(VII) DEVELOPMENTS SINCE 2000:
The 21st. Century brings a new revival to the motorcycle industry:
Since the new century, there has been a great deal of innovation and creativity occuring in the field of motorcycling. In this section I will attempt to cover some of the new directions (and already some old trends) which are taking place.
Below is a Big Dog chopper:
By the 21st. century, the custom bike & chopper craze had hit. There have been over 30+ specialty builders building factory customs. Most used an S&S after market engine, but there there many other manufacturers producing Harley cloned engines as well!
The 21st. Century Chopper:
The first "chopper" craze occured from around 1968 through the early 1970's. The new movement started around 1998 and continued to around 2008. The primary difference between the two time periods are in the seats (the 70's choppers had the funny looking ripple seats with a high back) and the size of the back tire. The 21st. century period had wide back tires sometimes being larger than 300mm. The bike shown below is a 250mm tire.
Since the late 1990s, motorcycle events grew by huge numbers!
The Sturgis rally in South Dakota has been large for decades. Other events like Datona and Laconia have also been large for years. The difference is, since 2000 the rallys have exploded into events which can go beyond 500,000 people. There are also many new rallys. There are numerous regional events which have been around for less than a decade. Events like ROT in Texas has grown to 40/50,000 people as has the Bikes, Blues, & BBQ event in Arkansas (promoters claimed over 100,000 last year). More events with larger numbers is the trend.
Buell is dropped by Harley:
Eric Buell leaves Harley in 1982 to build and race his own motorcycles. He meets with some success and is financed by Harley who buys 51% of the stock in 1993. Harley buys the remainder of Buell stock in 1998. Buell develops some serious sport bikes like the Firebolt series and Lightening series. In 2008, he builds a competative sport bike using a Rotax engine. The 1125R was very succesaful on the track winning some major races in 2009. Harley drops Buell that same year. The Buell story is an interesting one!
Honda's New Super Exotic VFR 1200:
Rumors float around from 2009 about a new super radical motorcycle from Honda. That bike is the 2010 VFR1200. The engine has a new thin wall construction allowing it to be smaller than the 800cc VFR which has been around for years. It also has a twin clutch "automatic" or six speed transmission as an option. It's 1200cc engine is claimed to be over 170hp. Experts are already saying the bike has future technology which could radically change the industry. For more about Honda's "automatic" motorcycles go to: www.markbayersvintagehonda.9f.com and click on "automatics!
Trends since 2000:
1. The factory chopper movement grew then subsided. Brands like Big Dog, Iron Horse, Desporado, Surgical Steel, Orange County Choppers, and many more (well over 30+ companies) started because of the escalated price of Harley Davidsons. Many still exist, some do not, but it was a major movement at the beginning of the century;
2. As stated above, bike events grew in numbers of events and the number of attendees. Events like Sturgis and Daytona have grown into huge events;
3. Buell closed it's doors in 2009, Ducati and Triumph sales have grown significantly, and after 2009, Harley has had a huge reduction in profitability and sales numbers;
4. There has been a renewed interest in reviving old brands (like Indian, Norton, and Royal Enfield as a few examples) and interest in totally new motorcycle brands (Motus, Rohr, Drysdale, Ridley, and British Matisse); (note: Ridley started in 1995 but really didn't grow till after 2003)
5. For a pictorial view of how motorcycles have changed in appearance since the early years and the general model categories, go to: www.vcme.mysite.com/photo3_5.html
Aprilla, an Itialin firm which began as a small company in 1973, and begins growing fast after the early 2000's. Their sport bikes are as sophisticated as any today and appear to be on the ride!
BMW, best known for it's "boxer" flat twin's, begins to produce some state of the art sport bikes like the S1000RR pictured below.
