I've been riding for over 44 years. I own a 2017 SGS Harley, a 2018 Iron 1200, a 2012 Bonnie and the one that I love to ride around town and exploring dirt roads is my 2015 XT250. Yea and a I seem to get more looks and compliments from people. Especially from younger people.
I agree with you 100% Especially on the marketing and availability of smaller engine practical bikes. I've owned some bigger bikes and opted to buy a cheap little 250 dual sport to use for commuting to work. It's slower than my big bike, but it is adequate for running around town and can even do small highway runs. I think if manufacturers made more traditional sub 500cc bikes for $5000 or less, they would sell a ton of them.
Four seats and only one of them ever being used is exactly why I sold my car and made my KLR 650 my primary mode of transportation. I'd rather saddle up rather than buckle up any day!
I know many people that have the "I'll either have that $20,000+ Harley or I'll have no bike at all!!!" mentality. Well, they can't afford a $20,000 bike so they don't have one at all.
I here ya. Buddy of mine wants to get back into riding, but is waiting to save up for a KTM 1290. He could afford to pick up a nice dual sport tomorrow, but instead is gunna burn another riding season to wait.
You make a lot of good points. I never thought about how nobody gets flack for buying a civic, but a grom is for beginners, but it's true. Also, I never see advertisements for motorcycles!
I have a 2016 FZ-07 and a 2016 R6 and I just went and bought a brand new Grom.Each bike has a it's own purpose.In fact I might sell the R6,It's just a lot of bike.Sometimes too much.Plus I'm old.Some young kid should be on it.I look forward to putting a lot of miles on my Grom.
TwinCR, I am a Baby Boomer. When I was 16, I dreamed of owning a motorcycle. M.Wards had a 175cc motorcycle in their catalog that I wanted, so I saved my $1.26 an hour money until I was 18. My mother would not sign off on me owning a motorcycle before I was old enough to pay for it and insurance without her paying for anything (dad died 11 years earlier so he had no say). Once I turned 18, I took the car and motorcycle written test, passed and went out looking for a motorcycle. I found my first motorcycle, a Honda 305cc Super Hawk at a garage sale. I asked the seller how the gears worked and how to operate the bike. Oh ya, I had never ridden a motorcycle before. Bought the MC and took off on the highway, which a "learner's permit" said was a "no-no bad Baby Boomer" (could not ride at night, on the highway or with a passenger with a permit). I rode that MC from Feb 1974 to June 74 when I joined the Army to get money so I could buy a bigger motorcycle and get the GI Bill to go to college (during Vietnam, I joined). So, the Army sent me to Korea and when I came back, I bought a 1976 Kawasaki KZ900, one of the fastest back then. I had saved $150 out of $200 per month, each month, I was in the Army so that I could buy a bike new. I bought it new, got on it, rode it to the DMV and passed the test without having ridden since June 1974 (this was March 1976). There was no credit cards back then and no teenager got a loan for a motorcycle. Maybe the Millennials might want what they can't afford and do not want to wait to pay cash for it??? I am now over 60 and have owned over 40 motorcycles in my 750,000 plus miles on motorcycles. I have enjoyed all size MC and have never ridden a dirt bike or owned one (no interest is why). So, if the Millennials looked at life in the "long term", they might find that a MC saves a lot of money and is good for their soul..... I currently have 2 Harleys (Road King and Softail Heritage Springer) for just cruising, a Honda Goldwing 1500 for grocery runs (holds 8 bags of groceries) and a Triumph for fun. It takes 44 years to acquire that many bikes, but I started at $1.26 an hour and worked "up" to $200 per month (Army pays more now) and as I increased my pay (ended up with 4 college degrees thanks to the GI Bill), I bought bigger bikes. NOW, it is time to go back to the smaller, lighter, fun bikes!!! I want a 500cc light bike and soon, I will trade that Triumph in for one, then one of the HDs go, but the Goldwing is for food runs so it stays (I have put 134,000 miles on that GW! So, MC can last a lifetime if taken care of properly and I do my own work on all my bikes/cars)... Take care brother.
A Babbit thanks for sharing! Very cool to hear about your experience overtime acquiring so many bikes, and four college degrees. Im inspired to hopefully follow a similar path. Btw it's awesome you had a super hawk, same bike Robert Pirsig rode while on his famous road trip that lead to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance. The kawi is impressive as well very iconic bikes.
That 305cc would do 90 mph, only it took 90 miles to stop with those drum brakes! Yep, if only I had kept those two bikes, my 64 Cadillac Coupe De Ville, my Apache 3 on the tree truck and on and on. Instead of having an IRA that will be taxed during retirement, I could have had a collection of vehicles that I could have sold tax free! Take care brother.
