Liked, "any bike that keeps you riding is a great bike."

I think it depends if you’re expecting to make money on the sale of a Cat N bike. There is a market for them, just as long as they are priced accordingly. You buy a Cat N for a grand, spend £500 fixing it up, expect to sell it for a grand again.

I have a bike with 150HP and an A2 bike. I love them both. The A2 bike is the only machine I've bought two of (after one was written off in an accident). There's something wonderful about the power of my Z1000 but something equally (but differently) wonderful about my CB500X. I can't see myself giving up either. The A2 license vs A license is a very odd system that I don't think benefits the motorcycle community. There has to be a better way to give sensible progression without the cost.

LOL... saw the beginning of the vid and thought to myself.... that looks like willington street... Nice to see a local guy uploading bike vlogs. TC bud, thanks for uploading. (lived and biked around the area for 36 years

Never thought for one moment that I’d enjoy watching someone going to M&S in Maidstone, but I did 😊

Blimey mate Mark's & Sparks❗️😲she does have expensive taste😁👍 Good to see you're still enjoying the bike😎👊

You are so right, the perfect bike is the one that suits you whatever it is.

There's some new bargains to be had on Cl if you buy in winter

TomTom40. It’s great to see you back on the bike. I remember you from way back when 😅😅

A lot of young people are soft snowflakes didn't play outside when kids and did not take risks with games like seeing how far you could jump off garage roofs and making high dangerous rope swings.im 59 and my generation had outdoor lives in cubs and scouts doing things that health and safety have stopped we were adventurous youngsters even when I started work on building sites there was no health and safety in place .I was riding motorbikes on the rd from the age of 13 ,we were used to taking risks ,so when I wanted a bike I just borrowed as much money as I could and took the risk,our parents had tougher young lives than us so they didn't rap us up in cotton wool .to have things and a good active life you have to man up and stop making excuses

Tomtom 40. Very generous of you. Love your videos.

Hi Tom , Include me in please. Tomtom40

Tom Tom 40

❤would love this

Hi Bikemates, I’ve always wanted a Tomtom 40

Tomtom40. Glad you're keeping well buddy.

NEV! WE ALL KNOW WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE NOW!!!😲🤔🤣

Tomtom40... thanks Neville 😊

you only have to look on companies house at the profit margins to give a massive clue - my kawasaki dealer is part of the wheels group - 22/23 they made £350K profit from a £16M turnover - 23/24 they only made £58K from a similar turnover, now that's a big drop - I do hope they stay afloat

I like cl I'm thinking about it untill March

In the 60s it was fighting rockers that was to decline motor cycling, in the 70s oil crisis, in the 80s not bad, 90s 100 bhp limits proposed, very high Japanese prices (circa 98) noughties, eu type approval,leaded fuel ban , moving on, e10 anti- tampering etc etc etc etc.. non of it as ever affected my 50 love affair with riding a bike, so ill just carry on regardless 😊😊

40 years ago nearly all bikes could be fettled at home or on your front pavement. Not now ….. horrendous workshop fees force me to only ride carb bikes now. If riders could service their own bikes they wouldn’t need to buy new ones.

Motorcycling was a man’s of transport, cheap bikes, cheap repairs. Demographic of youth making it too hard and too expensive to succeed old codgers like me. Bikes are now computers. We dont need it as it adds£££ and awful repair bills. Uk is a minor market in the world. Thanks uk govt

Same happened in the late 80s and 90s. It's definitely a lack of disposable income for most. Maybe that's why buying and repairing Cat N bikes off eBay is so popular? On a side note, it's great to see more women getting into bikes. Looks like it's the latest thing for young women on social media. Perhaps the smaller middle weight bikes are perfect for that demographic and for older riders. Ride safe

the bikes are TOO EXPENSIVE.. and big dealerships have lost that cozy feel like they are on YOUR side trying to help you keep rolling.. they are just franchises looking at £ targets.. i only go in main dealerships to look at the bikes.. i wont ever let main dealer touch my bike.. too expensive and we have suffered 2 incidents of complete mugging off.. ive learnt my lesson.. i now have royal enfield 650 for weekends .. i can fix it myself... and 300 scooter for commuting.. i can fix it myself...

I got my 2 most recent bikes thinking with them being Suzuki and Yamaha, that I'd have good dealership support... seems like now my Aprilia has the best support as I no longer have a local dealership for the Japanese bikes. The manufacturers need to do more to protect and support the dealership network, people will just not buy a new bike if there is no where local that they can get them serviced and maintain the warranty.

Because they sell KTM’s .. 🤣

I'm probably part of the problem . Riding 36 years and only ever bought one bike new.

Drop your greedy prices and stop all the silly tech, hey presto we will buy.

Because many have become too greedy, in my opinion. Adim fee £95? Delivery £200? This that and the other! I only buy my bikes off of the small business. I get to know them personally, have a chat, have a coffee. It's part of the motorcycling world and family. I definitely wouldn't buy anything from a young sales guy who knows very little about anything these days frankly. No,no. I only buy honda, yamaha, and suzuki anyway for the last 45 years. I wouldn't ever go near a company selling cheap makes that's for sure. I research anything motorcycle related, and stories are not good about these cheap Japanese bikes coming through now.

