The state of the motorcycling market

Dec 21 2009 Harriet Ridley

The state of the motorcycling market

THE show season is over for another year. Despite the global recession, we've seen quite a few new motorcycles break cover - especially from Ducati.

The manufacturer from Bologna appears to have been unfazed by the economic downturn, investing a fortune in research and development to introduce four new models to its 2010 stable. These include the Multistrada that's been busy outshining all other new 2010 models with its state-of-the-art technology - even Honda's VFR1200F.

Of course, we didn't get to see the eagerly-anticipated new VFR because of Honda's decision not to attend any of this year's shows.

This paved the way for manufacturers such as Ducati to steal the limelight. But if recent launch reports from the VFR are anything to go by, it looks like Ducati stealing the column inches with its high-profile presence at the shows is the least of Honda's worries.

For four years now we've been reading reports on an imminent all-singing all-dancing 1200cc VFR. Expectations were sky-high: this was the bike that would break new ground in the sports-touring category, just as the first ever VFR750 did when it came out all those years ago.

But rather than being blown away by it, the first members of the press to ride the VFR1200F have been unimpressed. Reports speak of a shaft-driven VFR that's too heavy for sports riding, and that has neither the fuel range nor the pannier space desirable for touring.

They say it's uninspiring both to ride and to look at. This doesn't bode well for what is meant to be a very important new model for Honda.

As expected, 2009 has been a depressing year for new bike sales. But it's not all doom and gloom. November was a better month for sales - but still 24.4 per cent lower than last year. This compares favourably to August for instance, a dire month for the industry with sales down a worrying 30.5 per cent.

The naked bike class - or bikes without a fairing - actually saw a growth of 3.4 per cent in September, with this increase in sales compared to last year continuing through to the end of the year.

Naked bikes have now become the biggest-selling motorcycle category in the UK.

Weird really - you'd think British bikers would need all the weather protection they could muster from a fairing. Weirder still, the most popular bikes in this class aren't the Bandits, Street Triples or CB1000s. Instead they're the learner-legal 125cc bikes, with Honda's CBF125 leading the way, followed closely by the Yamaha YBR125. These two models have taken one fifth of the market share between them.

The UK has always been known for its predilection for fast and furious superbikes. But this category now takes third place, with scooters of all things in second. It's pretty obvious from the statistics that buyers are looking for a cheap and practical machine to use all year round rather than an expensive summer toy - no doubt to do away with the costly expense of commuting via public transport.

The hike in UK bike prices in 2009 blamed on a rising Yen and cost of raw materials have no doubt contributed to a fall in demand for new sports bikes.

A brand new Yamaha YZF-R1 retailed at an outrageous £11,000 in 2009. And if you thought that was bad, Yamaha has jacked up the prices even further for 2010, with a new R1 set to cost an eyewatering £12,500.

And it's not just the superbikes. Yamaha's YZF-R6 supersport machine, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2009 and won the world supersport championship this year for the first time, is set to cost £9,000 in the new year. That's proper money - more than you'd have expected to pay for an all-singing, all-dancing 1000cc superbike not so long ago. The days of affordable new motorcycles in the UK appear to be coming to an end.

No doubt this means the used bike market here will flourish as people turn to more affordable second-hand models.

The price of used bikes will of course go up in line with new bike prices, with a well-kept second-hand model costing about the same as a brand new bike did a year ago. This recycling of old goods may be good news for our planet.

But there's nothing like buying a brand new motorcycle. The smell of new parts, the excitement of zero mileage on the clocks, the tightness of an engine that's never run before

British motorcyclists may just have to bust that bank balance.