The reason bikes are harder for a 20 year old to afford today isn't the price of bikes, it's because they aren't making the 81k per year. Wages just haven't kept up with costs.
Healthcare and housing take up much more percentage of one's income than they did in the 60s. In addition, the younger generation does not look at motorcycles as basic transportation, like you did when you were a young man. Today they're just considered an RV.
Correct. I doubt that a 20 year old today could make $24 an hour installing swimming pools. If a hamburger flipper can make $15 an hour today, I don't think that it is unreasonable for a skilled swimming pool installer to make $24
@@GregDavis-r4fI was a very specialised craftsman in a dangerous+demanding industry quit after 13 years when the difference to flipping burgers/stocking shelves was uncomfortably small.
Boomer here. You made valid points. Some were glossed over. Of course the problem isn’t the price of bikes. Income, and jobs like you had that even LET a kid work overtime are becoming rare. So many companies are loathe to hire “full time” let alone overtime like when we were kids. But I think there two other reasons, one economic, one cultural that you missed. The cost of education is insane. Michigan, a state school is 9800 a semester. Not counting room, board fees. That’s what I paid for four years. A big dent in the balance sheet of a young person. But like you said, you want a bike, you will find a way. The cultural reason is; I believe young people are just more risk aware, and risk averse. They grew up with airbags, shooter drills and photos on milk cartons. A constant drum beat implying that the world is out to get you. They have a constant media saturation of “news” and other information that should scare the crap out of any sane person. All of that makes motorcycles unattractive to many young people. A third bonus factor: motorcycles were sexy back then (not your KZ, sorry). Marketing was sexy, media made them seem sexy. Manufacturers really need to realize that sex sells. Not strippers draped over bikes, but young, attractive people enjoying bikes and each other in pretty places. Too long, sorry. Solid video, thank you.
I bought a 1971 Kawasaki H1 new and while I can't remember the price exactly but I believe it was just over $1000.00. At the time I was making $2.50 an hour and cleared $79.07 a week. Fortunately I lived home and I had saved some money so I put a lot down and paid it off in 12 months, just in time to trade it in on a 1972 H2.
Great conversation. The younger people get a bad rap these day. Having kids in my early 20's I can say they think different. They value experiences, appreciate time off, and hanging out with friends. Me on the other hand thought work work work was the key. I'm a GEN X'er that has to be told every year I need to take my PTO or loose it. Only so much juice in our lemons. I'm glad they are enjoying it.
Millennial rider here. Buying used is harder when you don't grow up with the kind of mechanical DIY culture that older generations had. If you're mechanically inclined you can find great deals on private sale bikes that are structurally sound but just need a little work. Taking shop classes out of schools was a disservice to future generations.
BS! I am a boomer and I learned by doing. If you can see nasty in a carburetor, get rid of old gas and replace it with new and change spark plugs, you can fix 99% of the not running motorcycles you'll see for sale. It is what I do over and over again. Now there is YT and you can see people fixing the very model you are working on. For the real basics watch Mustie1, he'll teach you more how to get a old bike running in 30 minutes than you would have learned in wood shop or metal shop. He will show you that if you suspect a carburetor problem, you can do what the carburetor or fuel injector does with a squirt bottle with gas in it. Yeah, I know, OK boomer and you'll just continue saying you can't.
Utube is your friend. A common set of decent tools is cheap. I'm always willing to help others that are trying to help themselves. I still use a manual, my old saying, if you ain't never broke nuttin, you ain't never fixed it.
@@jerrym3261 While what you say about youtube and learning the basics is true, I think you are overlooking the man's point. He's saying that current generations are discouraged to to even try to learn. We are told that it's not possible, that we will break it and that the electronics makes things not home tunable. Shop class is gone and we have no familiarity with anything enough to even try to start. Our dad's aren't allowed to teach us this stuff, if they are even around. I didn't learn how to spin a wrench until I was in my 30s when I got married and my brother in law taught me the basics. Now I'm a mechanic, but growing up people not only didn't avoid teaching me how mechanical things work, but I was discouraged to learn as that's for professionals and specialists and not for regular people.
@@NotAffiliated Maybe they can't watch or believe anything Mustie1 does because he's a boomer but, the Jennies Garage man is younger. The young people seem to find a way to cut mufflers off and get rid of airboxes when they do get a bike. I grant you that's stupid but, it probably takes more effort than actually fixing a bike that ran when parked. I don't know what you learned in shop class but, I didn't learn anything in 2 years of metal shop that helped me fix motorcycles. Yeah, I agree can't never could but, I still believe if you want it bad enough you'll work for it. I see the stock market is falling like a rock again today. I suspect we've reached the part of the cycle where "weak men create hard times". Whether "hard times make strong men" this time is up for grabs.
I'm 60. I grew up on a lake-front property with dirt roads in the early 70s. We woke up to the smell of two-strokes in the summer (bikes, dunebuggies, boats). Recently I visited my old homestead, and although there are a few changes, the neighborhood looked pretty much the same. Exception: no one was out riding or boating. No one. Where is everyone? Playing on their phones and video games. I feel sorry for this generation.
I appreciate the fact that you are always sincere, always coming from the heart and always true to the wisdom you've acquired over the years. This is good stuff, regardless of whether I agree with every dot and tittle.
As a retired dealer for both motorcycles and cars (not at the same time), I can tell you for a fact that NOBODY should buy a new motorcycle. The values drop like a rock as soon as you drive off the dealer's premises. My first bike was a pre-WWII Indian Scout with the optional full valanced fenders, in Indian Red. DAMN, it was pretty; it was also in pristine shape with just over 4000 miles...and it cost $250 in 1951! I kept it for several years, until I could afford a BSA Gold Star DBD34 that was 2 years old and cost me the frightening sum of $600. I thought that was fair, since a new one was over $1000. This was 1958, and you could buy a tidy 3br suburban house for about $12,000. Me, I'd rather have had 20 Gold Stars!! Keep yer feet on the pegs and the sun at your back...
My Dad rode motorcycles, I ride motorcycles and my son rides motorcycles. If you didn't grow up around motorcycles, the younger generation has way more options of things to do other than motorcycling. Motorcycling has more competition than it did in the 50's through the 80's and even into the 90's.
The problem has nothing to do with the price of motorcycles. Young folks today seem to have no problem buying a $1,000 cell phone every 12-18 months. The issue is that young people today just don’t care about motorcycles. They prefer to be entertained passively sitting behind a computer display or TV, rather than actively. THAT is the fundamental problem. The issue is priorities, not cost.
Craig, the comments are fantastic! Smiling the entire video. My 'first' was a new, CB350 I purchased in 1973 for $1200. Yep, paid cash. I was working at a gas station making $2.00/hour. Opened the station before I went to school (split session) and worked 60 hours a week during the summer months. Ohhhhh the memories! Ned in SC
GenXer here... I think the biggest difference today is that the younger generations have grown up in an environment of instant-gratification and can't conceive the idea of saving for things that they want, or forgoing them completely if they're out of their means. They're also heavily influenced by what they see online and feel that they're always behind their peers even though what they're seeing is curated content and far from the reality of everyday life. Having said all that though, wages have fallen FAR behind the cost of living and real estate is on another planet when it comes to affordability, so I'm not blind to some of their struggles.
I'm also GenX. Housing and healthcare are so much more expensive and take up several times higher percentage of a person's income than when I was young. For instance, back in the 1990's I was making 40K and my mortgage was $500. Since the average rent is now around 1600, the current generation needs to be making around 120K. The current generation just happened to get into a Monopoly game about 2/3 of the way in.
Older gen Z here. I think your first point about instant gratification is true, but not for why you think that's the case. There's this thing in economics called the lipstick effect when lipstick sales go up when time gets hard, because while it's a luxury, it's considered an affordable splurge. Due to low wages, and rising living and educational costs, we feel we may never be able to have the long term signifiers of financial stability, therefore, we're stuck in a perpetual mindset of the lipstick effect.
Being the same age as you, I couldn't agree with everything you said. I also like your taste in music. My first motocross bike was a RM250 and it cost $1695. Man, I wish I still had it. Thanks for the video.
73 y/o here. Been ridin motorbikes since 1967. In my pre-teens , in order to have a peddle bike, I had to acquire junk bikes and make my own bycycle. That small work ethic allowed me to work up to wrecked and blown up motorcycles to make a runner. I couldn't afford a new Harley until I was 42 y/o, when I got a part time job escorting funeral processions! ! Starting out and to this day, I never had a good newer car. I just bought junkers, I quit smoking, drinking when I was 33. This freed up money to invest in cycles! Sickles became a priority over new cars, dope, smoking and drinking.
I started on an old Honda CB350/4. It cost me $350 bucks. I learned to wrench on it as I went. I spent many years not being able to afford anything but old UJM's but I always had a bike. I don't know why people think everything has to be purchased new. Now I'm riding a 19 year old Sportster and driving a Van from the 90's. Both cost less than 3 grand and both work just fine.
I'm a Boomer, too, and I don't get it either. My first bike was a used POS that I worked on as much as I rode it (that turned out to be a godsend later in life), and my car - the one I wooed my wife in - was a trashed Ford Pinto, the model that exploded when it was hit in the rear. And when she and started our first apartment, our first TV was a13" Black/White with rabbit ears, sitting on a broken end table. And we were happy. We went through some sh*t" too.
I'm a boomer. Looking at all the bikes I've owned, there is only one I bought new, a 1973 Honda CR250. Of the rest, easily 80% didn't run when I got them. Of that 80% nine out of 10 of those only needed, gas replaced in the tank, carb clean, new plugs and a battery to run. I've never bought myself a new car or truck. The best car I ever had was a Datsun station wagon I bought out of a junk yard for $100. Somebody parked it when a rear wheel bearing went bad, let it sit until they finally sold it for junk. I replaced the wheel bearing and the rear brake shoes, drove it tens of thousands of miles on what was a simple fix.
Gen Z here. The problem is not the cost of bikes used or new. The problem is the cost of everything else. There's lots of people paying over half their income on rent alone. Take into account groceries, student loans, a car not for a beater that costs more than a new bike, and you have a recipe for living paycheck to paycheck. Additionally culture doesn't consider bikes as daily commuter vehicles and many car drivers refuse to share the road with bikers.
Never bought a car or bike on a loan. That's a very poor choice. Mortgage paid off 20 years early and basically now able to buy a new bike every 2 months or so. Choices you make early, will affect your path in life.
Good stuff - we all need some perspective nowadays. Been wanting to do a video on buying used bikes vs new, for the budget-minded folks out there that are looking for alternatives.
