Motorcycle riders age. Is it increasing?

[cabanza]

Wow! Look at us 61 to 70 year old folk on motorcycles, is this a reflection of just this site or motorcycling as a whole i wonder.
And if we broke it down to those who use bikes as daily transport and not just Sunday sport bike or day trip riders we are a true endangered species.

I think it is this site/ this type of site. I think a sport bike site will have Much younger riders.

I don't know about other folks on this site , but a bike is not my primary transportation. I use a bike a lot to "run get " small things. But my motorcycles are more "toys" than they are "tools"

Young people do not do forums. They are on Instagram or TikTok. Lots and lots of young bikers on TikTok. We're not meshing. It's a shame.

 

[matty]

Young people do not do forums. They are on Instagram or TikTok. Lots and lots of young bikers on TikTok. We're not meshing. It's a shame.

I dont get Insta or tick tok, Forums are for learning sharing information gathering, and are revisit able and even buildable adding to a subjects knowledge base in many cases often over months even years.
Insta and tick tock . I dont get it, is it image, trendy, cliquey, posing, posturing or boasting or a mixture of all these. I cant see a need a use it seems instantly shallow to me. Or have i got it massively wrong some where.

 

[south east okie]

Young people do not do forums. They are on Instagram or TikTok. Lots and lots of young bikers on TikTok. We're not meshing. It's a shame.

I think you hit the nail on the head !!! Well observed , well stated.

 

[south east okie]

I dont get Insta or tick tok, Forums are for learning sharing information gathering, and are revisit able and even buildable adding to a subjects knowledge base in many cases often over months even years.
Insta and tick tock . I dont get it, is it image, trendy, cliquey, posing, posturing or boasting or a mixture of all these. I cant see a need a use it seems instantly shallow to me. Or have i got it massively wrong some where.

The young riders are probably saying ,"Forums, we don't need that old shit, we have insta, tick tok and youtube".

I think some of us, me for sure , are set in our ways and resist change. The world is/always has been, Changing.

 

[Danno]

I dont think most young people know forums exist. There was time when the old minibike forum chased enthusiast out for pitbikes or modifying governors. Or mentioning governor removal.The place was the grumpiest forum. So I joined planetminis instead. Now the old minibikes sells parts and have instructional videos. Plenty of young mini riders know of OMB now.

A much better example is go powersports. Where the market was saturated by channels sponsored by go powersports. The channels appealed to young and old.

Basically the pullstart scene has grown nonstop with younger riders and older riders. Affordable quick access bikes, plenty of instrunctional videos and endless performance parts. The big 4 offered a 6 month wait on a preorder instead. Even harbor frieght has benefitted from flling the gaps left by the big 4 moves.

What young person is going to wait 6 months to a year for a motorcycle. A drop ship bike costs way less and the longest shipping time is 7 days. Most older adv riders wont acknowledge the clones as real bikes. Or go off on a political lecture. So the younger riders tend to not hang out on adventure bike sites.

 

[cabanza]

I dont get Insta or tick tok, Forums are for learning sharing information gathering, and are revisit able and even buildable adding to a subjects knowledge base in many cases often over months even years.
Insta and tick tock . I dont get it, is it image, trendy, cliquey, posing, posturing or boasting or a mixture of all these. I cant see a need a use it seems instantly shallow to me. Or have i got it massively wrong some where.

I think you hit the nail on the head !!! Well observed , well stated.

It is sharing information. In a different way. Forums predate Facebook. Facebook predates Instagram and Instagram predates TikTok. It's all the same thing in a different way. There's as much junk in forums as there is on TikTok (proportionally anyway). It's not just videos. You have comments too. There's lots and lots of info that's exchanged. It's not linear like a forum and the information moves a lot faster. How many posts does this forum average per day? How many motorcycle related posts (videos and pictures), views, and comments are there on Instagram or TikTok per day? This is tiny. Forums are a fraction of a fraction of what's online. I've said it in another thread, forums are dying. And that's okay. Think of it as VHS versus streaming.

 

[Shinyribs]

I'm 42. Started using forums in my late 20's. Social media wasn't really a thing yet. Forums in the early days would sometimes have chat boxes where you could talk instantly. The chances of catching someone online to ask a question was low, but you could leave a post in their thread and they'd get back with you. Good mix of immediate convenience and searchable history. Figure this was also the days of laptops in the garage were a convenience vs being tethered to the house computer.

Now we got smart phones with blazing fast internet speeds. Why would I sit behind a desktop and type on a keyboard when I can shout out a quick social media text and keep working on my bike? I haven't fired up an actual computer, or paid for internet service in YEARS. I have completely unlimited data on my $45/mo cellphone and the 4G service is wicked fast compared to the shitty satellite service available out here in the boonies.

Things change, but that's not bad. Forums need to be kept alive, but the ability to communicate immediately through other types of apps is also very helpful. I like them both.

