range of [B]affordable[/B] bikes in 125cc, 250cc, 400cc & 600cc. Then maybe things would pick up a bit. To finish & to get back to the question 'Where's biking going?', I can only speak for myself & for me, biking is getting better every day. And I really mean that. I don't think there's any point in getting all depressed about what the future [B]might[/B] hold for biking. Let us get out there, ride our bikes & have fun. None of us knows what tomorrow will bring.

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

A lot is being said about a bad selection of smaller cc bikes but in all fairness most bikes being bought new now are the likes of big 1 litre + bikes cause its the ould fella's with the cash to afford them. No company is going to risk pumping money into small cc bikes when there's a high chance they won't get the sale, the price for a new honda cbr 125/ yzf-r125 is about what 2800? What young fella has that cash to throw about, specially not on a boring 4t 125!

If the companies aren't seeing a huge demand for them they simply won't supply them. No wonder there was plenty of them around in the 70's/80's cause cages were expensive and there was a relitively high demand for small powered bikes. In the meantime, everyone has moved up to the bigger cc bikes and even more people just got out of bikes as cages became more affordable and more practical. Also most young fella's only ever hear of the horror stories of their fathers friends/uncles/previous neighbour (got rest them) being in fatal accidents, and over-protective mothers that would sooner see there young uns drive around in their cage on what is a much cheaper insurance (mine own was about 900 starting off, If i was to get insured in a shitbox cage it would have been an extra 750 onto the premium of me mammies) plus with the cage there is no extra expensive of gear.

Roughly about 2/5 young lads I know would actually like a bike (straight from the horses mouth) but there is infact about 3/80 of us driving bikes, and yet easily 10 times that in cages. Bikes are impractical as f*ck for a young lad these days, only fellas I know who are driving bikes now started off driving motocross as a young kid.. if you want to get more young blood into biking start them off young!

At the end of the day numbers will soar again in roughly 15 years as the chinese will be mass-producing a large range of well built more efficient, possibly more powerful, 125's-400cc and hopefully by then young lads will be able to get a part-time job and afford them. And still the wonder that is electric bikes will still be pissing in the wind trying to find enough cadmium somewhere on this planet to store the electriciy to run the bikes :rolleyes2::rolleyes2:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

Which is why they should be looking to older lads.
30 somethings with cash,sitting in traffic jams all day.
Start em on small commuter bikes to beat congestion,
then move em on to bigger bikes when the bug bites.
Simples:thumbsup2:

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

It'll be grand. It'll all be in order. Don't worry about it.

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=Vjmc.Cork;2652892]Which is why they should be looking to older lads.
30 somethings with cash,sitting in traffic jams all day.
Start em on small commuter bikes to beat congestion,
then move em on to bigger bikes when the bug bites.
Simples:thumbsup2:[/quote]

And how many thirty somethings did that in the last five years, only to get out of biking again... probably why there is a large number of cbr(/f)125's knocking about.
Or move from a 125/250 straight to a nice and new 600 or seven-fiddy.. hence leaving leaving the sales of the larger cc bikes high, and so on..
It might sound silly from my young uneducated head but I honestly think we need the likes of the 1990's 400s put back into production, It'd give anyone moving up an intermediate range before shooting straight up to the bigger cc's

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

Last year I had the option of taking the auld lads rustbucket or getting a bike. I was 27 and getting a wee 125 Marauder and insuring it was cheaper than insuring the car on a provisional, even if the car was free! Best decision I ever made.

That being said, none of my mates would get on a bike, and think I'm mad to be on one. It's far cheaper, but there's a whole generation of pussies on the ups in Ireland!

Re: Wheres biking going ?
 

[quote=brianblaze;2652919]Last year I had the option of taking the auld lads rustbucket or getting a bike. I was 27 and getting a wee 125 Marauder and insuring it was cheaper than insuring the car on a provisional, even if the car was free! Best decision I ever made.

That being said, none of my mates would get on a bike, and think I'm mad to be on one. It's far cheaper, [B]but there's a whole generation of pussies on the ups in Ireland[/B]![/quote]

Fuckin homos.
Combing their hair and washing their clothes. Driving cages. Drinking coffee from wee poofty cups.

Fuckin tubes.