Another Boomer here, adding my 2c. I graduated HS in '73, got married in '74 and was supporting a wife and 2 kids by the time I bought my first MC in '81. I was drooling over a Kawi LTD 440, but opted for a used Honda 125 Twinstar. It was 2007 before I finally bought my first new bike. I had too many other responsibilities to spend money on a toy. Sometimes these things take longer than we'd like. I'm now staring down 70 and expecting another few years of riding. Had I gotten the Kawi back in '80, I probably wouldn't be here today. The little Honda taught me how to ride with humility and caution. It's been a great ride! Stay safe!
Motorcycles can be not terribly expensive now if you buy used in the fall; I just picked up a '21 crf300L with 3,355 miles on it for $3,600 USD. Buying new costs so much.
The last motorcycle I bought was about 6 months ago, a 2000 Honda Rebel 250, less than 13000 miles, for $300. Of course it wasn't running. The guy I bought it from had never heard it run and he said the guy he bought it from hadn't heard it run either. I don't know where the title got lost but, I had the original Honda key and an online VIN check didn't show it as stolen. Steps I took: pushed it in third gear to see it wasn't seized, hooked it to a battery, took the spark plugs out and squirted gas in the cylinders, it fired, unscrewed the drain plug on the carb, screwed it back in, hooked up a lawn mower gas tank, it started. None of that is complicated and in about 2 easy hours I had a running bike. I bought it for the engine and whether I could get a title or not is a moot point but, sometimes, with persistence, I have gotten titles, sometimes not. I know why people that can't try let motorcycles sit. I know why bike shops won't work on old bikes. I don't know why there are people that want a bike but, don't buy old bikes that just need a little TLC.
@@muddywater6856 I buy old used not running. I was riding through a park on one I had paid $450 for and ran across a guy on a days old Ducati that had parked it and it wouldn't do anything when he tried to restart it. I can fix old bikes forever but, the hopelessness I felt when I looked at that bike was real. The only thing that would fix that bike would be a Ducati diagnostic technician with a Ducati analyzer computer. I did hear it turned out to be a faulty sensor that was telling the computer on the bike not to allow it to start. If I remember right it was at the dealer for over 2 weeks, they had to order the part. Fixed under warranty but, getting it to the dealer could have been pricey.
@@muddywater6856 Oooo, you got me! I bought a 1978 CX500 for $300 that had 5,000 miles on it. It was easy to get running but, the original Bridgestone Mag Mopus tires still had tread so I ran em. The front brake drug so I drilled out the relief hole with the smallest drill bit I had, maybe 1/8 inch. I have ridden dozens of miles on flat tires. I ain't skeerd.
62 & buying my 4th new motorcycle in 10 yrs. Still have them all. First one was in 1981(5 new total) I have used ones too. Live as many dreams as possible before it's too late.
I can't recall the last time I saw a tv commercial for motorcycles. Maybe I'm getting senile. Do younger people even want to ride a motorcycle or would they all rather have ebikes? Maybe the ebikes will get them thinking about something more powerful.
It’s housing and healthcare costs that are holding younger people down. I see it with my nieces and nephews. Many jobs that used to be solid middle-class jobs are now lower working class. The top 10% is sucking the wealth all to themselves.
So, what do you suppose the top 10% are doing with it? Hiding it under their mattress? Heck no. They are either spending it or investing it back into the economy. They’re certainly not hoarding it.
I agree with this statement. Even in The Netherlands with it's extended social system, two groups of people are growing in size. The rich and very rich on one hand, the other the poor, who are barely able to exist, even when working fulltime. The hard working middle class with a reasonable income is under pressure. The cost of housing has risen skyhigh and there is a shortage for houses for people who want to buy their first house and houses with low and affordable rents are almost not there.Society has become grim since the rise of neo liberal economics from the 90's.And this while our country on the whole is richer than ever!
I think you make some valid points here, but don't worry so much about the future of motorcycling. It's never been wildly popular here in America. There's been times of lots of bikers and less bikers, but kids are still getting into em all the time
gen x here . born in the early 70s your 💯 correct! just a fyi couldn't afford health care from 17 to 25 .when I was sick I went to urgent care at 55$ plus whatever the cost of prescription.
In short, the motorcycle industry followed the auto industry during COVID-19 and afterward to the moon in pricing, making it darn near impossible for a lot of people to afford bikes and cars. Something needs to change, and soon, if this economy is to continue to work for "We The People."
There are some deals out there right now. Bert’s Black Pearl Indian (formerly Stu’s) in Fort Myers is offering a free triumph 400 model with the purchase of select Indian models. Great deal for a family to get a two bike combo.
I bought a mint Kawasaki GPz 1100 a few years ago. It was my dream bike as a young broke adult. Well, let's just say the term, "Never meet your heros" rang so true with this bike. Going from a BMW K1300s to the GPz was shocking, to say the least. When it comes to motorcycles, there is no going back unless you are a pure enthusiast.
love this!! how true . to be fair these are just different times ,i grew up more rural and dirt bikes were the norm , and that was my start [50 years of riding] but there is more competition for their dollar, phones and media [gaming] as you said. priorities change .
Xer here. Interesting comparison from 1980 costs to today. Educational costs were creeping up very quickly in the 90’s, when I was paying my way through state schools in MA and CA. States were in the process of defunding and privatizing public higher education. I consider myself very lucky to have graduated with minimal debt and a marketable skill set. It’s much harder now. Anyway. I see the biggest unsustainable costs are to housing, education, and healthcare.
Another retired boomer here that has been riding starting on minibikes from about 9 years old. I think that one difference is that most kids are not riding dirt bikes like when I was young. Part of the problem is loss of riding areas to development over the decades, much more to occupy kids such as electronics and social media today and yes cost is a factor. Dirt bikes are pretty expensive these days and even bikes like the Honda Monkey (old mini trail) are close to $5000 out the dealers door new by the time you add taxes and dealer freight and prep fees. Another thing is the amount of traffic on the roads and instances of distracted drivers make motorcycling more dangerous in my opinion today. The USA population was only 203 million in 1970 and in 2024 has grown to 345 million putting a lot more traffic on the roads. Add in that added traffic and the price of a new bike and full coverage insurance for younger riders on bikes and the attraction and affordability is just not there anymore for most. Also when I was young I would guess that the average size bike on the roads was around 350cc, A big bike was generally a 650-750cc and there were a lot of smaller 175cc -250cc bike both road models and dual sports on the roads as well. If you look around the world to countries where bikes are a much bigger part of mainstream transportation again even today bikes 300cc and smaller are the main models you see in abundance. If gasoline in this country ever hit an average price of $7-8+ dollars a gallon at the pump then you may see a higher interest from the general public for smaller cc bikes as transportation that could get 100+ miles per gallon of gasoline. Lacking such an event I really do not see in the near future motorcycles making a huge comeback in numbers on the roads.
Hey man, I never heard the end of how hard my parent's Great Depression/WWII generation life was while I was coming into adulthood. I hated that shit (I'll own up to motorcycle as defiance :-) and it took a while for me to understand it better. Through all my inner-complaining, I learned that I was listening (and learning) more than I ever knew
I bought a 2014 Honda CTX700N in August 2015 for about $5,000. I did the math as you have done, and I discovered after adjusting for the value of a dollar, my Honda cost the equivalent of a 1962 moped! OMG!
Its all about priorities. How bad do you want it. When i was 12(1992) i bought my "first bike" a 86 Honda Helix for 800 bucks. By the time i was 16 i wanted a "real bike" so i bought a 85 v65 magna for 1500. I had a goal so i found a way to make it happen. By the time I was in college (19) i figured out how to by a "nice" bike so i went to a dealership and got 1994 Suzuki Katana 750. I had a 120 payment for 4 years. I really wanted the 1100 but i couldn't really justify it because it was out of my budget(even though the dealership said i could get financed fot it.)I was making 6 bucks an hour so i got a second part time job while in school. It was my primary form of transportation. All i needed was a milk crate aquired from 7/11 and i was set. Like you said kids are preoccupied with other things and have different priorities. That being said my daughter(20) is in college and she bought a sv650 and is figuring it out. Its all about what is a priority for you. If you really want to make something to happen you will figure it out.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, I was caught up in the “boom” times in Alberta. I had a 1977 Ford “shaggin wagon” van that I usually camped out in on the weekends while skydiving. During the week I rode my Honda Gold Wing 1000 to my $12 hr construction job! Life was good. The only worries I had was keeping a girlfriend!!!
I'm in my mid 70's and have always bought used bikes. Latest is a 2006 Tiger. Plenty of used bikes available if you can fix them. I saw a list of the top selling motorcycles in the US mostly mid sized and under $10,000. People buy what they can afford.
I’m 66, and I’ve had motorcycles since I began riding at 16. The majority were second and third hand. I am fortunate in that I have two late model motorcycles in my garage that were bought with cash. My two sons rode up until their children were born. They prefer hunting and fishing to motorcycles, which is ok by me. If someone really wants to ride, there are plenty of great new and used bikes in the $5000-10,000 range. In my area of North Carolina I’ve been noticing quite a few younger riders. They may not be buying Harleys and Indians, but they are riding-and that’s all that matters.
This is a rolling conversation that has been on going for many years here in the UK also, but we do seem to have a good number of new riders coming on board, albeit a little later in life at around 30 years old despite our government trying to make it increasingly difficult and expensive to get a licence. It is the case that the numbers are a little lower and or they are somewhat older when they do. I feel that this is partly due to the way society has changed over the last 20 or so years. Here in the UK you can't drive a car, once you have passed your driving test, until you are 17, but at 16 years old you can have a 50cc bike/scooter and with minimal training gain your freedom. Uptake for this back in the 70's, 80's and 90's was almost 100% amoung young lads and many picked up a love for two wheels before moving into cars a year later, but that love for two wheels stayed with them. Fast forward to today and many of the youngsters don't even seem interested in even getting their car driving licence, preferring instead to be ferried about by parents or public transport.
Am I unusual in that I buy all my bikes with cash? How many folks finance there motorbikes vs. outright buying in cash? I have 3 bikes right now, a 2015 NC700X, a 2019 RE Himalayan, and a 2022 BMW G310GS (🤔 I keep going smaller), while thinking about getting a KLX230 at some point.
Not unusual at all. I've had many bikes since 1972, and every one of them was used, and all were paid in cash. My current one, a BMW R1200RT, I purchased at half the new price of $28K because it was 5 years old and still fairly low (for a BMW) mileage. My Mother the accountant taught me well; Always buy toys with cash.
