Author: Чебурашка.

Recently, a major motorbike dealer in my town went into administration. There was no warning, no indication of anything going badly for the dealer. Just one day, on Instagram, there was a ‘thank you’ to customers and staff for a good few years of business along with the announcement of them ceasing to trade.

This got me thinking about how many people I know around my age or younger who own a bike or plan on getting one. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that very few, if any, of the people I know are interested in owning one. This could just be the type of people that I know and associate with. Upon further investigation, however, it does seem like there is less interest in motorbikes among those in my generation (Gen Z). My suspicion was correct – Bikeride reported that ‘Of the 3.6 million riders across the country, almost half (48%) are over 60 and only 10% are under 39 – a mere 0.01% are under 20.’ This could be down to a myriad of reasons.

It seems most likely due to the difficulty of getting the licence, to even be allowed to drive the damn things. It cost me around £800 just to qualify to drive my current bike, not to mention meeting the age requirements for a more powerful bike. The process to get a licence in the UK is lengthy – it requires the driver to be 24 in order to get a full motorbike licence. Although the initial process is relatively simple, where one needs to sit a CBT course for roughly £150 in order to be able to drive a 125cc motorcycle, this expires after two years, meaning that one must acquire the full licence before the time is up. There is also a far more longwinded route, where one can upgrade the bike with each test passed at each age bracket, allowing for different bike sizes depending on whether you’re 17, 19, 21, or 24. But again, these high costs serve as a barrier for young people.

Whereas in the United States all one needs to do is be 16 years old and pass a rather simple driving test on the bike of your choice and away you go. Not to even mention that in most states you can ride a bike using a regular driver’s licence. As with many other things in Britain, red tape and unnecessary rules prevent especially younger people from having fun and experiencing things the older generation got to have.

But there is another issue that stops young people from pursuing motorcycle licences – my generation does not seem very interested in typical symbols of freedom and individuality that other previous generations were attracted to. This could, however, just be us having a lack of money and access to these types of things. Or it could be a shift in the perception of vehicles as a means of freedom, growing up, and having the ability to go anywhere you like. I always wanted to get my licence, whether for a car or bike, so I could have my own freedom and go where I want and when I want without having to travel with “the public” or rely on other people to ferry me to and from places I wanted to be. Out of my friend group, most don’t have a licence for even a car let alone a bike. This seems emblematic of the strange sense of learned helplessness of Gen Z.

Returning to the closure of the local dealer I mentioned earlier. This seems like a trend that will in all likelihood continue as fewer and fewer people in my cohort buy bikes. This can even be extended to the millennial generation as well as they too don’t seem too keen to purchase bikes in the same volume as those of Generation X or the boomers. Hopefully, this trend will change dramatically in the future.

This is evident in the average age of members in bike groups on Facebook or even Reddit in the UK being in their late 40s at best. This isn’t to say that these people are unwelcoming to younger riders, in fact, they seem happy to go on group rides and share knowledge with me, but it would be good to see more people my own age take an interest in the hobby.

There is hope in the form of seeing more people poasting on Tik-Tok with bike-related content. However, this trend seems to be more prevalent in America and not here on the island where all fun goes to die a slow death. Hopefully, more people like myself see this type of content, find it inspiring, and decide to create their own. Who knows, maybe we are only one edit away from a resurgence in young people once again buying and riding bikes in Britain. Yet, something tells me that this is just fantasy.