Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

CN CN ~ Q,) ~ o .... u o 6 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Joe Parkhurst iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Motorcycle sales are going to depend greatly upon whether or not we have another energy crisis. It may seem simplistic to say, but history has borne it out. 1980 has become, in terms of sales curves, almost a mirror of 1979 sales which began to increase toward the end of the year and into 1980. Gasoline prices were soaring; it was often hard to fmd. Sales of motorcycles were up 48% in January, 1980, over the same month in 1979. They have been sliding downward ever since. What happened? Gasoline became plentiful again, and we quickly got used to $1.30 and higher per-gallon prices. We can expect that sales of bikes lor 1980 will only be slightly, if at all, over sales of 1979. That year, bike sales increased 10.4% over the previous year, 1978. We all know too well what happened to gasoline supplies and prices that year. Sales of motorcycles took off and soared to record levels. The motorcycle industry has reacted dramatically to the effects of 1979 and are still doing so by predicting another boom year is coming in 1981. I don't believe it will happen - unless gas supplies begin to dwindle, and/or another giant leap in prices occurs. Neither of these things is of course going to happen until after the Presidential elections_ It just isn't good politics and wouldn't help Carter get re-elected. Which should say a lot about who controls these things. Another thing has occurred that is having a dramatic effect on motorcycle sales this year: About mid-March the President asked American business to put tighter controls on credit in an effort to slow inflation. It has probably done just that, and helped place at least some limited control on the recession. But the effect it has had on motorcycling is considerable_ The President then asked the Federal Reserve bank to voluntarily establish a set of guidelines for member banks. Among the things he asked was that they restrict loans for non·essential purchases. At the same time the Federal Reserve decided to exclude home and automobile loans from the restrictions, but forgot to include bikes in the auto category. After a lot of appealing the Feds backed off, but by then it was too late. Just when people began to tum, and return, to bikes because of their fuel efficiency, banks began to make it next to impossible for all those other than the highest credit rated to get 10aIlll for bikes. The 1980 boom fell apart. By June sales were only a little less than 8% of the same period in 1979, by July it was worse. It is too soon to tell what will happen between now and the end of the year, but it appears that little will change, barring the yet unforseen "crisis. " As I said before, motorcycle sales for I~!·~~~.t~li~,P.e!l~.l~wJY¥~!' Joe Parkhurst is one of the most active Kathy Weinert's involvement in the forces in the world of motorcycle- motorcycle industry has been virtually. oriented publishing. It all started in lifelong. "I really have been a motor1961 when, while working as Art cycle enthusiast since I was a baby," Director of Road ~ Track magazine, says the daughter of well known inhe founded Cycle World magazine. dustry figure Bob Hansen who's Growth was rapid, and in 1969, a new worked for Honda, Kawasaki and was company - Bond, Parkhurst and Team Hansen in the days of the Yvon Bond - was formed as the result of a DuHamel!Kawasaki connection. merger of Road ~ Track and Cycle A graduate of the University of World. In 1973, CBS Publishing pur- Wisconsin where she earned her bachchased Bond, Parkhurst and Bond. elor's degree in psychology, she has Joe stayed with CBS until 1976 when been active editorially with Hester Commurucations, Inc. and Motorcycle he retired from t he magazine field. According to Bob Atkinson who Dealernews for the past two years. Prewrote the author's biogra-phy in Park- viously, she served in editorial, adverhurst's latest effort, the Biker's Guide tising sales and public relations capato Baja, "He intended to spend his city with Stadium Motorsports, protime cruising the world in his sail- ducers of the Coca-Cola Superbowl of boat, but things just didn't work out Motocross. Ms. Weinert has also that way. Instead he started Parkhurst functioned as a freelance writer and Publishing Company one more time public relations consultant for such and is currently publishing books. " (In promotional organizations as Saddleaddition to the Biker's Guide to Baja, back Promotions, Grand National Parkhurst also did A Hurricane Motocross and Trippe-Cox Associates. Named Vetter, the book on Craig In additional to her promotional inVetter's design work with Triumph volvement in both professional and and BSA motorcycles. amateur racing events, Kathy is an Parkhurst's newsletter Motorcycle active motorcycle enthusiast, racer Business News has become accepted as and trail rider in her own right. Currently Kathy Weinert is Editor an important source of "inside" info from the business end of motorcycling. at Motorcycle Dealernews, the nation s He's unearthed, then published some leading motorcycle industry trade facts and figures that have been all but publication, a vantage point which provides her with the insight to "m'te unobtainable from other sources. What follows is his '81 prediction the following column. based on those (and other) facts and figures. whether or not another crisis arises. I don't mean that motorcycles will stop selling entirely, only that any growth in the market on a large scale is going to hinge on gasoline supplies and prices. The hot selling street bi~es for 1981 will probably be the same bikes, plus a few new significant entries, that are selling in 1980. They will be mostly of 6S0cc displacement and less. Honda's best seller in 1980 has been the 400cc, Yamaha's best is a 650cc (but it is just slightly ahead of sales of their 400). Kawasaki's best is a 440 and Suzuki's leader is their SSOcc. Pal1 of the sales .. <~~.' ;,. .• (, .. success of these machines can be laid to sales price, partly to their fuel economy, and partly to their availability since manufacturers tend to make and import more smaller displacement bikes than big touring superbikes. The dirt bike and dual pu"rpose market though smaller, is doing very well this year and this condition will more than likely continue through 198J. Availability of places to ride them will naturally have a cOIllliderable bearing on where that market goes in the future, not only for 1981 but forever, probably. • . . . # ( \ . John Wyckoff has been involved with motorcycling, as he puts it: "since din was new. .. He was a racer "of no dis~ tinction at all (read lousy), " a motor_ cycle parts man, mechanic, ran three motorcycle shops and for 1.5 years sold motorcycle accessories to dealers in the U. S. and overseas. Over the years, he has served as Sales Manager for Dixie International, Director of Marketing at Drag Specialties, and he's now President of Fitch· Wyckoff International, a marketing company which represents Hein Gen'cke Leathers, Custom Chrome, Inc. and Calafia. He has written stories and columns for Cycle News, Cycle Guide, Road Rider, MPN, IMTJ, Street Choppe.rs and others. (John's most recent wnting/ photo project is coverage of the Aspencade Motorcyclist Convention for Cycle News.) He has served on the American Motorcyclist Association Board of Trustees and on the Board of Directors of the Motorcycle Trade Association. Fitch- Wyckoff International is a member ofthe Motorcycle Industry Council and serves on the Aftermarket Committee. He s an active motorcyclist and uses his motorcycle daily for transportation as well as for touring. John's wealth of "hands-on" training and motorcycle business experience certainly qualifies him as an authority on the motorcycle marketplace. Several new bikes for 1981 WIll affect my forecast; for one, the Yamaha VtwiIIlI which, though large in displacement, reponedly deliver high fuel efficiency. Not that anyone would buy an over $3,000 bike because it got good mileage. Even Harleys get that. Harley, incidentally, is huning this year, primarily I feel, due to the credit crunch which tends to impact highpriced bikes more than say the $3,000· and·less machines. Honda is introducing a fully equipped SOOcc touring bike soon. They feel. and I tend to agree, that fuel efficient, lower-priced" smaller

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