I keep going smaller too. Paat 70, and still have the Ducati in the garage, but most of the time ride my RE 350 Classic.....It's a pig on power, but I enjoy it.
I love this video! I've never been the kind of person who lets anything, like price, stop me from achieving what my heart desires. Motorcycles are no different. Even with high interest rates, I know what I can afford to pay monthly, so the final payment doesn't concern me. I'll just pay it off as soon as possible to offset the high interest. Fortunately, I learned this at a young age (With bad credit) lol.
My first paycheque for a 40 hour week was $8 ! I saw my first big name concert 1975 when I saw Santana and Earth Wind and Fire for $10 ! My first car loan in Canada in 1981 was at 21% ! I bought a brand new Honda Nighthawk 750 in 1984 for $3500. The new house I bought in 94 is now worth 5 times what I paid for it. In the last 5 years of my working life my wages went down 20%. I have never had a loan to buy a motorcycle. If I could not afford it I didn't buy it. Life is full of ups and downs.
Got that right on concert prices. The Clash of the Titans tour: Alice in Chains opening for Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth in 1991 cost an even $20. That's the price of 1/3 of a concert T-shirt now.
@@ridervfr2798 Still got the ticket stub and concert T. Saw Iron Maiden a couple years ago. Everything was digital and online. Ticket stubs are a thing of the past.
Craig, you hit the nail the head with this awesome video! I’m a 40 year old blue collar worker, who’s lives comfortably with my current income,however I am unhappy with my career. So I’ve been working on a second career, that change as been consuming all my savings. I am at a point o contemplating selling my beloved 2023 Yamaha FJR to help me transition into my new career. It’s going to be painful and probably necessary for my own future. One day I will buy another FJR. Thanks Graig! Keep up the great work!
Thats a painful choice, the FJR is a great bike. The money you get for it will quickly disappear. Plus if you're anything like me you get attached to bikes (I have 5 now) thru the adventures with them. Getting rid of one would be hard, so I feel for you. And it is probably worth more than you may sell it for, they don't make new ones anymore, so to replace it will be a step into the unknown. But you are only 40, do the right thing for your future, you have plenty of time to work it out-
@@timbaubense i might be interested in your FJR? I know it is a great bike, and I have been thinking hard about one. Frankly, I have been waiting to see if they would come out with a big TFT display on it though. I admit having become spoiled with the great display on my 2023 Vstrom 1050.. Was disappointed Yamaha didn’t in 2024, and now, there is nothing on their website about a 2025 model. Is Yamaha ending the great FJR? Or is it just delayed while working on a new updated display for it? If has been discontinued, I am gonna want to find a 2023 like yours….
Back in 1970 when I turned 18 and got my fist motorbike (I'm from Europe) we had very little money. We bought cheap bikes and did our own maintenance. 50 years on I still do the same. Just got myself a 1997 Suzuki Bandit 600 for 750 Euros. It will probably cost me another 500 Euros or so to get it running properly. Makes around 1300 Euros in total. Not a lot of money. And I will have bike that is perfectly usable and looks like new. My VFR is a testimony of this practice...
You're right, we old guys never lived in shit apartments because that is all we could afford. We never ate Cheerios for dinner because we couldn't afford steak. We never picked up and moved across country to make a better life, or started over at the bottom at 40 years old, or had to save for a down payment, or go without vacations. We are just old POSs that had it easy.
My Grandparents and all from their Generation told me about the Great Depression .. Many of them lost their Farms to the Bankers. The Great Depression was planned just like the housing market crash of 2008 was too .
Dayum, you have a hell of a memory. I bought my first bike after leaving home in Tx too. It was a '83 Honduh XL350, but I don't remember the price or what I was making then. I remember that it vibrated so much on road and the the kick start beat my calf to death so I traded it for an '84 Nighthawk 700 with electric start the next year. Seems to me that was about $3300 which seemed like a helluva a deal vs the bike I drooled over then, a HD XR1000 in the $5k range. Nighthawk was a way better bike, but before Covid I remember looking at some of those well kept '84 XR1000s selling for $15k on the Ebay! The beauty of living in southern Texas at the time was there was no need to own a cage. Last time I was there the roads were WAY more crowded. Probably not as practical anymore unless one likes to sit in traffic jams in 100F days atop a bike with a catalytic converter baking them.
Totally agree with you ! If you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way as for me as a young southern country boy who was working in landscaping in 1972 at my first job making $1.90 an hour minimum wage I lusted over a 1972 Yamaha XS2 650 I saved up and found a used one for $900 I can’t begin to tell you how exhilarating it was to own have that motorcycle paid for back then !
I’m done similar math looking at the price of motorcycles and cars versus what was out there 30 years ago. Amazing how the prices, adjusted for inflation, remain fairly close but the products offer so much more today. As an older millennial I feel very lucky to be buying today’s products.
I mean it is expensive for young people (heck I find it expensive too and I am not young), particularly if they are not reckless and don't ride without gear. Insurance rates will be very high, decent riding equipment gets quite pricey very quickly (and you may need wet weather/hot weather/cold weather gear), and good quality helmets are expensive. Sure you can get a motorcycle cheap, but you can get an older car that doesn't need all the gear and at lower insurance for not much more.
howdy ! In 1975 I purchased my first big road bike....CB750 four, for $1999.00, at that time I was military and my income was $802.00 per month with jump pay and diving pay. 2K was a lot of pesos back then. Just like 19k is a good chunk of pesos today ! Thanks for the vid ! Be well !
Bought All kinds of motorcycles 70s/80s CZ / Can am / Kawasaki/ Suzuki nothing more than 2000 on pauper wages now I am old and can’t justify the price to buy and even worse the service cost on taking apart the bike to proform a valve adjustment is out of control But powersports dealers really killed things
I started riding in 2024. The thing that was slowing me down was indeed money (I paid cash). It cost me over $5k to get started, admittedly in a more expensive region of the US. $3800 for used bike ~$1000 for gear ~$300 for endorsement ~$300 taxes ~$100 misc doodads
My first bike bought with money I'd earned. An 83 GS750t. I was in the Army E1 salary was around 850$ a month. My payment was 65$ a month. My first bike was 76 gt185 my Dad bought me for my 16th bad.
Great video! Definitely takes us all back to that first bike. February 1993 my 16th birthday parents gave me $500 towards car. By spring of that year I managed to scrape up another $150 and bought a 1989 Suzuki GS500. My mother was so pissed I'll never forget her wheeling it out to the road and putting a for sale sign on it. I actually cried. I never found out what Dad said to her, but I got to keep the bike and rode it for 2 years in the Army at Ft Hood. Traded it in '99 for a Honda Blackbird 😳
In the 80’s a motorcycle was low cost transport for entry level workers. We used them for leisure activities because we already had them. Now, cheap credit has replaced them with cars destroying that market in my society. That leaves only the leisure market competing with an enormous variety of arguably better alternatives. In my opinion, cost comparison then and now is not relevant because of that.
Not bad! As a 71 year old, single, renter and own a Kawasaki Z900rs and owned motorbikes all my life so far. We all complain! Human nature. We all live longer now and have no control on interest rates. I say if you cant afford something, look at an alternative or do without and enjoy life via simplicity.
For European viewers, Transalp 700 when new was around ~6000 Eur. Now it's ~11k. According to inflation calculator, it's a same price so it did not get any pricier. But that is where this video get's wrong. Your salary has nothing to do with it. The price of bike is percentage of spare budget of what you are left with after paying all the indeed necessary payments, like taxes, rent, kids etc. It's not as simple as putting sum in inflation calculator, consider all the variables. It is ridiculous inflation of other expenses that makes bikes expensive. While putting bike and concert prices in inflation calculator and seeing 1000% increase, try putting household and medicine 1mil %(don't quote me on that, just telling the picture) price increase and if you don't smoke stocking, you understand how those are directly related. When I was 20 I hade spare 200$ a month for a bike, now I'm 43 and I have spare 200$ for a bike. Inflation calculators say bikes cost the same.
A bare hull 2025 Tracker Grizzly 1648 aluminum jon boat is $5199 at Bass Pro. No trailer, no motor, no nothing. It does include a $200 freight charge. In 2012 I bought a new bare hull Grizzly 1648 at Bass Pro for $2699. I assume motorcycles are priced out of sight, too. 1648 is jon boat speak for 16' feet long with a 48" wide bottom. Most people will need a trailer, too.
I'll grant you the point that there are motorcycles that are still relatively good value for money. The rest, however, not so much. That job you had at $6.00 ($24) per hour no longer exists. Mass migration and offshoring have decimated the domestic labor market. A young man or woman will work slavishly at an entry level job for 50-75% of the comparative pay that you at that age. I also just looked it up... The apartment that I rented in 1998 for $350/mo is now on the market for $1400/mo. I doubt age has improved its condition. I could go on way longer than a UA-cam comment section will allow... Finally... The boomer generation has little room to make these comparisons, because it was under their watch that our fiscal situation was so decimated. The fact that $6 in 1980 has become the equivalent of $24 today (a reminder, these are government numbers, it's probably way worse), is a crime. High crime.
Put down the smart phone, buy used stuff, including clothes, give up the Starbucks, brown bag lunch at work, ditch cable, Amazon, and eat at home. I was almost 30 when I bought my first house, and it took 3 months to qualify for the loan I got through the VA, or I wouldn't have been able to afford it. You are spending money on stuff we didn't even dream of in the 70s. I lived pay to pay check just like you do. And guess who I didn't blame, the generation before me. I lost everything I had in 1981 in a divorce, and recovered nicely, although it took 10 years, I didn't make that mistake again. Guess who I didn't listen to, my dad, cause like you, I knew more than the "other" generation. You guys will learn, nobody cares about you like yourself. If you aren't making it where you are, move, start something different, find a different way to make money, get training, learn a trade, start over in something that has a future. Electricians, plumbers, manufacturing, go where jobs are. Most of all stop blaming others for where you are at. It took us a lifetime to get to where we are, it will you too. Oh, and traveling for pleasure, I couldn't afford that either. And there is the military, there is a good place to start, and they will pay you to travel. But whatever you do, you'll start at the bottom. Got to be willing, till you are you won't succeed. You only think you know, you don't, you are proving it.