I used to be very active on one bike building forum ( customfighters) but VS bought the place and sucked the wild west soul out of that place that made it amazing. I'm now part of a WhatsApp group where some the main players of that forum have assembled themselves and we talk freely amongst ourselves all day, every day. And it's easy. Pull out your phone, type for 5 seconds, back in your pocket. Snap a quick pic, "y'all know how to fix this?", answered and done immediately.

Guys from the US, Scotland, Latvia, Finland, Canada, Wales. It's awesome. We communicate on a deeper level than we ever did through a forum. I don't just see what's new on their build, I also see their new patio, how their new job is going, their kids first day of school.

The internet is a shit hole if you let it be, but it's also pretty damn awesome if you decide to use it correctly. Info is still being shared, just not stored. Just like when I was a teenager and sought out the gray hairs for info, that hasn't changed. You just gotta find the gray hairs online, and that's easier than you might think.

People that are passionate about hobbies don't let small things like the internet interfere with their goals.

 

[south east okie]

I agree , forums are dying. Just look at our age demographics here. IMO ,as we pass so will the forums.

I have lurked and been on the GS boxer forum on the "other" site for many yrs. Let someone ask about de-cating a gs or replacing the airbox with cones. They get dumped on so fast and hard they leave and don't come back. Most of the people looking for info to mod there bikes are younger.

I haven't seen that here, but if/when this site gets huge ????

BTW, I think it's your bike , mod it Any way that makes you happy.

 

[Danno]

Well here is my market research as of 11AM

Advbikes-10 members and 22 guest for the whole site

Chinariders- 74 viewing just the dualsport section

I wasnt going to add every section. Even at 2am the dualsport section might have 35 viewing dualsport threads

 

[south east okie]

https://www.iihs.org/api/datastoredocument/bibliography/2225#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20on%2Droad,(Tables%201a%20and%201b).

Says here there were 4.3 million bikes registered in the US in 2002, and 8.6 million in 2021

 

[Danno]

Maybe moto forums need to bring back the stickys on popular models. The gen3 klr thread on other site has at least 6 postings of the same info. I proposed a page 190 thread summarry page but only one member could maintain the summary as the op. That was a responsibility that no one wanted. The stickys get alot of traffic because of known issues. Other wise it is just a big campfire style discussion of owners, the curious and potential owners. So good info is hidden. Fine if you are familiar with the thread and use the search function. But never as easy as the sticky. Which generates the most traffic.

 

[klaviator]

Young people do not do forums. They are on Instagram or TikTok. Lots and lots of young bikers on TikTok. We're not meshing. It's a shame.

There are a few exceptions as I know a few young(er) riders on ADVr. What I don't get is how many older riders are on social media, mainly Bookface, vs forums. When I ask them about it most of them say they hate FB yet that is what they use. The local vintage club is on FB and they are a bunch of old guys. I think many people went to FB because it was too hard to post pics on the forums. That is no longer true as it is as easy to post a pic here or on ADVr as it is on any social media.

 

[klaviator]

Maybe moto forums need to bring back the stickys on popular models. The gen3 klr thread on other site has at least 6 postings of the same info. I proposed a page 190 thread summarry page but only one member could maintain the summary as the op. That was a responsibility that no one wanted. The stickys get alot of traffic because of known issues. Other wise it is just a big campfire style discussion of owners, the curious and potential owners. So good info is hidden. Fine if you are familiar with the thread and use the search function. But never as easy as the sticky. Which generates the most traffic.

It is interesting as people on forum have very different ideas about what makes for a good forum. I know a lot of people go to forums for info on specific bikes. I go mainly because of riding and social interaction. Most of the rides I go on are set up on a forum. Most of my riding friends are on ADVr. I met most of my riding friends on forums. One of those forums was Bamarides. This forum changed names to motorcycle Alabama and is now just about dead. Just about everyone on that forum migrated to FB or ADVr.

 

[klaviator]

I'm 42. Started using forums in my late 20's. Social media wasn't really a thing yet. Forums in the early days would sometimes have chat boxes where you could talk instantly. The chances of catching someone online to ask a question was low, but you could leave a post in their thread and they'd get back with you. Good mix of immediate convenience and searchable history. Figure this was also the days of laptops in the garage were a convenience vs being tethered to the house computer.

Now we got smart phones with blazing fast internet speeds. Why would I sit behind a desktop and type on a keyboard when I can shout out a quick social media text and keep working on my bike? I haven't fired up an actual computer, or paid for internet service in YEARS. I have completely unlimited data on my $45/mo cellphone and the 4G service is wicked fast compared to the shitty satellite service available out here in the boonies.

