SuzukiSavage.com - Why motorcycle sales are falling

HAPPYDAN

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Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling
Reply #30 - 03/10/18 at 08:39:28

Someone made the point that small, cheap scooters seem to be catching on. I'll have to second that. Here in Gig Harbor, 50cc (no endorsement required) Chinese scooters are really catching on. Especially with the rapid housing build-up and influx of thousands of new residents in the last 2 years, our tiny country roads are jam packed with traffic now. And forget a parking space on a clear weekend - they don't exist. It also helps that our weather patterns have changed in recent years to allow dry conditions May through September. We still get the chuggers, but they're just a few older guys or tourists. When I ride my Honda CT110, I get a lot of looks and compliments from youngers, mostly ladies

. One even tried to steal it from a Target parking lot Angry

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batman

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Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling
Reply #31 - 03/10/18 at 20:38:06

It's surprising to me that there are a few aftermarket kits for the 50cc scooters ,that are only a couple of hundred bucks ,to change them from 50 to 80 / 100 cc . and I've seen larger carb kits too. Makes me wonder if with a little head work , intake and exhaust tuning if they couldn't do a lot better than their rated 25mph.(fun city ride?)

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my old work mates called me MacGyver

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badwolf Serious Thumper Offline Ridin' my Lil' Bagger - 153k miles so far Posts: 805 Palm Beach County, FL Gender:	Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling Reply #32 - 03/10/18 at 21:06:20 We have a expert at hopping-up m/c engines here on the forum, maybe he could stroke one from 50cc to,,, say 450cc and add N2O!
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling Reply #33 - 03/11/18 at 09:03:54 That's Mean! And Funny at the same time.
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batman Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 3806 osceola new york Gender:	Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling Reply #34 - 03/11/18 at 09:45:55 What! No turbo?
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zipidachimp Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 1429 surrey, b.c. Gender:	Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling Reply #35 - 03/11/18 at 13:56:00 regarding millenials, when I was a kid, nobody cared where the kids were as long as they were home for supper! Rode all over town with the milkman and his horse, breadman and his horse and finally on my bike all over town. Big deal! Now it's a non-stop line-up of cars dropping off kids at school. Progress? Ha!
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling Reply #36 - 03/12/18 at 11:34:17 Fear has destroyed the adventure of childhood.
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Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18137 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling Reply #37 - 03/12/18 at 14:40:14 Here is the bike they wanted me to buy....although this is a stock photo and not the actual bike. It was pretty nice if this is what you want. http://www.eastgateharley.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=51...
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling Reply #38 - 03/12/18 at 15:18:59 If I wasn't a solid state/transistorized body type, I would have had something like that.
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MMRanch

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Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling
Reply #39 - 03/12/18 at 18:56:42

BatMan

It's surprising to me that there are a few aftermarket kits for the 50cc scooters ,that are only a couple of hundred bucks ,to change them from 50 to 80 / 100 cc . and I've seen larger carb kits too. Makes me wonder if with a little head work , intake and exhaust tuning if they couldn't do a lot better than their rated 25mph.(fun city ride?)

I had a 65cc Honda with that same motor. I just "Had" to see how it worked but left-out one of the wrist-pin-keepers on reassembly . By time I discovered my error there was a grove wore in the cylinder wall .050-.060" deep. So off to the machine shop I went with a third oversize piston + rings. It was faster than my buddy's 90cc sport model after that . ............. All was well , till the third gear in the transmission broke !
Too much upper end and not enough bottom end ! Grin

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Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18137 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling Reply #40 - 03/13/18 at 04:13:14 MM.....I can see where you are going with this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tww0GVPTsSQ
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Gary_in_NJ

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Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling
Reply #41 - 03/13/18 at 05:55:50

The sad truth is we are the last of the freedom generation. When we were children and young adults we were free. Free to go out and play. Free to make mistakes. Free to be daring. Free to be unique. Free to face the consequences. Somewhere in the late 1990's or early 2000's freedom gave way to fear. What we are seeing now are the first young adults of the fear generation.

Freedom generation: Motorcycles? F yeah!
Fear Generation: Motorcycles? Ah...no thanks.

The fear generation will be safe in their living rooms playing video games and texting/snapchating/instagraming/tweeting - heaven forbid actual human contact and interaction. The fear generation have a lot of strange ideas about, well, just about everything. And they really don't give a crap about our knowledge or experience.

I fear the fear generation.

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Dave

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Re: Why motorcycle sales are falling
Reply #42 - 03/13/18 at 07:06:58

Gary:

I agree with your assessment for a large part of the population - they are hiding indoors and not at all adventurous. However - there is also a portion of the population that is "extreme", and they feel that the stuff that is done at the "X Games" is within their ability. Wheelies on the interstate at 80 mph, high speed lane splitting, and traveling down a public highway at 120 mph are all deemed to be acceptable behavior to them. They have no problem putting themselves and all everyone else on the highway at risk. How has it become possible for a large group of sport bike riders to take over a highway so they can do stunts?

Ooopps....I got a bit off the topic. YouTube has thousands of videos of folks doing things on mountain bikes, surfboards, skis, snow boards, etc. that are far above and beyond anything we would have done in our youth. It seems that there are young folks on the both ends of the "active" spectrum.

And....there are still folks in the rural/farming communities doing what kids have always been doing - you just don't see them on YouTube or the evening news.

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Someday I will be old......But not today!

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