VOL. 56 ISSUE 9 MARCH 5, 2019 P119
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championships waned, the world-
wide popularity of Valentino Rossi,
and the addition of two American
rounds of the championship from
2008 to 2015.
Note the massive bump in
MotoGP search volume at the
end of 2015. That was during the
height of the Marc Marquez/Val-
entino Rossi feud, combined with
the thrilling championship battle
between then Yamaha teammates
Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
Motocross and Supercross
This graph clearly shows the
seasonal spikes of the supercross
search phrase. Year after year,
every January, supercross search
activity rockets and slowly fades
during the racing season and lies
practically dormant during summer
months. One surprising aspect
of motocross is the fact that the
search phrase actually surged
during the start of the recession
and has fallen since. It also shows
a seasonal uptick during summer
months. While the search phrase
supercross appears on this graph
to be more popular, you see by
the average, represented by the
bars on the left side of the graph,
motocross has considerably higher
overall search activity.
Harley-Davidson and Indian
Harley-Davidson is still king when
it comes to head-to-head searches
versus Indian Motorcycles, but it's
much closer since Polaris Industries
took over Indian in 2013. The mas-
sive spike in Indian search came in
August of 2013, when the company
announced three all-new Indian
models. You can see the effects of
the recession on Harley-Davidson
searches, but the encouraging note
for Milwaukee is starting in 2015 the
search for the brand has bounced
back to almost pre-recession levels.
Look for an expanded edition of
this story on the Cycle News web-
site on Wednesday, March 6. CN
MOTOCROSS AND SUPERCROSS
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
interest in motorcycle racing is less
than 20 percent of what it was in
its 15-year search peak in 2004.
MotoGP and Superbike
This graph shows U.S. search vol-
ume comparing MotoGP (blue line)
to the generic phrase superbike (red
line). This shows us the interest in
MotoGP has been rising for the last
15 years, while the interest in super-
bike has been in a gradual decline.
Note how the search phrase
"superbike"—which could encom-
pass a number of things from World
Superbike to domestic superbike
championships, or even people
simply looking for information on
big-bore sportbikes—was more
popular in 2004 than MotoGP.
The search phrases ran fairly
evenly throughout the 2000s, with
MotoGP taking a slight edge, but
by the start of the 2010s, interest
in MotoGP in this country rises
rapidly, while superbike dwindles.
This shows us that MotoGP is
one series bucking the trend of a
decreasing interest in motorcycle
racing. Perhaps it's a consolida-
tion of road racing fans as interest
in America's domestic road racing