I miss my mt 125cc it was great on petrol, like 130mpg I could fill it up £7 and forget about it for a few months commuting 30 odd miles a week in the UK compared to double that on my 900 moto guzzi and I'm ruining my nice bike. I'd love a grom
If the younger generation falls prey to this philosophy of life that they should "feel" everything and what they "feel" is truth, they'll never do anything they feel is dangerous, risky, out of their comfort zone. The mainstream media preys on this phenomenon every day. Politics relies on this phenomenon. Feel, therefore the facts don't matter. I've ridden over 50 bikes over the years (demos mostly), owned 10 of them (one at a time). I've been on Vtwins, parallel twins, singles, triples, fours. I've been on 70 hp and 150 hp and 180 hp machines. The most fun I ever had was the 2007 SV650. I could have kept it, upgraded the suspension and brakes, fixed the ergonomics for my liking and put 100,000 miles on it. Seriously. I don't regret getting the wide variety of experiences on bikes but since I've only been able to store one bike, I have to compromise a lot of great aspects of motorcycles and go with what makes the most sense.
The stats are only looking at New bike sales. Millennials are frugal, and we buy used bikes because we dont like financing shit. If they grew up in the recession they would understand why. My childhood was made miserable by my parents' debt for the entire obama administration (aka the recession). I love motorcycles, but no fuckin way would i take a loan for one. I pay cash or i dont buy. I bet millennials ride more than gen X. If you think about it, Gen X is the reason millennials dont ride as much as we should. Gen X feverishly taught us to fear motorcycles. They also tought us to fear debt. So thats bad news for the mfgs. They're now competing against used bikes. The grom is popular because there are no alternatives on the used market for significantly cheaper.
I'm 26 and I totally agree . if you have to finance it you can't afford it. So many used bikes with low miles on the market that there are more choices than the dealerships here
I'm not choosing a small bike not because I like power, but because usually sub 500 cc bikes are really small for me; got the nc750 on the main reason that it felt good riding it, the fuel consumption, trunk and dct came as a sort of bonus. That said, I would be happy if they would start making some smaller engine bikes with a bigger frame. I rode a 50 cc and a 125 when I was learning how to ride; the 125 was enough for a city bike, even the 50 cc bike could've worked for riding around if the damned thing would've been bigger.
I feel ya there, I'm 6'1" so I'll take the ergos of my KLR 650 any day for a long ride. I'm fine tolerating small bikes though, but that's just how my personal priorities are. Btw nice pick with the NC, I really like those bikes for all the thought Honda put into them. Seems like everything just makes sense on em. If I could only own one bike the NC would be on my consideration list.
thanks, it really is a great bike, feels great riding, good position. Before getting it I was riding a rented kawasaki er5n, not a bad bike, but at 6 4, more than 2h on it would've killed my legs. The NC was really designed to be practical over performance, the engine may give more a car feel than a motorcycle, but I'm not into riding for the speed. Actually I think speed on motorcycles combined with some bad luck can result in some serious accidents.
Most Millennials are raised in front of a computer screen, in general they don't like outdoor activities Imo. Hollywood and the media don't push motorcycling like they did back in the 60s and 70s, and when they did, it was more of a macho thing, which accounts for the remaining public stigma against smaller cc bikes. All your reasons for motorcycle ownership are valid, and are some of the same reasons Ive ridden all my life.
Your right on about the macho persona ad pitch. There is one exception tho, and its kinda funny. Ever notice in Rambo first blood he's riding an xt250 lol
I will be a regular subscriber ! thanks for creating some awesome footage! My channel is going through a bit of a bumpy road, but come spring I will be making some major investments and hopefully back at it!
I agree that millennials aren't buying new bikes because they're to expensive but buying a 250 is not the answer. I had an xt250. it was ok but it was built really cheap and reliability on it wasn't great either. people don't buy 250's because they think the engine is to small so much as the fact that the general build quality is really low. they frames are heavy, the brakes suck, the suspension sucks, tire selection sucks, the gas tanks are really small etc. They also don't hold there value. If you buy a 250 as a beginner bike with the intention of selling it in a year or so expect to get half of what you paid for it. the fact is for the same money as a new 250 you can buy a used 600-650cc which are much higher build quality and more reliable. small bikes are crappy investments and most millennials see through it and buy there bikes off the used market. if 250 road bikes are gonna make a comeback, than they need to be built to the level of quality 250 dirt bikes are but they would be encroaching the price of a 650 at that point.
Good video man but you got to up the volume of your voice and lower the music I can't hear what you're saying and I got my phone on the counter while I'm washing dishes with the volume maxed out
Groms are little motorcycles and I'm 6'1" lol. I also do a lower camera angle than most motovoggers to get a better view of the motorcycles I'm riding, so you probably don't notice in other Grom videos.