@@brucem8129 this is hilarious. I'm a 45 year old father of 2. I've been in the workforce for 28 years. I work 50+ hours a week managing a restaurant inside a casino, where I see an unrelenting stream of boomers marching in daily to blow their children's inheritances at a slot machine. I have a degree. I don't make now the $80k/yr Craig made as a youth installing pools. My employees cartainly can't even dream of that. They're hardworking too, not the lazy entitled youth that you imagine is blowing all their money on smartphones and Netflix. I'm terrified for my children as they enter the world, because I know they are not going to have the opportunity that even I had at their age. At least I have the awareness and humility to realize that. Seems the boomers think that, even though they were born into the greatest economic conditions in human history, that they're somehow better than kids today. It's all just a matter of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, right? Unfortunately for them, they can't see their bootstraps, because they are wading through a neck deep septic mess that previous generations have left for them. The greatest fault of the new generation is nihilism... And it's hard to blame them for that
@papertiger795 Boomer parents raised their kids, sent them to school, they are spending their retirement, not their kids. Make sure your kids get training for a job that will give them a future. I'm not sure what you find so hilarious. You picked your occupation, deal with it, if you like it good deal. There you go, blaming others for where you are in life. Maybe your kids will support you since that's what you seem to believe. I know that much didn't change in less than 20 years. All my nephews are living large, younger than you. If you don't like where you're at, only you can change it.
@papertiger795 is that an insult, calling me "Boomer?" It's all good big guy, I wish you the best. And I never implied you didn't work hard, you deducted that on your own. I washed a lot of dishes and restaurants and know how hard a kitchen staff work. Good luck to you.
The main difference for the cost of motorcycle riding is a mindset. You said yourself that you bough your first bike as a cheaper form of transportation. Today, younger folks want a car (and a nice car) for transportation. The industry and the mindset is that motorcycles are toys to be used occasionally. Unlike Europe and many other Countries, we do not view bikes as transportation and dealers do not sell transportation, they sell toys. That's why they are "expensive".
My first and only new bike purchase was in 1972, a Kawasaki 350 triple. I had years of riding experience in the dirt, so riding street was expected. Since then, I've purchased dozens of used street bikes, most not running, and raised five kids around the culture of buy used and learn to fix it. None of them ride today as adults. Why? It's not the affordability, it's the added danger of our streets. It's a no-brainer bikes are deadly, but our streets are outta control with distracted driving, speed, hit and runs, and a general disrespect of others on the highways. BTW, one of my favorite bikes I've owned for 25yrs is a Kawasaki Vulcan 750 with 60k + miles on the clock. It was a salvage bike. And a Honda GL500 with 74k+ miles that I paid $200 for in 2003.
A new high end motorcycle costs more than my 2 toyotas and my superhawk and wr250r combined 😢...insurance is up..registration..etc..san diego is the most expensive place to live
As a Boomer too, I bought my first new bike a 1974 Kawasaki KZ400 and paid cash after saving the money up. I've owned many new motorcycles in my lifetime but never did payments on any of them since I felt it was a luxury item and not needed (although that KZ was my only transportation for 4 months while I got the money saved up to fix my car.) re: 14% interest, yes I remember that, since a house I bought was financed at that rate. (re: 2006 VN900, I still own one.)
New rider here, age 46, and I was able to buy a new Goldwing at 3.99% interest. I could have gotten it for 1.99% if I could afford the 36 payments. So there are still low interest options out there. One of the guys in my riding group has a higher monthly payment for the same 6 year term on a 2018 Goldwing he just bought a few months because the interest rate is higher on used. So while the value may have dropped once I drove off the lot, it is still costing me less than a used one in the end. Now, my son makes $100K/yr and is unable to afford to purchase a bike and he’s been looking at used in the $6-10K range. Between rent, car, food, and other basic living costs he’s barely able to make it living on his own. This has only gotten harder in the last several years with inflation and his salary not increasing with it. If he gave up all of his other forms entertainment he could probably afford it sooner, but he would be giving up the rest of his lifestyle to do it.
There are plenty of reasons why the motorcycle industry is struggling, but one thing that might be hard for us older riders to accept is that younger generations are just not interested in biking, period, regardless of the price of the motorcycles.
I would agree with you on this one. In 1985 I bought my first bike a 1984 CB650SC Nighthawk, rather than riding Dad's bikes, for $2821. I was 20 y.o., living at home and was saving for my first bike (whatever that would end up being) from when I was 12 y.o.! I waited, saved and met my goal!
I bought a one of these used with 8k miles in 1987 for $1100! I still think it required less maintenance than any subsequent motorcycle I’ve ever owned.
Younger buyers still have the magic combo of lightly used and 100% cash. My Mother was an accountant , and said credit was fine for a home or car to get to work, but toys like boats, planes, motorcycles, or in my current case a thermal imaging device are...strictly cash items. Saying I'd use a bike to ride to work would have had me laughed out of the house.
Not sure about boats, planes, and um -thermal imaging devices 😅but, motorcycles can definitely get you to work. I know lot's of people who do this -and my self for 15 years . They can even be primary transpo for people willing to drive -say an older used car (ideally payed off) for the winter months. Also done it that way for 15 plus years. I've found for passionate riders this is how most that can afford it buy new or even used (still friggin' expensive) Harely's, Indians, and basically any higher end motorcycle out there upwards of $20K -or the equivalent of what USED to be a car payment. Not sure if doing it that way would still make your mother proud, but I'd say "cash item" is a term used loosely depending on priorities. So on those notions I'd say =go have a blast picking up that new thermo devise!! Life is short😁
55 y o man here @ 15 y o I bought a Honda 750 sohc for lawn mowing and a couple hundred bucks . Fixed it up went to school work ect . To this day I buy used bikes fix them enjoy them sell them . I can afford any bike but I can't see buying a new one . The used market is flooded with great bikes .
Bought my first bike in 1985, it was an 81Kawasaki 440LTD , paid $400 for it and some assembly required, rode it several years. Your right the economy was bad, graduating high school in 82 with no real work skill and Louisiana being an oilfield state findind a job was hard, luckily my wife was managing an apartment complex so rent was free so that helped a lot. Still married after 40 years we own our own business and everything is paid for. At 61 i definitely don't want struggle in this economy, that being said all my vehicles are pre 2006, but as an automotive technician I can keep them going. I think if somebody wants to ride they will find a way, so don't give up hope these things come in waves like everything else, but the enthusiasts will always ride.
My first real street bike was a Kawasaki ZL600, I paid $3000 for it, that was all I had, I rode that sucker for 40,000 miles until something let go in the gear box. At the time a new Nighthawk was just coming out, bought one of those for 3999 out the door, rode that for three years until I t-boned a car, bought another new Nighthawk in 93 for the same price, rode that about 40,000 until I hit ice in NJ and did not want a re-built bike. The bike I spent the most money on is a 91 VFR750 that cost me 4500 with 4000 miles, I still own that bike today and it is pushing 100,000 miles, still gets up and goes 135 mph easy. Bikes are expensive, a new "Busa" will cost you 18,000 or more out the door. Peace, nice video, oh - I turn 60 next year don't know if I am a boomer or what.
As a gen x who grew up dirt poor mom and dad couldn't give me hardly anything as a kid. Of course as a dad of 4 I worked 60 plus hour weeks to give my kids everything I could and thats a big mistake. Being a poor kid I'm now an adult who appreciates absolutely everything I have worked for. Part of the problem also is that the world keeps offering more and more and that's exactly what young people want. It's available so why can't I have it? It seems the pace of time keeps speeding up and many younger people don't have the same level of patience maybe that we older generations had in our youth. I was 8 in 78 and we moved to grandma's farm and I got to experience an outhouse for an Iowa winter till Dad could add a bathroom to the old house. Young people just don't understand how things used to be just as I couldn't truly understand the great depression. Of all the stuff I did give my kids the one regret I don't have is all of them received their first motorcycle from Dad on their 14th birthdays and they got their motorcycle permit the same day they got their driving permits.
I’m 32 years old and I agree with this video 100% I would argue that this generation of young people definitely have a harder time with housing . You dont see new starter homes being built like the boomers had . Every new house today being built is 3000 sq feet and cost 400,000 . We need to bring back starter homes . Small modest housing
It's not that motorcycles are too expensive, it's that American motorcycles are too expensive for what they are .... There's lots of great motorcycles under 13k.... But the problem isn't the 13k.. it's all the other stuff - rent is WAY more expensive, phones weren't a thing at 1500 a year, higher bills, more costly distractions.... Oh and a huge thing I almost forgot - space to park/secure a motorcycle
Leasing a bike from the dealer service department is a big addition to cost. I fixed up many old bikes and rode them with little cost. So a person affords the buy in price but they are locked into a service program with set cost per mile/day. Funny how we are told "customers want these bikes" yet sales are down across the board. Shareholders want to be paid so welcome to the landfill economy. Being late stage capitalism it is better to chase high profit/low unit sales than to put the world on simple, durable motorcycles. Welcome to the Bar at the end of the motorcycling universe.
The reason bikes are harder for a 20 year old to afford today isn't the price of bikes, it's because they aren't making the 81k per year. Wages just haven't kept up with costs.
Healthcare and housing take up much more percentage of one's income than they did in the 60s. In addition, the younger generation does not look at motorcycles as basic transportation, like you did when you were a young man. Today they're just considered an RV.
Correct. I doubt that a 20 year old today could make $24 an hour installing swimming pools. If a hamburger flipper can make $15 an hour today, I don't think that it is unreasonable for a skilled swimming pool installer to make $24
@@GregDavis-r4fI was a very specialised craftsman in a dangerous+demanding industry quit after 13 years when the difference to flipping burgers/stocking shelves was uncomfortably small.
Boomer here. You made valid points. Some were glossed over. Of course the problem isn’t the price of bikes. Income, and jobs like you had that even LET a kid work overtime are becoming rare. So many companies are loathe to hire “full time” let alone overtime like when we were kids. But I think there two other reasons, one economic, one cultural that you missed. The cost of education is insane. Michigan, a state school is 9800 a semester. Not counting room, board fees. That’s what I paid for four years. A big dent in the balance sheet of a young person. But like you said, you want a bike, you will find a way.
The cultural reason is; I believe young people are just more risk aware, and risk averse. They grew up with airbags, shooter drills and photos on milk cartons. A constant drum beat implying that the world is out to get you. They have a constant media saturation of “news” and other information that should scare the crap out of any sane person. All of that makes motorcycles unattractive to many young people.
A third bonus factor: motorcycles were sexy back then (not your KZ, sorry). Marketing was sexy, media made them seem sexy. Manufacturers really need to realize that sex sells. Not strippers draped over bikes, but young, attractive people enjoying bikes and each other in pretty places.
Too long, sorry.
Solid video, thank you.