You just said it yourself at the start of your video, the season is nearly over. The U.K just doesn’t have the favourable climate. I’m also one of those ones like you that only rides 6 months of the year. So combine that with the economic factors it’s a nail in the coffin. You go to Asia and bike business is booming year in year out, it’s their no 1 mode of transport especially in south east asia. The U.K. bike scene isn’t anywhere near the vibe like in Asia. You can literally step outside of your hotel and next door hire a Motorcycle with ease, some places you don’t even need a license. The U.K is just shit.

Did you mean “Why ARE so many motorcycle dealers going bust”?

I've not noticed a problem. I bought a new RE Classic350 and pimped it all for less than £5k, some on v.low % finance. Loads of good, used bikes going cheap, and the bottom's dropping out of the 'vintage' bike market as only us older bikers will tinker with them and enjoy doing so. My 13yo granddaughter already has my first leather biker jacket from when I was 20yoa, and I'm teaching her basic bike servicing.....a chip off the ol' block.

Don’t forget the crappier roads and the general standard of driving making it less pleasurable. Luckily I’m not far away from that ferry across the channel.

pretty much nailed it, I have saved the money for a new bike but with the way the economy is right now where I live, its very risky to spend that money on a toy. I am just keeping my current bike

with makers telling you to have fancy glass showrooms , , forcing targets , e.t.c. would not do this even at gun point ;;

Everything to do with bikes is too expensive.

Might be the price

Your vlog hits the nail on the head regarding the demographics. It’s now cheaper & easier for youngsters to pass their car test & pick up a decent old car for a few thousand. Why would they spend thousands trying to pass a bike test with a cbt then a full bike test which then only allows a restricted bike. If government don’t encourage motorcycling with youngsters, by making it cheaper for them to access then it’s going to be a one way decline as we older riders disappear. It’s good to see the Chinese bikes shaking up the market with some decent bikes at much more sensible prices.

Perhaps dealer greed has finally caught up with them 😊

Well I must admit when my local Honda dealer closed I laughed a great deal….they did not treat me well, to say the very least, when I bought a new machine from them. I will never buy from a main dealer ever again. They only have themselves to blame, poor management, poor customer care. I have no sympathy for them. Buy a secondhand and find a reputable bike shop to service it (if you can’t do it yourself)

Just look at those attending, for example, the NEC bike show... paying over £30 (plus a ridiculous car parking charge!) to see what manufacturers are shoving in the showrooms a few months later! There's no deals there, the clothing and accessories etc. are available for less online. I have a few bikes, I was recently quoted over £400 for a service and MOT on one... they only will top up the oil... environmental reasons... people wonder why they're closing. I'm not surprised, the UK market for sales and service was bonkers years ago.

It isn’t all doom and gloom. Manufacturers such as Royal Enfield, Voge, CF Moto, are seemingly doing well. The market needs more budget friendly bikes, with less electronics, and reduced servicing costs. The demand for lower capacity bikes also appears to be on the rise. I guess that our crowded roads, and high insurance costs, are meaning that to many, big bore bikes just aren't worth looking at.

I think the cost of a motorcycle is completely ridiculous, even used bikes cost as much as a new one did 5 or 6 years ago

Poor old dealers ? My local dealer offered me five grand for my 1098s against eleven and a half for a gsxr 1000. I I sold the 1098 privately for seven grand, and bought the same model gsxr for nine and a half privately. Theyre taking advantage of peoples need for finance to make massive profits. Maybe these dealers are victims of their own greed.

Motorcycles are seen and marketed as luxury items and the ones we see here in UK are so complex, that it is quite dificult for Joe Public to mend his own bike. So we buy a bike for the same price as a small car, we pay somebody to look after it, we dont really ever use it for anything except for when we want to dress in leather and follow each other around being world champion on weekends. So instead of the motorbike being something we use to get to work and back, its now something we treat like a season ticket for a football club. A motorcycle has become a luxury which we dispose of very quickly when the family gets bigger, electricity goes up, we dont get a pay rise etc.

😅£5000 for a new Yamaha YSR125 seriously !!!!!!

We’ve lost a local BMW dealer and two Harley Davidson dealerships, in a matter of months. I can remember my first bike, it was a KH250, loved it, it was my daily workhorse, then progressed to the Suzuki Katana, now I own a Harley. It’s extremely sad, to see these dealers closing shop, I remember going to my local dealer, who had an array of different brands and models, always fancied the Z1300, but couldn’t afford it, The younger generation these days, are not interested.

Competing with what a government can afford to pay is driving the cost of everything beyond what an honest wage can keep up with. That and having to subsidise everything that goes out the door without being paid for.

Everything is against us, after riding nearly 35 years I often think maybe it’s time to forget it. On the right day, once in a while it all comes together though and I know why I stick with it, but it is getting harder. No end of dealers I’ve used over the years have gone, long gone.