Motorcycles sales here and abroad

[DirtFlier]

In the US, motorcycles are bought for recreation but abroad they are bought for basic transportation. Not only are they easy to park almost anywhere, but they are also stingy on fuel. In some countries I've visited, the fuel prices were more than $6 per gallon and the locals were making a lot less money than here.

 

[basketcase]

That is generally true, but the commuters are all the same out there. I saw this guy yesterday - first clue that students are drifting back to town.

 

[Coyote Chris]

At the U of Illinois, motocycle lots were everywhere. If you lived on campus, car parking was rare.

 

[DirtFlier]

It was a rule for many years that freshmen were not allowed to have a car on campus.

 

[mikesim]

It was a rule for many years that freshmen were not allowed to have a car on campus.

That's the way it was when I went to college. If you were a resident student, no vehicle your freshman year. I was a local student so I had to get a parking pass waiver. I think it's a good idea to prohibit freshmen from having a vehicle. The first year of college can be tough and the fewer distractions you have the better. My oldest grandson began his first year at Penn State/Altoona last year with a major in Mechanical Engineering. He was allowed to have a car and one of his high school buddies was his dorm roomie. He was a straight A student in HS, even in his advanced placement classes. College quickly brought reality home to the lad. He discovered that partying and an active social life could be detrimental to his GPA.

Mike

 

[Coyote Chris]

It was a rule for many years that freshmen were not allowed to have a car on campus.

Correct. You could have a bike but not a car. Later, you could have a car but you had to park it at the statium parking lot.

 

[Coyote Chris]

That's the way it was when I went to college. If you were a resident student, no vehicle your freshman year. I was a local student so I had to get a parking pass waiver. I think it's a good idea to prohibit freshmen from having a vehicle. The first year of college can be tough and the fewer distractions you have the better. My oldest grandson began his first year at Penn State/Altoona last year with a major in Mechanical Engineering. He was allowed to have a car and one of his high school buddies was his dorm roomie. He was a straight A student in HS, even in his advanced placement classes. College quickly brought reality home to the lad. He discovered that partying and an active social life could be detrimental to his GPA.

Mike

True. I never went to a party till year six and THAT one wasn't fun. I was so boring I passed the backround check for the state patrol. Only one quarter did.

 

[ST1100Y]

In the US, motorcycles are bought for recreation but abroad they are bought for basic transportation.

Over here the latter applies primarily to Scooters... but only during summer...
Actual, hard core everyday commuting, like my GF does from February to November on her NT700VA, is a rarity...
Yes, some folks, especially office dwellers, use their motorcycle for occasional rides to the workplace, only if the weather is just about right...
(BTW is the suit & tie fella with loafers on a GS with the obligatory ammo cases tacked onto a hilarious sight... )

Actual motorcycles (squid/sport-bikes, cruisers, AVD alikes...) are obtained for "recreational activities", like a brief tour to a bike pub/joint about an hour outside town...
The serious touring market has been pretty much killed, last one offering full dressed rigs with proper panniers (and shaft drive) are BMW...
Everything else avail and offered as "touring motorcycles" are insectoid looking, naked UJM's with chain drive, no fairing and panniers hanging far outboard on weird structures...

More trendy for urban commute are those bloody rental e-scooters (as well as bicycles) invading all sidewalks...
Those feel entitled, standing above all and everything, the road traffic act and especially any common sense... quite a nuisance and road hazard...
Not a day going by I've to avoid having one ending up as hood-ornament...
(unless it's raining, then their all disappear, stuck in public transport or their car... saving the planet goes exactly that far... )

 

[DirtFlier]

When I lived in So Cal and commuted to work via motorcycle, most of the riders I'd see each morning disappeared by mid-Sept. I opined that at that point, they'd have to buy a riding jacket to continue and few if any wanted to make such an investment!

 

[ett]

When I lived in So Cal and commuted to work via motorcycle, most of the riders I'd see each morning disappeared by mid-Sept. I opined that at that point, they'd have to buy a riding jacket to continue and few if any wanted to make such an investment!

Got my first motorcycle YEARS before I got my first 4-wheeled vehicle.
ie. First motorcycle within months of getting my drivers license at 18 (or was it 17 ?) and did not get a car until mid twenties.
So for me motorcycles have always a form of transportation; not just a form of recreation.

Living in the Mid-Atlantic states; first NJ and now PA; I was a rare year round rider/commuter.
Every time I'd get a new job. And when first riding to this new job. I'd always have some coworker remark how he or she also rides motorcycles.
At which point, I'd look out the window and say "Where is it ?"
They would then make some excuse for not riding to work.
To which I'd reply "No, you OWN a motorcycle. You don't actually RIDE it."