I think one of the reasons that forums are dying out is that like you many people are going phone only. I access forums both through my phone as well as a computer with a pretty large screen. The experience is 1000% better on the computer. First, a lot of information doesn't show up on a phone. The big thing however is that pics and vidoes just aren't the same on the tiny screen of a phone. I guess it depends on what you come to a forum for. I recently watched some of Ridefreak 's videos which have some great music in them. I put them on the big screen and put on my headphones and enjoyed.

I know I can show videos from my phone on my TV but I rarely do that.

 

[Danno]

It is interesting as people on forum have very different ideas about what makes for a good forum. I know a lot of people go to forums for info on specific bikes. I go mainly because of riding and social interaction. Most of the rides I go on are set up on a forum. Most of my riding friends are on ADVr. I met most of my riding friends on forums. One of those forums was Bamarides. This forum changed names to motorcycle Alabama and is now just about dead. Just about everyone on that forum migrated to FB or ADVr.

I have only ever met one rider from a forum. That was recently when I purchased the strom. Coincidentally that was set up on this site. I think if I lived in western NC I would try to meet up with yall on the dualsport rides. But unfortunately those great places are close to 400 miles away. I live out here in swamp land and the closest members are still far away. I am not on FB and probably miss out. I think forums are more info and entertainment related for me. I think I should consider the other side. I have been tempted to meet up for beat the heat.

 

[Ridefreak]

My nephew was all about the MSF course at 16 last year, attended Friday evening, Saturday, overslept on Sunday and didn't complete. He hasn't bothered to sign up again despite lots of encouragement.

When I was that age there's no way I would have missed that appt All the cool kids had their MC endorsements, one day I'll get mine...JK

 

[klaviator]

I have only ever met one rider from a forum. That was recently when I purchased the strom. Coincidentally that was set up on this site. I think if I lived in western NC I would try to meet up with yall on the dualsport rides. But unfortunately those great places are close to 400 miles away. I live out here in swamp land and the closest members are still far away. I am not on FB and probably miss out. I think forums are more info and entertainment related for me. I think I should consider the other side. I have been tempted to meet up for beat the heat.

I estimate that I have met at least a thousand forum members, mostly ADVr and Bamarides. Maybe half of those were chance one time meeting. Many times I'll see an ADV sticker on a bike and go ask if they are on ADV. We'll talk a couple of minutes and then that is the end of it. But I have also ridden with hundreds of forums members. I think it is really cool to "talk" to someone on a forum for years and then finally meet them in person.

You should come up to the Beat the Heat rally. You won't regret it. The riding is awesome and so are the people.

As for FB. I'm not a big FB fan as there is so much crap on it and the format sucks but I am still glad I am on it as there is a lot of info posted there. I have also "recruited" a number of riders to the forums I am on from FB. I'll post a couple of pics from my rides and then link to my Ride report. Occasionally I'll post a ride on FB but my experience is that I generally get much better riders from the forums than from FB.

 

[Danno]

I estimate that I have met at least a thousand forum members, mostly ADVr and Bamarides. Maybe half of those were chance one time meeting. Many times I'll see an ADV sticker on a bike and go ask if they are on ADV. We'll talk a couple of minutes and then that is the end of it. But I have also ridden with hundreds of forums members. I think it is really cool to "talk" to someone on a forum for years and then finally meet them in person.

You should come up to the Beat the Heat rally. You won't regret it. The riding is awesome and so are the people.

As for FB. I'm not a big FB fan as there is so much crap on it and the format sucks but I am still glad I am on it as there is a lot of info posted there. I have also "recruited" a number of riders to the forums I am on from FB. I'll post a couple of pics from my rides and then link to my Ride report. Occasionally I'll post a ride on FB but my experience is that I generally get much better riders from the forums than from FB.

Yup I will definitely consider beat the heat. Long ride on a small bike but I do have a truck. Smallest bike plated is the tw. Klr or strom and no truck. I will post on the ride thread.

Funny I actually have met another member years ago. A klr owner at a waffle house. But I was lurking then and not a member.

 

[klaviator]

I think one thing that would help members here meet each other is to have ADVbikes stickers to put on our bikes. I have zero artistic talent so I won't design a sticker but I would buy some if they were available.

 

[Amos Malone]

I think one of the reasons that forums are dying out is that like you many people are going phone only. I access forums both through my phone as well as a computer with a pretty large screen. The experience is 1000% better on the computer. First, a lot of information doesn't show up on a phone. The big thing however is that pics and vidoes just aren't the same on the tiny screen of a phone. I guess it depends on what you come to a forum for. I recently watched some of Ridefreak 's videos which have some great music in them. I put them on the big screen and put on my headphones and enjoyed.

I know I can show videos from my phone on my TV but I rarely do that.

Interesting point. Going out on a limb I'll guess that's where large part of the generation gap in various networking places comes from. Kid's never put down the phone. My 16 year old niece averages 12 hours a day on the phone, including school days. I average less than an hour a day, never check this forum on a phone and only once or twice a day on my computer.