04-04-2017, 11:53 AM
(01-15-2017, 01:48 AM)Capo_imp Wrote: The only places in the US where, broadly, a motorbike can replace a car, and bring economic as well as convenience benefits, are with single adults (or those with abiding pillion partners) in major cities. Parking, insurance, threading traffic, etc, can tilt towards a bike vs a car. It's why there are more bikes than you'd think in NYC.
Postwar Europe saw the motorbike with sidecar as family transport, until small, cheap, somewhat reliable cars became available. And standards of living and consumer expectations rose.
Motorcycles are destined to be passion and hobby devices for the vast majority of consumers in the developed world.
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"Threading traffic" as it is done in North America is a joke.
The main advantage of using a motorcycle for commuting in the rest of the world lies in the fact that it is perfectly normal for a motorcyclist to move between lanes blocked with slow moving (or not moving) vehicular traffic. It is likewise normal for for a motorcycle to pull ahead of the cars stopped at lights. Parking for motorcycles is as a rule free where car drivers pay for it.
I am flabbergasted by the short-sightedness of motorcycle industry in Canada and the US. They don't seem to understand that by selling motorcycles as nothing but expensive toys their customer base is dwindling due to simple biology. As somebody mentioned, millennials do not by into this "toy philosophy" in sufficient numbers to keep them in business. They - the industry - are the only force that can push for traffic laws changes ("lane splitting" is a good start, availability and cost of downtown parking commensurate with the space used comes next) that will make commuting to and from work by a motorcycle an attractive choice in the US and Canada. The motorcycling community here is unfortunately overwhelmingly interested only in joy-riding, not in economical and practical transportation, and is thus not of any help in pushing for change.