The Powersports Industry & M/C Roadracing

Ehh, even with the reduced numbers the US is a very substantial market. I don’t see Sportbike sales ever coming back to the way they were. They evolved past a useful everyday tool and are dying because of it. Actually took longer than I thought it would.
Ergonomics just got too extreme and insurance costs too high.
I bought a new bike a couple of years ago, sold it a year ago and replaced it with a 15 year old bike.
In a way racing is what has killed off sport bikes, the rules got more and more strict and made the bikes evolve more and more into race bikes. Good thing is many are brand loyal more so than bike loyal. So if they ride a V-strom they will pull for the guy on a Suzuki.

NASCAR forgot where they came from and has alienated their core fan. Back in the day they were working class guys that had ties to local tracks and people knew. Now most of the drivers are people no one know, the cars are too much alike and the fans lost interest.
Racing is still thriving though at local tracks when done right. The DLM touring series is in a state of constant growth and provides some great racing with far less restrictive rules and a fraction of the cost of the NASCAR stuff. The biggest struggle facing local dirt tracks right now is the lack of production cars suitable for race use. It has made most of the classes become more and more late model like. All custom frames and bodies.
RoadRacing may have to follow the same path eventually if sport bikes keep dying off.
But that may never happen, it seems track day guys are buying a fair amount of bikes to go play on. Maybe that will sustain things but I don’t see them ever truly prospering again under the current business model.

 

Don't Ducati and BMW post record breaking sales number each consecutive year? Maybe the other manufacturers build boring motorcycles.

 

I don't think anyone argues that economic downturn and bike sales have crippled OEM support/available dollars available to support professional roadracing in the US. Honda East is one of the largest dealerships in the country when it comes to volume - not just in unit sales, but OEM parts as well. Sport bike sales are near the bottom of their list. Water, ATV, side by sides, small bikes, dirt bikes .. all place higher. They have the benefit of a diverse product portfolio to remain profitable - not being tied to sport bike sales like many in our niche industry are.

However, it has been the lack of leadership and clear direction as a whole - being late to the game to adjust - in carving a more efficient direction into making our niche able to survive and be successful, in my opinion. Examples for years have included the watering down of the sport (too many "organizations"), the lack of brands unifying to consistent sale/pricing strategies ("MSRP, what's that? What's MY price??") to ensure profitability, along with simply the changing of the times - not as many people riding/buying/being able to afford motorcycles. The list goes on and on and while no one is out trying to "ruin" roadracing, no one has ever gotten everyone together and agreed - "Hell, how about we fix roadracing? Together?"

Without organization, there is chaos. With organization, there are clear measurables and objectives that can be lined up - not only to be sustainable as a business, but to grow the sport as a whole. MotoAmerica is the the biggest breathe of fresh air we've had since DMG and even before AMA Pro Racing (when anyone with a slice of passion could be successful in the industry). Times are tough. Budgets tight. It takes strong leadership and people who know about business - not just motorcycles, to make this work. The motorcycle industry isn't always a pretty one behind the scenes. Transparency and organization are good. It's easy to throw stones from behind a keyboard, but I don't feel *anyone* who has actually been involved in a pro-level event over the three regimes, can argue where we are now (economy not withstanding) is better than where we've been, from a professional/organizational standpoint.

While some may claim MotoAmerica is poaching club racers in their twin class - maybe they are right - but I prefer to look at it a different way. Someone needed to step up and do more than just "re-create or fix pro racing". Something bigger was needed. More organization, more of a grass roots effort, more of a path for riders to get involved and proceed to grow in the sport (however difficult or much of a long shot that may be). If I was MotoAmerica and looked at the landscape in the US and all the players involved, doing their own thing, not able to agree or unify - I might have just said, let's try and do this ourselves and see what we can accomplish.

My two cents.

 

33% increase in sales is easy when you only sold 100 units last year. If you know what I mean.

Suzuki has an impressive win percentage when you only look at the results of Suzuki Cup races from the past.

 

so like take off the center stand, tape the lights and replace the coolant with water wetter?? touring bikes two up (ok, so I did remove the luggage, sorry)...

so l

 

Not really but dollar wise yes, and the types of bike here are different than most other countries. Remember that almost every other country in Europe/Asia/South America/Mexico/Indonesia use small motorcycles or scooters as daily transportation. Under 200cc bikes are big in Mexico while 400cc bikes are popular in Brazil and Europe.

 

BMW, Ducati, Royal Enfield, Triumph, and Moto-Guzzi are all niche companies. For instance the USA is historically Ducati's number one market and they sold 7,843 units in 2018 but it was a drop in sales of 9% vs PY. And worldwide sales for 2018 were 53,000 units. So when you see large % growth with these guys it doesn't mean much. And the 7,800 Ducatis sold compared to the big picture of around 500,000 units it's not really that much

 

Damn Dave...do those come with barf bags?

 

I'd try running the Factory Radio class...

 

As the world gets more PC and everyone gets a trophy for something other then winning, racing is becoming less and less relevant. Combine that to the move for electric and hybrid cars and people aren't in love with fast internal combustion vehicles like they were back in the day, and racing electric is boring AF.

 

Don't forget actual maintenance.

 

Well I think people need to remember some real racing history
1) The OEM's ran roadracing in the USA for years and they made the rules and they ran people with outside sponsorship out of the sport, by not giving them access to equal equipment.
2) Race tire companies gave special tires to factory teams further gapping the haves and have nots.
3) When the OEM money dried up in the post 2008 apocolypse there was no outside sponsorship to support the sport, because OEM's ran it off. When they wanted to be the BIG MEN in charge of racing. So that sunk the ship
4) RE and crew did not help......

 

Critter OMG great post

 

Don’t forget the loss of tobacco money...

 

But the reason sportbike sales are in the shitter is it used to be that having a bad ass shiny whoolie machine would get you laid.

Now you need skinny jeans, a YouTube channel and a meticulously manicured beard to attract the guys...

 

It's amazing that a thread dealing with facts and logic on a topic gets little to no interest, while a different thread on the same topic, has a national hero trashed just because he has an opinion (and is not afraid to be candid about it).

At least he got people talking. And seriously thinking of the near-term future of the industry.

 

The tire companies are currently doing more damage to this industry than any other inter industry companies. The tire have ruined dealer door swings. One of the most common items to be replaced on a bike especially dirtbikes are tires. You can currently go online and have a tire delivered to your door for the same price many of the local dealers can buy those tires. The tires manufactures and distributors havetoo many "programs" that you need to meet to get good pricing on tires and even then there is little margin on them. The fact that you can get the most commonly changed items for a bike over the internet cheaper than the dealer means there is no reason for that consumer to go to the dealer, reducing door swings and the connection between the dealer and the customer. The customer also does not see new stuff....

 

Worse, the local shops do NOT want to sell me a rear tire for my Suzuki Savage. The one thing I'm not setup to do is balance wheels, so I'm more than happy to pay a reasonable price at a dealer plus some for mount and balance on a wheel I bring them but... to be told "I don't believe you'll pay for a good tire on that bike" when asking for a price is a new one on me. Bear in mind, this dealer carries Suzuki and sells Savages?!