The Economy and Motorcycling

This is going to be a rather short post but I had to write it. As the price of gas climbed over the past couple of years, we motorcyclists have had a slight escape from the pain. With motorcycles getting 40+ miles per gallon many fair weather riders had to give more thought to riding to work rather than leaving the bike sitting in the garage. We speculated that there would be a run on two wheelers as many people looked for that escape as well. For the most part, it looks like the spike in sales was realized in the scooter area. The scooter is usually cheaper than the low end motorcycles so the consumer went in that direction. As gas prices leveled off and even began to decline lately, motorcycle sales are still hurting as most people are trying to hang on to every dollar that they have. The fear of the unknown has a huge impact on the opening of the wallet. I was shocked earlier this year when Harley Davidson laid off workers in the assembly plant in York, PA. Since the buyback of the company from AMF HD has enjoyed record sales each quarter. To see them suddenly be forced to send people home and cut production shines a bright light on our sport right now. This post was inspired by a shocking news story that I read yesterday. On Friday, Honda announced that the Honda Hoot will not be held this year. The Hoot began fifteen years ago in Asheville, NC and moved to Knoxville, TN in more recent years. It is consistently in the top 5 motorcycle rallies every year. Honda felt that the economy would cut into attendance this year and I am sure that the company did not want to lay out the cash to put it on either. The poor economy has reared it's ugly head and is boring down full tilt on motorcyclists everywhere. What will be next? Daytona? Sturgis? Laconia? Myrtle Beach? We will soon find out as Daytona will be upon us in just over 2 months. We can only hope that the Hoot will make a grand return in '10. Steve