I bought a 1971 Kawasaki H1 new and while I can't remember the price exactly but I believe it was just over $1000.00. At the time I was making $2.50 an hour and cleared $79.07 a week. Fortunately I lived home and I had saved some money so I put a lot down and paid it off in 12 months, just in time to trade it in on a 1972 H2.
Great conversation. The younger people get a bad rap these day. Having kids in my early 20's I can say they think different. They value experiences, appreciate time off, and hanging out with friends. Me on the other hand thought work work work was the key. I'm a GEN X'er that has to be told every year I need to take my PTO or loose it. Only so much juice in our lemons. I'm glad they are enjoying it.
Millennial rider here. Buying used is harder when you don't grow up with the kind of mechanical DIY culture that older generations had. If you're mechanically inclined you can find great deals on private sale bikes that are structurally sound but just need a little work. Taking shop classes out of schools was a disservice to future generations.
Exactly 💯 💯
BS! I am a boomer and I learned by doing. If you can see nasty in a carburetor, get rid of old gas and replace it with new and change spark plugs, you can fix 99% of the not running motorcycles you'll see for sale. It is what I do over and over again. Now there is YT and you can see people fixing the very model you are working on. For the real basics watch Mustie1, he'll teach you more how to get a old bike running in 30 minutes than you would have learned in wood shop or metal shop. He will show you that if you suspect a carburetor problem, you can do what the carburetor or fuel injector does with a squirt bottle with gas in it. Yeah, I know, OK boomer and you'll just continue saying you can't.
Utube is your friend. A common set of decent tools is cheap. I'm always willing to help others that are trying to help themselves. I still use a manual, my old saying, if you ain't never broke nuttin, you ain't never fixed it.
@@jerrym3261 While what you say about youtube and learning the basics is true, I think you are overlooking the man's point. He's saying that current generations are discouraged to to even try to learn. We are told that it's not possible, that we will break it and that the electronics makes things not home tunable. Shop class is gone and we have no familiarity with anything enough to even try to start. Our dad's aren't allowed to teach us this stuff, if they are even around.
I didn't learn how to spin a wrench until I was in my 30s when I got married and my brother in law taught me the basics. Now I'm a mechanic, but growing up people not only didn't avoid teaching me how mechanical things work, but I was discouraged to learn as that's for professionals and specialists and not for regular people.
@@NotAffiliated Maybe they can't watch or believe anything Mustie1 does because he's a boomer but, the Jennies Garage man is younger. The young people seem to find a way to cut mufflers off and get rid of airboxes when they do get a bike. I grant you that's stupid but, it probably takes more effort than actually fixing a bike that ran when parked. I don't know what you learned in shop class but, I didn't learn anything in 2 years of metal shop that helped me fix motorcycles. Yeah, I agree can't never could but, I still believe if you want it bad enough you'll work for it. I see the stock market is falling like a rock again today. I suspect we've reached the part of the cycle where "weak men create hard times". Whether "hard times make strong men" this time is up for grabs.
I'm 60. I grew up on a lake-front property with dirt roads in the early 70s. We woke up to the smell of two-strokes in the summer (bikes, dunebuggies, boats). Recently I visited my old homestead, and although there are a few changes, the neighborhood looked pretty much the same. Exception: no one was out riding or boating. No one. Where is everyone? Playing on their phones and video games.
I feel sorry for this generation.
I appreciate the fact that you are always sincere, always coming from the heart and always true to the wisdom you've acquired over the years. This is good stuff, regardless of whether I agree with every dot and tittle.
As a retired dealer for both motorcycles and cars (not at the same time), I can tell you for a fact that NOBODY should buy a new motorcycle. The values drop like a rock as soon as you drive off the dealer's premises. My first bike was a pre-WWII Indian Scout with the optional full valanced fenders, in Indian Red. DAMN, it was pretty; it was also in pristine shape with just over 4000 miles...and it cost $250 in 1951! I kept it for several years, until I could afford a BSA Gold Star DBD34 that was 2 years old and cost me the frightening sum of $600. I thought that was fair, since a new one was over $1000. This was 1958, and you could buy a tidy 3br suburban house for about $12,000. Me, I'd rather have had 20 Gold Stars!! Keep yer feet on the pegs and the sun at your back...
My first new motorcycle was a 1981 Suzuki 750L. I purchased in 1982 for $2,699.00. I had a POS car but,I had priorities.
My Dad rode motorcycles, I ride motorcycles and my son rides motorcycles. If you didn't grow up around motorcycles, the younger generation has way more options of things to do other than motorcycling. Motorcycling has more competition than it did in the 50's through the 80's and even into the 90's.
The problem has nothing to do with the price of motorcycles. Young folks today seem to have no problem buying a $1,000 cell phone every 12-18 months. The issue is that young people today just don’t care about motorcycles. They prefer to be entertained passively sitting behind a computer display or TV, rather than actively. THAT is the fundamental problem. The issue is priorities, not cost.
Craig, the comments are fantastic! Smiling the entire video. My 'first' was a new, CB350 I purchased in 1973 for $1200. Yep, paid cash. I was working at a gas station making $2.00/hour. Opened the station before I went to school (split session) and worked 60 hours a week during the summer months. Ohhhhh the memories!
Ned in SC
GenXer here... I think the biggest difference today is that the younger generations have grown up in an environment of instant-gratification and can't conceive the idea of saving for things that they want, or forgoing them completely if they're out of their means. They're also heavily influenced by what they see online and feel that they're always behind their peers even though what they're seeing is curated content and far from the reality of everyday life. Having said all that though, wages have fallen FAR behind the cost of living and real estate is on another planet when it comes to affordability, so I'm not blind to some of their struggles.
I'm also GenX. Housing and healthcare are so much more expensive and take up several times higher percentage of a person's income than when I was young. For instance, back in the 1990's I was making 40K and my mortgage was $500. Since the average rent is now around 1600, the current generation needs to be making around 120K.
The current generation just happened to get into a Monopoly game about 2/3 of the way in.
Older gen Z here. I think your first point about instant gratification is true, but not for why you think that's the case. There's this thing in economics called the lipstick effect when lipstick sales go up when time gets hard, because while it's a luxury, it's considered an affordable splurge. Due to low wages, and rising living and educational costs, we feel we may never be able to have the long term signifiers of financial stability, therefore, we're stuck in a perpetual mindset of the lipstick effect.
Thanks Mr Craig for taking me way back in the day.
Being the same age as you, I couldn't agree with everything you said. I also like your taste in music. My first motocross bike was a RM250 and it cost $1695. Man, I wish I still had it. Thanks for the video.
73 y/o here. Been ridin motorbikes since 1967. In my pre-teens , in order to have a peddle bike, I had to acquire junk bikes and make my own bycycle. That small work ethic allowed me to work up to wrecked and blown up motorcycles to make a runner. I couldn't afford a new Harley until I was 42 y/o, when I got a part time job escorting funeral processions! ! Starting out and to this day, I never had a good newer car. I just bought junkers, I quit smoking, drinking when I was 33. This freed up money to invest in cycles! Sickles became a priority over new cars, dope, smoking and drinking.
I started on an old Honda CB350/4. It cost me $350 bucks. I learned to wrench on it as I went. I spent many years not being able to afford anything but old UJM's but I always had a bike.
I don't know why people think everything has to be purchased new.
Now I'm riding a 19 year old Sportster and driving a Van from the 90's. Both cost less than 3 grand and both work just fine.
I'm a Boomer, too, and I don't get it either. My first bike was a used POS that I worked on as much as I rode it (that turned out to be a godsend later in life), and my car - the one I wooed my wife in - was a trashed Ford Pinto, the model that exploded when it was hit in the rear. And when she and started our first apartment, our first TV was a13" Black/White with rabbit ears, sitting on a broken end table. And we were happy. We went through some sh*t" too.
I'm a boomer. Looking at all the bikes I've owned, there is only one I bought new, a 1973 Honda CR250. Of the rest, easily 80% didn't run when I got them. Of that 80% nine out of 10 of those only needed, gas replaced in the tank, carb clean, new plugs and a battery to run. I've never bought myself a new car or truck. The best car I ever had was a Datsun station wagon I bought out of a junk yard for $100. Somebody parked it when a rear wheel bearing went bad, let it sit until they finally sold it for junk. I replaced the wheel bearing and the rear brake shoes, drove it tens of thousands of miles on what was a simple fix.
Gen Z here. The problem is not the cost of bikes used or new. The problem is the cost of everything else. There's lots of people paying over half their income on rent alone. Take into account groceries, student loans, a car not for a beater that costs more than a new bike, and you have a recipe for living paycheck to paycheck. Additionally culture doesn't consider bikes as daily commuter vehicles and many car drivers refuse to share the road with bikers.
Never bought a car or bike on a loan. That's a very poor choice.
Mortgage paid off 20 years early and basically now able to buy a new bike every 2 months or so.
Choices you make early, will affect your path in life.
I wish I was responsible as you nineteen!!!
Good stuff - we all need some perspective nowadays. Been wanting to do a video on buying used bikes vs new, for the budget-minded folks out there that are looking for alternatives.
Another Boomer here, adding my 2c. I graduated HS in '73, got married in '74 and was supporting a wife and 2 kids by the time I bought my first MC in '81. I was drooling over a Kawi LTD 440, but opted for a used Honda 125 Twinstar. It was 2007 before I finally bought my first new bike. I had too many other responsibilities to spend money on a toy. Sometimes these things take longer than we'd like. I'm now staring down 70 and expecting another few years of riding. Had I gotten the Kawi back in '80, I probably wouldn't be here today. The little Honda taught me how to ride with humility and caution. It's been a great ride! Stay safe!
I wish more young people could hear your message ❤
Hey, that was my first bike too! Great memories of the old Kawi,I felt I could go anywhere and be anything riding that KZ.😀🏍️
Motorcycles can be not terribly expensive now if you buy used in the fall; I just picked up a '21 crf300L with 3,355 miles on it for $3,600 USD. Buying new costs so much.
I buy used.
The cost of the dealer experience alone is enough reason.
The last motorcycle I bought was about 6 months ago, a 2000 Honda Rebel 250, less than 13000 miles, for $300. Of course it wasn't running. The guy I bought it from had never heard it run and he said the guy he bought it from hadn't heard it run either. I don't know where the title got lost but, I had the original Honda key and an online VIN check didn't show it as stolen. Steps I took: pushed it in third gear to see it wasn't seized, hooked it to a battery, took the spark plugs out and squirted gas in the cylinders, it fired, unscrewed the drain plug on the carb, screwed it back in, hooked up a lawn mower gas tank, it started. None of that is complicated and in about 2 easy hours I had a running bike. I bought it for the engine and whether I could get a title or not is a moot point but, sometimes, with persistence, I have gotten titles, sometimes not. I know why people that can't try let motorcycles sit. I know why bike shops won't work on old bikes. I don't know why there are people that want a bike but, don't buy old bikes that just need a little TLC.
