For some time now, Harley-Davidson has been trying to fight the stereotyped image of its customer base as being predominantly older, Caucasian males. Harley-Davidson‘s Stereotypical Harley campaign became a big part of the company’s advertising efforts in 2012, featuring real Harley-Davidson owners and showcasing the large diversity of its riders.

Fighting against preconceptions can be difficult but Harley-Davidson has some numbers to prove its motorcycles are popular with other demographics including young adults, women and minorities. Citing data from automotive industry research group Polk, Harley-Davidson says it was the market leader in the U.S. in 2012 for adults ages 18-34, women, African-Americans and Hispanics. And these are more than just a blip; they represent a continuing trend, going on for five consecutive years.

According to Polk, Harley-Davidson sold nearly twice as many street motorcycles to adults ages 18-34 than its nearest competitor in 2012. Harley-Davidson was also the most popular brand for American women, selling more street bikes to female customers than all other brands combined. The report also says nearly half of all street bikes sold to either African-Americans or Hispanics were Harleys. Continue Reading »

Motorcycle owners are more satisfied with their purchases this year and are willing to spend more money to ride, according to the 2011 U.S. Motorcycle Competitive Information Study from J.D. Power and Associates.

Compiling responses from 8,123 customers who purchased new motorcycles between Sept. 2010 and May 2011, the study found customers are more satisfied with their purchases this year than customers from a year ago. Customers reported increased satisfaction with their new motorcycles and with the cost of ownership.

Customers were especially satisfied with the sale experience, with the study producing an overall score of 856 on a 1000-point scale, and improvement from the score of 838 reported last year.

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The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has started what it calls the first-ever naturalistic study of motorcycling, with 100 motorcycles equipped with data logging equipment to record real-world riding situations over the course of a year.

The information will valuable data that will help shape the MSF’s rider education and rider training program and other safety initiatives.

“Our priority with this research is to observe the participants on a day-to-day basis,” says Dr. Sherry Williams, MSF director of quality assurance and research. “We’re installing unobtrusive cameras and recording devices on the bikes so the participants soon forget they’re being recorded. We can learn a tremendous amount by just observing their normal, routine riding behavior.”

Each of the 100 motorcycles is equipped with five cameras, a GPS, radar, machine vision lane tracker, accelerometer, gyroscopes, radar and sensors for the brake lever and pedal input. The equipment will be used to gather data in real environments, totaling about 500,000 miles of riding. The test motorcycles were prepared by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

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Suzuki is considering moving its motorcycle research facility from its current coastal location to its main factory in Hamamatsu, Japan, to decrease the risk of damage from future tsunamis.

According to a report in the Nikkei business daily, Suzuki is acquiring more land in Hamamatsu to house the research center and other facilities. Suzuki CEO Osamu Suzuki first brought up the idea to relocate some of its higher risk coastal properties during its 2011-2012 fiscal year forecast report. Among the technologies Suzuki is current developing is the use of alternative fuels to power vehicles, such as the fuel cell powered Suzuki Bergman scooter pictured above.

According to the Nikkei report, Suzuki is also considering moving its motorcycle engine production from Hamamatsu.

[Source: Nikkei via Reuters]

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Back in November, we posted a story about motorcycle riding being linked to impotence, citing a study from Japan that was published in the International Journal of Impotence Research. Yes, apparently there is an entire journal with an unrelenting focus on our fun bits. I digress. Anyhoo, the study suggested that men who ride motorcycles are at risk of impotence and urinary problems due to the vibration of the engine damaging nerves in our happy place.

MO readers piped up in large numbers, adamant that years of riding hadn’t prevented their little soldier’s from standing at attention. According to patent-granted author Randall Dale Chipkar, they may be half right. “More studies are needed to determine the cause,” says Chipkar, who believes that the focus of the study was based on limited information and too few variables, making it inconclusive the motorcycle seats are the cause of impotence.

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Lawlessness, rampant sexual promiscuity, theft, gambling, drugs and being a general menace to society are the stripes motorcycle riders wear… 40 years ago! No doubt the image of motorcycling in the U.S. hit a low spot starting in 1947 with the infamous, and allegedly staged, photo of a Boozefighter motorcycle club member surrounded by empty beer bottles in the gutter, lying next to his bike. There’s more detail to that story, but this incident eventually became the premise for the Marlon Brando classic, “The Wild Ones.”

A couple decades later, during the ‘60s and ‘70s, the Hell’s Angels became the face of all that was wrong with motorcycling in the public’s mind. Since then it’s only been in the past 15 or 20 years that motorcycling seems to have largely made a full public image recovery. Though there’s still a faction or two that seem to keep biking with one foot in the grave. Regardless, in the U.S. the image of motorcycles and riding them has come light years from where it once was for a very long time.

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