@jerrym3261 fuel system clean, and maybe a tank clean will get most bikes going.
New tires and go through the brakes and you have a rider.
@@muddywater6856 I buy old used not running. I was riding through a park on one I had paid $450 for and ran across a guy on a days old Ducati that had parked it and it wouldn't do anything when he tried to restart it. I can fix old bikes forever but, the hopelessness I felt when I looked at that bike was real. The only thing that would fix that bike would be a Ducati diagnostic technician with a Ducati analyzer computer. I did hear it turned out to be a faulty sensor that was telling the computer on the bike not to allow it to start. If I remember right it was at the dealer for over 2 weeks, they had to order the part. Fixed under warranty but, getting it to the dealer could have been pricey.
@@muddywater6856 Oooo, you got me! I bought a 1978 CX500 for $300 that had 5,000 miles on it. It was easy to get running but, the original Bridgestone Mag Mopus tires still had tread so I ran em. The front brake drug so I drilled out the relief hole with the smallest drill bit I had, maybe 1/8 inch. I have ridden dozens of miles on flat tires. I ain't skeerd.
62 & buying my 4th new motorcycle in 10 yrs. Still have them all. First one was in 1981(5 new total) I have used ones too. Live as many dreams as possible before it's too late.
Most young people aren't interested in riding motorcycles 😮
They aren't interested in cars either, statistically speaking
@@rickybobby6760 This is true. When I turned 16 in 1980 it was a rite of passage. If you didn't have a license and car you had no chicks.
Yep, it was our ticket to freedom. Now the super computer attached to their hands does that.
Look at the insurance for a new rider and compare that! Owning and insuring a bike used to be a bargain for a new rider, now its robbery
I can't recall the last time I saw a tv commercial for motorcycles. Maybe I'm getting senile. Do younger people even want to ride a motorcycle or would they all rather have ebikes? Maybe the ebikes will get them thinking about something more powerful.
It’s housing and healthcare costs that are holding younger people down.
I see it with my nieces and nephews. Many jobs that used to be solid middle-class jobs are now lower working class.
The top 10% is sucking the wealth all to themselves.
So, what do you suppose the top 10% are doing with it? Hiding it under their mattress? Heck no. They are either spending it or investing it back into the economy. They’re certainly not hoarding it.
I agree with this statement. Even in The Netherlands with it's extended social system, two groups of people are growing in size. The rich and very rich on one hand, the other the poor, who are barely able to exist, even when working fulltime. The hard working middle class with a reasonable income is under pressure. The cost of housing has risen skyhigh and there is a shortage for houses for people who want to buy their first house and houses with low and affordable rents are almost not there.Society has become grim since the rise of neo liberal economics from the 90's.And this while our country on the whole is richer than ever!
I think you make some valid points here, but don't worry so much about the future of motorcycling. It's never been wildly popular here in America. There's been times of lots of bikers and less bikers, but kids are still getting into em all the time
Gen X here 57 still working 2 jobs & pack my lunch. And guess what? There’s still time to ride and travel. 🤘⚡️🤘✨✨
EXCELLENT ..... well done on every level!!!!
gen x here . born in the early 70s your 💯 correct! just a fyi couldn't afford health care from 17 to 25 .when I was sick I went to urgent care at 55$ plus whatever the cost of prescription.
My first street bike in 1977 was a used honda 450,then had a yamaha rd350. Then got a harley sportster, I am now 64 an still hooked.
In short, the motorcycle industry followed the auto industry during COVID-19 and afterward to the moon in pricing, making it darn near impossible for a lot of people to afford bikes and cars. Something needs to change, and soon, if this economy is to continue to work for "We The People."
Followed the massive money printing spree. Thank powell and the federal reserve. Welcome aboard. Next stop, inflation station.
@@Blair62 I' couldn't have said it better. The Fed and its collection arm have to go!
There are some deals out there right now. Bert’s Black Pearl Indian (formerly Stu’s) in Fort Myers is offering a free triumph 400 model with the purchase of select Indian models. Great deal for a family to get a two bike combo.
Wow!
Good perspective Craig!
I bought a mint Kawasaki GPz 1100 a few years ago. It was my dream bike as a young broke adult. Well, let's just say the term, "Never meet your heros" rang so true with this bike. Going from a BMW K1300s to the GPz was shocking, to say the least. When it comes to motorcycles, there is no going back unless you are a pure enthusiast.
Excellent video. I really enjoy it.
love this!! how true . to be fair these are just different times ,i grew up more rural and dirt bikes were the norm , and that was my start [50 years of riding] but there is more competition for their dollar, phones and media [gaming] as you said. priorities change .
Xer here. Interesting comparison from 1980 costs to today.
Educational costs were creeping up very quickly in the 90’s, when I was paying my way through state schools in MA and CA. States were in the process of defunding and privatizing public higher education.
I consider myself very lucky to have graduated with minimal debt and a marketable skill set. It’s much harder now.
Anyway. I see the biggest unsustainable costs are to housing, education, and healthcare.
Another retired boomer here that has been riding starting on minibikes from about 9 years old.
I think that one difference is that most kids are not riding dirt bikes like when I was young.
Part of the problem is loss of riding areas to development over the decades, much more to occupy kids such as electronics and social media today and yes cost is a factor.
Dirt bikes are pretty expensive these days and even bikes like the Honda Monkey (old mini trail) are close to $5000 out the dealers door new by the time you add taxes and dealer freight and prep fees.
Another thing is the amount of traffic on the roads and instances of distracted drivers make motorcycling more dangerous in my opinion today.
The USA population was only 203 million in 1970 and in 2024 has grown to 345 million putting a lot more traffic on the roads.
Add in that added traffic and the price of a new bike and full coverage insurance for younger riders on bikes and the attraction and affordability is just not there anymore for most.
Also when I was young I would guess that the average size bike on the roads was around 350cc,
A big bike was generally a 650-750cc and there were a lot of smaller 175cc -250cc bike both road models and dual sports on the roads as well.
If you look around the world to countries where bikes are a much bigger part of mainstream transportation again even today bikes 300cc and smaller are the main models you see in abundance.
If gasoline in this country ever hit an average price of $7-8+ dollars a gallon at the pump then you may see a higher interest from the general public for smaller cc bikes as transportation that could get 100+ miles per gallon of gasoline.
Lacking such an event I really do not see in the near future motorcycles making a huge comeback in numbers on the roads.
Very well said. I am a Boomer. I have a 1999 Honda Blackbird and a 2002 Honda Valkyrie. I had to save like crazy. I also learned patience.
Hey man, I never heard the end of how hard my parent's Great Depression/WWII generation life was while I was coming into adulthood. I hated that shit (I'll own up to motorcycle as defiance :-) and it took a while for me to understand it better. Through all my inner-complaining, I learned that I was listening (and learning) more than I ever knew
I bought a 2014 Honda CTX700N in August 2015 for about $5,000. I did the math as you have done, and I discovered after adjusting for the value of a dollar, my Honda cost the equivalent of a 1962 moped! OMG!
It would be interesting to do the relative housing expenses blended in there. I think we may see where the numbers get skewed
Its all about priorities. How bad do you want it. When i was 12(1992) i bought my "first bike" a 86 Honda Helix for 800 bucks. By the time i was 16 i wanted a "real bike" so i bought a 85 v65 magna for 1500. I had a goal so i found a way to make it happen. By the time I was in college (19) i figured out how to by a "nice" bike so i went to a dealership and got 1994 Suzuki Katana 750. I had a 120 payment for 4 years. I really wanted the 1100 but i couldn't really justify it because it was out of my budget(even though the dealership said i could get financed fot it.)I was making 6 bucks an hour so i got a second part time job while in school. It was my primary form of transportation. All i needed was a milk crate aquired from 7/11 and i was set. Like you said kids are preoccupied with other things and have different priorities. That being said my daughter(20) is in college and she bought a sv650 and is figuring it out. Its all about what is a priority for you. If you really want to make something to happen you will figure it out.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, I was caught up in the “boom” times in Alberta. I had a 1977 Ford “shaggin wagon” van that I usually camped out in on the weekends while skydiving. During the week I rode my Honda Gold Wing 1000 to my $12 hr construction job! Life was good. The only worries I had was keeping a girlfriend!!!
Huge KZ Fan and still enjoy riding them today 👊
I'm in my mid 70's and have always bought used bikes. Latest is a 2006 Tiger. Plenty of used bikes available if you can fix them. I saw a list of the top selling motorcycles in the US mostly mid sized and under $10,000. People buy what they can afford.
I’m 66, and I’ve had motorcycles since I began riding at 16. The majority were second and third hand. I am fortunate in that I have two late model motorcycles in my garage that were bought with cash. My two sons rode up until their children were born. They prefer hunting and fishing to motorcycles, which is ok by me. If someone really wants to ride, there are plenty of great new and used bikes in the $5000-10,000 range. In my area of North Carolina I’ve been noticing quite a few younger riders. They may not be buying Harleys and Indians, but they are riding-and that’s all that matters.
This is a rolling conversation that has been on going for many years here in the UK also, but we do seem to have a good number of new riders coming on board, albeit a little later in life at around 30 years old despite our government trying to make it increasingly difficult and expensive to get a licence. It is the case that the numbers are a little lower and or they are somewhat older when they do. I feel that this is partly due to the way society has changed over the last 20 or so years. Here in the UK you can't drive a car, once you have passed your driving test, until you are 17, but at 16 years old you can have a 50cc bike/scooter and with minimal training gain your freedom. Uptake for this back in the 70's, 80's and 90's was almost 100% amoung young lads and many picked up a love for two wheels before moving into cars a year later, but that love for two wheels stayed with them. Fast forward to today and many of the youngsters don't even seem interested in even getting their car driving licence, preferring instead to be ferried about by parents or public transport.
Am I unusual in that I buy all my bikes with cash? How many folks finance there motorbikes vs. outright buying in cash? I have 3 bikes right now, a 2015 NC700X, a 2019 RE Himalayan, and a 2022 BMW G310GS (🤔 I keep going smaller), while thinking about getting a KLX230 at some point.
Not unusual at all. I've had many bikes since 1972, and every one of them was used, and all were paid in cash. My current one, a BMW R1200RT, I purchased at half the new price of $28K because it was 5 years old and still fairly low (for a BMW) mileage. My Mother the accountant taught me well; Always buy toys with cash.
Cash for my bikes. Though to be fair I've never bought anything new. I think 20 years-ish old is about the average of the bikes when I got them.
I keep going smaller too.
Paat 70, and still have the Ducati in the garage, but most of the time ride my RE 350 Classic.....It's a pig on power, but I enjoy it.
Just subscribed. Very good content.
I love this video! I've never been the kind of person who lets anything, like price, stop me from achieving what my heart desires. Motorcycles are no different. Even with high interest rates, I know what I can afford to pay monthly, so the final payment doesn't concern me. I'll just pay it off as soon as possible to offset the high interest. Fortunately, I learned this at a young age (With bad credit) lol.
My first paycheque for a 40 hour week was $8 !
I saw my first big name concert 1975 when I saw Santana and Earth Wind and Fire for $10 !
My first car loan in Canada in 1981 was at 21% ! I bought a brand new Honda Nighthawk 750 in 1984 for $3500. The new house I bought in 94 is now worth 5 times what I paid for it. In the last 5 years of my working life my wages went down 20%. I have never had a loan to buy a motorcycle. If I could not afford it I didn't buy it. Life is full of ups and downs.
Got that right on concert prices. The Clash of the Titans tour: Alice in Chains opening for Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth in 1991 cost an even $20. That's the price of 1/3 of a concert T-shirt now.
damn, wish I could go back in time and see that show. Was lucky to see Motorhead in Pompano beach with Anthrax just about the last show they did.
@@ridervfr2798 Still got the ticket stub and concert T.
Saw Iron Maiden a couple years ago. Everything was digital and online. Ticket stubs are a thing of the past.
Craig, you hit the nail the head with this awesome video! I’m a 40 year old blue collar worker, who’s lives comfortably with my current income,however I am unhappy with my career. So I’ve been working on a second career, that change as been consuming all my savings. I am at a point o contemplating selling my beloved 2023 Yamaha FJR to help me transition into my new career. It’s going to be painful and probably necessary for my own future. One day I will buy another FJR. Thanks Graig! Keep up the great work!
Thats a painful choice, the FJR is a great bike. The money you get for it will quickly disappear. Plus if you're anything like me you get attached to bikes (I have 5 now) thru the adventures with them. Getting rid of one would be hard, so I feel for you. And it is probably worth more than you may sell it for, they don't make new ones anymore, so to replace it will be a step into the unknown. But you are only 40, do the right thing for your future, you have plenty of time to work it out-
@@timbaubense i might be interested in your FJR? I know it is a great bike, and I have been thinking hard about one. Frankly, I have been waiting to see if they would come out with a big TFT display on it though. I admit having become spoiled with the great display on my 2023 Vstrom 1050.. Was disappointed Yamaha didn’t in 2024, and now, there is nothing on their website about a 2025 model. Is Yamaha ending the great FJR? Or is it just delayed while working on a new updated display for it? If has been discontinued, I am gonna want to find a 2023 like yours….
@@craigg4246 Yamaha says the FJR has been discontinued. 😞
@@craigg4246 I think, it’s being discontinued. I have not made up my mind yet! I love my FJR! I hope I will never have to sell
Back in 1970 when I turned 18 and got my fist motorbike (I'm from Europe) we had very little money. We bought cheap bikes and did our own maintenance. 50 years on I still do the same. Just got myself a 1997 Suzuki Bandit 600 for 750 Euros. It will probably cost me another 500 Euros or so to get it running properly. Makes around 1300 Euros in total. Not a lot of money. And I will have bike that is perfectly usable and looks like new. My VFR is a testimony of this practice...
What percent of your income was spent on housing?
About 30%.
@LivingOffTheSlab as a millennial, I've spent most of my life at or above 50%
Yup! That's the problem this ancient POS doesn't understand.
You're right, we old guys never lived in shit apartments because that is all we could afford. We never ate Cheerios for dinner because we couldn't afford steak. We never picked up and moved across country to make a better life, or started over at the bottom at 40 years old, or had to save for a down payment, or go without vacations. We are just old POSs that had it easy.
@@LivingOffTheSlab LOL, that is like nothing. Today's standard is 50 % - 60 %.
My Grandparents and all from their Generation told me about the Great Depression .. Many of them lost their Farms to the Bankers. The Great Depression was planned just like the housing market crash of 2008 was too .
Dayum, you have a hell of a memory. I bought my first bike after leaving home in Tx too. It was a '83 Honduh XL350, but I don't remember the price or what I was making then. I remember that it vibrated so much on road and the the kick start beat my calf to death so I traded it for an '84 Nighthawk 700 with electric start the next year. Seems to me that was about $3300 which seemed like a helluva a deal vs the bike I drooled over then, a HD XR1000 in the $5k range. Nighthawk was a way better bike, but before Covid I remember looking at some of those well kept '84 XR1000s selling for $15k on the Ebay!
The beauty of living in southern Texas at the time was there was no need to own a cage. Last time I was there the roads were WAY more crowded. Probably not as practical anymore unless one likes to sit in traffic jams in 100F days atop a bike with a catalytic converter baking them.
Totally agree with you !
If you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way as for me as a young southern country boy who was working in landscaping in 1972 at my first job making $1.90 an hour minimum wage I lusted over a 1972 Yamaha XS2 650 I saved up and found a used one for $900 I can’t begin to tell you how exhilarating it was to own have that motorcycle paid for back then !
I’m done similar math looking at the price of motorcycles and cars versus what was out there 30 years ago. Amazing how the prices, adjusted for inflation, remain fairly close but the products offer so much more today. As an older millennial I feel very lucky to be buying today’s products.
I mean it is expensive for young people (heck I find it expensive too and I am not young), particularly if they are not reckless and don't ride without gear. Insurance rates will be very high, decent riding equipment gets quite pricey very quickly (and you may need wet weather/hot weather/cold weather gear), and good quality helmets are expensive. Sure you can get a motorcycle cheap, but you can get an older car that doesn't need all the gear and at lower insurance for not much more.
good message
howdy ! In 1975 I purchased my first big road bike....CB750 four, for $1999.00, at that time I was military and my income was $802.00 per month with jump pay and diving pay. 2K was a lot of pesos back then. Just like 19k is a good chunk of pesos today ! Thanks for the vid !
Be well !
Bought All kinds of motorcycles 70s/80s CZ / Can am / Kawasaki/ Suzuki nothing more than 2000 on pauper wages now I am old and can’t justify the price to buy and even worse the service cost on taking apart the bike to proform a valve adjustment is out of control
But powersports dealers really killed things
I started riding in 2024. The thing that was slowing me down was indeed money (I paid cash). It cost me over $5k to get started, admittedly in a more expensive region of the US.
$3800 for used bike
~$1000 for gear
~$300 for endorsement
~$300 taxes
~$100 misc doodads
My first bike bought with money I'd earned. An 83 GS750t. I was in the Army E1 salary was around 850$ a month. My payment was 65$ a month. My first bike was 76 gt185 my Dad bought me for my 16th bad.
Great video! Definitely takes us all back to that first bike.
February 1993 my 16th birthday parents gave me $500 towards car. By spring of that year I managed to scrape up another $150 and bought a 1989 Suzuki GS500.
My mother was so pissed I'll never forget her wheeling it out to the road and putting a for sale sign on it. I actually cried.
I never found out what Dad said to her, but I got to keep the bike and rode it for 2 years in the Army at Ft Hood.
Traded it in '99 for a Honda Blackbird 😳
In the 80’s a motorcycle was low cost transport for entry level workers. We used them for leisure activities because we already had them. Now, cheap credit has replaced them with cars destroying that market in my society. That leaves only the leisure market competing with an enormous variety of arguably better alternatives. In my opinion, cost comparison then and now is not relevant because of that.
Not bad! As a 71 year old, single, renter and own a Kawasaki Z900rs and owned motorbikes all my life so far. We all complain! Human nature. We all live longer now and have no control on interest rates. I say if you cant afford something, look at an alternative or do without and enjoy life via simplicity.
Good stuff!
As a gen z rider, i sold ma car and bought a motorcycle. Not as practical but way more fun. Worth it!
For European viewers, Transalp 700 when new was around ~6000 Eur. Now it's ~11k. According to inflation calculator, it's a same price so it did not get any pricier. But that is where this video get's wrong. Your salary has nothing to do with it. The price of bike is percentage of spare budget of what you are left with after paying all the indeed necessary payments, like taxes, rent, kids etc. It's not as simple as putting sum in inflation calculator, consider all the variables. It is ridiculous inflation of other expenses that makes bikes expensive. While putting bike and concert prices in inflation calculator and seeing 1000% increase, try putting household and medicine 1mil %(don't quote me on that, just telling the picture) price increase and if you don't smoke stocking, you understand how those are directly related.
When I was 20 I hade spare 200$ a month for a bike, now I'm 43 and I have spare 200$ for a bike. Inflation calculators say bikes cost the same.
dealers have become a scam, dealers sell brands that they do not support.
A bare hull 2025 Tracker Grizzly 1648 aluminum jon boat is $5199 at Bass Pro. No trailer, no motor, no nothing. It does include a $200 freight charge.
In 2012 I bought a new bare hull Grizzly 1648 at Bass Pro for $2699.
I assume motorcycles are priced out of sight, too.
1648 is jon boat speak for 16' feet long with a 48" wide bottom. Most people will need a trailer, too.
I'll grant you the point that there are motorcycles that are still relatively good value for money.
The rest, however, not so much. That job you had at $6.00 ($24) per hour no longer exists. Mass migration and offshoring have decimated the domestic labor market. A young man or woman will work slavishly at an entry level job for 50-75% of the comparative pay that you at that age. I also just looked it up... The apartment that I rented in 1998 for $350/mo is now on the market for $1400/mo. I doubt age has improved its condition. I could go on way longer than a UA-cam comment section will allow...
Finally... The boomer generation has little room to make these comparisons, because it was under their watch that our fiscal situation was so decimated. The fact that $6 in 1980 has become the equivalent of $24 today (a reminder, these are government numbers, it's probably way worse), is a crime. High crime.
Put down the smart phone, buy used stuff, including clothes, give up the Starbucks, brown bag lunch at work, ditch cable, Amazon, and eat at home. I was almost 30 when I bought my first house, and it took 3 months to qualify for the loan I got through the VA, or I wouldn't have been able to afford it. You are spending money on stuff we didn't even dream of in the 70s. I lived pay to pay check just like you do. And guess who I didn't blame, the generation before me. I lost everything I had in 1981 in a divorce, and recovered nicely, although it took 10 years, I didn't make that mistake again. Guess who I didn't listen to, my dad, cause like you, I knew more than the "other" generation. You guys will learn, nobody cares about you like yourself. If you aren't making it where you are, move, start something different, find a different way to make money, get training, learn a trade, start over in something that has a future. Electricians, plumbers, manufacturing, go where jobs are. Most of all stop blaming others for where you are at. It took us a lifetime to get to where we are, it will you too. Oh, and traveling for pleasure, I couldn't afford that either. And there is the military, there is a good place to start, and they will pay you to travel. But whatever you do, you'll start at the bottom. Got to be willing, till you are you won't succeed. You only think you know, you don't, you are proving it.
@@brucem8129 this is hilarious. I'm a 45 year old father of 2. I've been in the workforce for 28 years. I work 50+ hours a week managing a restaurant inside a casino, where I see an unrelenting stream of boomers marching in daily to blow their children's inheritances at a slot machine. I have a degree. I don't make now the $80k/yr Craig made as a youth installing pools. My employees cartainly can't even dream of that. They're hardworking too, not the lazy entitled youth that you imagine is blowing all their money on smartphones and Netflix.
I'm terrified for my children as they enter the world, because I know they are not going to have the opportunity that even I had at their age. At least I have the awareness and humility to realize that. Seems the boomers think that, even though they were born into the greatest economic conditions in human history, that they're somehow better than kids today. It's all just a matter of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, right? Unfortunately for them, they can't see their bootstraps, because they are wading through a neck deep septic mess that previous generations have left for them. The greatest fault of the new generation is nihilism... And it's hard to blame them for that
@papertiger795 Boomer parents raised their kids, sent them to school, they are spending their retirement, not their kids. Make sure your kids get training for a job that will give them a future. I'm not sure what you find so hilarious. You picked your occupation, deal with it, if you like it good deal. There you go, blaming others for where you are in life. Maybe your kids will support you since that's what you seem to believe. I know that much didn't change in less than 20 years. All my nephews are living large, younger than you. If you don't like where you're at, only you can change it.
@@brucem8129 I know you can't fathom why I find these comments hilarious, boomer. That's what makes them hilarious.
@papertiger795 is that an insult, calling me "Boomer?" It's all good big guy, I wish you the best. And I never implied you didn't work hard, you deducted that on your own. I washed a lot of dishes and restaurants and know how hard a kitchen staff work. Good luck to you.
The main difference for the cost of motorcycle riding is a mindset. You said yourself that you bough your first bike as a cheaper form of transportation. Today, younger folks want a car (and a nice car) for transportation. The industry and the mindset is that motorcycles are toys to be used occasionally. Unlike Europe and many other Countries, we do not view bikes as transportation and dealers do not sell transportation, they sell toys. That's why they are "expensive".
Im a Millennial, used to race and ride trail bikes as a youngster, i would love to buy another bike but i simply do not have any disposable income.
My first and only new bike purchase was in 1972, a Kawasaki 350 triple. I had years of riding experience in the dirt, so riding street was expected. Since then, I've purchased dozens of used street bikes, most not running, and raised five kids around the culture of buy used and learn to fix it. None of them ride today as adults. Why? It's not the affordability, it's the added danger of our streets. It's a no-brainer bikes are deadly, but our streets are outta control with distracted driving, speed, hit and runs, and a general disrespect of others on the highways.
BTW, one of my favorite bikes I've owned for 25yrs is a Kawasaki Vulcan 750 with 60k + miles on the clock. It was a salvage bike. And a Honda GL500 with 74k+ miles that I paid $200 for in 2003.
A new high end motorcycle costs more than my 2 toyotas and my superhawk and wr250r combined 😢...insurance is up..registration..etc..san diego is the most expensive place to live
As a Boomer too, I bought my first new bike a 1974 Kawasaki KZ400 and paid cash after saving the money up. I've owned many new motorcycles in my lifetime but never did payments on any of them since I felt it was a luxury item and not needed (although that KZ was my only transportation for 4 months while I got the money saved up to fix my car.) re: 14% interest, yes I remember that, since a house I bought was financed at that rate. (re: 2006 VN900, I still own one.)
What about insurance and tag?
New rider here, age 46, and I was able to buy a new Goldwing at 3.99% interest. I could have gotten it for 1.99% if I could afford the 36 payments. So there are still low interest options out there. One of the guys in my riding group has a higher monthly payment for the same 6 year term on a 2018 Goldwing he just bought a few months because the interest rate is higher on used. So while the value may have dropped once I drove off the lot, it is still costing me less than a used one in the end.
Now, my son makes $100K/yr and is unable to afford to purchase a bike and he’s been looking at used in the $6-10K range. Between rent, car, food, and other basic living costs he’s barely able to make it living on his own. This has only gotten harder in the last several years with inflation and his salary not increasing with it. If he gave up all of his other forms entertainment he could probably afford it sooner, but he would be giving up the rest of his lifestyle to do it.
👍🏻 Thanks. I enjoyed that.
I saw all the Big Rock bands back in the day. Never paid over $10
There are plenty of reasons why the motorcycle industry is struggling, but one thing that might be hard for us older riders to accept is that younger generations are just not interested in biking, period, regardless of the price of the motorcycles.
spot on.
I would agree with you on this one. In 1985 I bought my first bike a 1984 CB650SC Nighthawk, rather than riding Dad's bikes, for $2821. I was 20 y.o., living at home and was saving for my first bike (whatever that would end up being) from when I was 12 y.o.! I waited, saved and met my goal!
I bought a one of these used with 8k miles in 1987 for $1100! I still think it required less maintenance than any subsequent motorcycle I’ve ever owned.
Younger buyers still have the magic combo of lightly used and 100% cash. My Mother was an accountant , and said credit was fine for a home or car to get to work, but toys like boats, planes, motorcycles, or in my current case a thermal imaging device are...strictly cash items. Saying I'd use a bike to ride to work would have had me laughed out of the house.
Not sure about boats, planes, and um -thermal imaging devices 😅but, motorcycles can definitely get you to work. I know lot's of people who do this -and my self for 15 years .
They can even be primary transpo for people willing to drive -say an older used car (ideally payed off) for the winter months. Also done it that way for 15 plus years.
I've found for passionate riders this is how most that can afford it buy new or even used (still friggin' expensive) Harely's, Indians, and basically any higher end motorcycle out there upwards of $20K -or the equivalent of what USED to be a car payment.
Not sure if doing it that way would still make your mother proud, but I'd say "cash item" is a term used loosely depending on priorities.
So on those notions I'd say =go have a blast picking up that new thermo devise!! Life is short😁
Motorcycles are not practical anymore. Modern motorcycles cost more to operate than small cars.
55 y o man here @ 15 y o I bought a Honda 750 sohc for lawn mowing and a couple hundred bucks . Fixed it up went to school work ect . To this day I buy used bikes fix them enjoy them sell them . I can afford any bike but I can't see buying a new one . The used market is flooded with great bikes .
Bought my first bike in 1985, it was an 81Kawasaki 440LTD , paid $400 for it and some assembly required, rode it several years. Your right the economy was bad, graduating high school in 82 with no real work skill and Louisiana being an oilfield state findind a job was hard, luckily my wife was managing an apartment complex so rent was free so that helped a lot. Still married after 40 years we own our own business and everything is paid for. At 61 i definitely don't want struggle in this economy, that being said all my vehicles are pre 2006, but as an automotive technician I can keep them going. I think if somebody wants to ride they will find a way, so don't give up hope these things come in waves like everything else, but the enthusiasts will always ride.
My first real street bike was a Kawasaki ZL600, I paid $3000 for it, that was all I had, I rode that sucker for 40,000 miles until something let go in the gear box. At the time a new Nighthawk was just coming out, bought one of those for 3999 out the door, rode that for three years until I t-boned a car, bought another new Nighthawk in 93 for the same price, rode that about 40,000 until I hit ice in NJ and did not want a re-built bike. The bike I spent the most money on is a 91 VFR750 that cost me 4500 with 4000 miles, I still own that bike today and it is pushing 100,000 miles, still gets up and goes 135 mph easy. Bikes are expensive, a new "Busa" will cost you 18,000 or more out the door. Peace, nice video, oh - I turn 60 next year don't know if I am a boomer or what.
$8 lathe
As a gen x who grew up dirt poor mom and dad couldn't give me hardly anything as a kid. Of course as a dad of 4 I worked 60 plus hour weeks to give my kids everything I could and thats a big mistake. Being a poor kid I'm now an adult who appreciates absolutely everything I have worked for. Part of the problem also is that the world keeps offering more and more and that's exactly what young people want. It's available so why can't I have it? It seems the pace of time keeps speeding up and many younger people don't have the same level of patience maybe that we older generations had in our youth. I was 8 in 78 and we moved to grandma's farm and I got to experience an outhouse for an Iowa winter till Dad could add a bathroom to the old house. Young people just don't understand how things used to be just as I couldn't truly understand the great depression. Of all the stuff I did give my kids the one regret I don't have is all of them received their first motorcycle from Dad on their 14th birthdays and they got their motorcycle permit the same day they got their driving permits.
You didn’t tell me to squeeze my lemon and now my lemon is unsquozed!!
I did at the end...
@@LivingOffTheSlabyep, my bad 🙂
I’m 32 years old and I agree with this video 100% I would argue that this generation of young people definitely have a harder time with housing . You dont see new starter homes being built like the boomers had . Every new house today being built is 3000 sq feet and cost 400,000 . We need to bring back starter homes . Small modest housing
It's not that motorcycles are too expensive, it's that American motorcycles are too expensive for what they are .... There's lots of great motorcycles under 13k.... But the problem isn't the 13k.. it's all the other stuff - rent is WAY more expensive, phones weren't a thing at 1500 a year, higher bills, more costly distractions.... Oh and a huge thing I almost forgot - space to park/secure a motorcycle
Leasing a bike from the dealer service department is a big addition to cost.
I fixed up many old bikes and rode them with little cost.
So a person affords the buy in price but they are locked into a service program with set cost per mile/day.
Funny how we are told "customers want these bikes" yet sales are down across the board.
Shareholders want to be paid so welcome to the landfill economy. Being late stage capitalism it is better to chase high profit/low unit sales than to put the world on simple, durable motorcycles.
Welcome to the Bar at the end of the motorcycling universe.