Bike Week + Low Attendance = Poor Economy

[LSUBOY]

I have been to about 6 Bike Weeks and have seen the kind of crowds that usually show up for said; However, the other day I was riding down that long street next to the water?, the one with all of the hotels on it and I got a feeling that the Bikeweek crowd for this year was/is w a y lower that it usually is. This is what I noticed:

1. The crowd that's usually over by the speedway was very sparse to say the least. No fear of having to walk around people or bumping into someone.

2. Going into a tent to look at some bike stuff would always give you the feeling that there were'nt many people buying and or there were'nt too many people there.

3. Way more cars than bikes on Speedway Blvd.

4. Easy to find parking spaces on the street where the Harley Davidson store use to be.

5. Lots of bikes parked on the show and tell street and lots of people in the open-air bars but not that many people walking up and down the street.

6. HOTELS everywhere with VACANCY signs up.

Eye don't kno, maybe my mind was playing tricks on me but I just think that this year's BIKEWEEK crowd is much lower that usual and that the economy probably played a large role in it.

Were you there and did you get tha same feeling?

 

[FJRMGM]

maybe the cold weather up north kept many from riding down this year?

Could be they are in a lull phase for the event.

 

[ShowMe]

This was my first Bike Week. It looked like a lot of people to me, but I don't have other years to compare it to. I did notice vacancies at many hotels.

 

[fjrob1300]

I'm here all week. Lots o bikes and stuff. I heard that lot's of folks stayed on the outskirts. I felt the attendance at the race was low for the 200.The weather was a little nasty.

 

[LSUBOY]

That cat has some cool feet on it.

 

[2wheelingdawg]

this was my first bike week, so i don't have much to compare to. A couple of my buddies have been to alot of them, and their take on it was things have gotten so spread out. Said everything used to be in Daytona, and you couldn't move, now you have Destination Daytona, up at Ormond Beach, which was absolutely packed when we went on Sunday. The Goldwing show and alot of their events were moved down the road to I think New SMyrna Beach. 3 of the guys in our group ride 2 wheeled tractors, and when they went to the Iron Horse, said it was almost impossible to get into. Maybe between things being so spread out and a bad economy, LEO cracking down from what people were saying, compared to years past, all had something to do with it. I would hate to see how much it would cost to come down with a trailer from snow country. I live in Ga and still spent over $100 just in gas and we rode down!!!

 

[mjac]

1. The crowd that's usually over by the speedway was very sparse to say the least. No fear of having to walk around people or bumping into someone.
Were you there and did you get the same feeling?

I was disappointed with the gear and accessories vendor showing at the Speedway when I visited on Sat. All the marque bike manufactures were there but not much else. Demo rides for most had ended the day before.

 

[LSUBOY]

Forgot to say this but I live on highway 41 just before it enters the Everglades and it is senic route down through the glades and on to the Keys/Key West. I usually jog on that road for about two hours a day and ride it most evenings down into the Everglades or so.

We usually see bikers in large groups with out-of-state tags going down to the Keys about one week before and one week after bikeweek. That's because they plan the Daytona trip and put extra days on either end of it for a tour of the keys. Haven't seen any large groups this year, just a pitter patting of one, two or three bikers going or coming.

Something is in the air.

 

[JohnTC40]

Money's tight and the motorcycle fad is officially over. The flooded used bike market is an excellent indicator. At the peak of the fad a couple of years ago, many folks dipped into their home equity or took out ridiculous loans to finance a fantasy. Now with that fantasy fulfilled, a great number of these people have put their bikes on the market and moved on. I look for attendance to be down at all of the large, and small, meets this year. Those dedicated riders who enjoy these events will keep going (if they can afford it), but the others are gone.

 

[993_Pilot]

Money's tight and the motorcycle fad is officially over. The flooded used bike market is an excellent indicator. At the peak of the fad a couple of years ago, many folks dipped into their home equity or took out ridiculous loans to finance a fantasy. Now with that fantasy fulfilled, a great number of these people have put their bikes on the market and moved on. I look for attendance to be down at all of the large, and small, meets this year. Those dedicated riders who enjoy these events will keep going (if they can afford it), but the others are gone.

So true. I think another indicator is the decline in popularity of all the Motorcycle Shows and Biker Build-offs on TV.

 

[JR'SFJR]

I thought it was much easier to get around everywhere in Daytona this year. Attended 3 days. Another friend was there 4 days and noticed the same.

 

[Bounce]

the weather, even in the area, was pretty bad with tornados and such on thursday and storms on friday. i know several people who stayed away from the races because of that.

as for the poseurs, maybe they got wise and went somewhere interesting instead.

 

[nitelife]

I know I passed a bunch of Harley's on 95 north!

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

I live 40 mi. away and I can tell you attendance was down! Most of the bikes in the area were gone by Sat. night. Fri. was like a ghost town up there compared to other years.

 

[PapaUtah]

I agree with many points here. The biggest reason for attendance shrinking is the price of fuel. Most of the large rallies are Harley-Davidson© driven by brand. The H.O.G. makes up a very substantial percentage. True to their moniker, Harley© OWNERS Group, these OWNERS will not venture more than 100 miles or so in the saddle. Longer than that, trailer…pulled by a pickup…very likely a motorcoach. At $3.00 and up for fuel the trip gets very expensive very quickly.

Sturgis attendance has been dropping like a rock the past couple of years, I estimate less than 375K in 2007. Once again, 75% of the bikes came in trailered behind a fuel thirsty tow vehicle. Add in the outrageous prices the vendors at the events try to stab the attendees with now days and it gets a little worse.

Throw the economic downturn on top of this and the money to pay for that fuel and goodies is getting tighter. Heck, Harley-Davidson© Financial Services couldn’t even securitize all of their 2007 loans this past February and ended up taking a 5% haircut on the portion they could float. Defaults are up sharply in their loan portfolio, surprising, as we all know that only “rich” people buy Harley-Davidson’s©. Those of us that can’t afford them only “dream” of ownership. With sub-prime loans making up almost 20% of all HDFS loans recently I guess even some of them should have kept dreaming.

And there appears to be more pain in the future for our beloved sport. Industry sales are down 10% and show no signs of recovering. Don’t expect a lot from the foreign manufacturers until things start showing some signs of life in the US market. The Euros and other overseas motorcycle markets appear to be faring better than ours.

We shall see how many folks make the NAFO trip. I bet it will be down from were it would be in better economic times…the economy is even affecting our riders. And we see less of a fuel hit because we tend to be RIDERS…not trailer them.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

I agree with many points here. The biggest reason for attendance shrinking is the price of fuel. Most of the large rallies are Harley-Davidson© driven by brand. The H.O.G. makes up a very substantial percentage. True to their moniker, Harley© OWNERS Group, these OWNERS will not venture more than 100 miles or so in the saddle. Longer than that, trailer…pulled by a pickup…very likely a motorcoach. At $3.00 and up for fuel the trip gets very expensive very quickly.
Sturgis attendance has been dropping like a rock the past couple of years, I estimate less than 375K in 2007. Once again, 75% of the bikes came in trailered behind a fuel thirsty tow vehicle. Add in the outrageous prices the vendors at the events try to stab the attendees with now days and it gets a little worse.

Throw the economic downturn on top of this and the money to pay for that fuel and goodies is getting tighter. Heck, Harley-Davidson© Financial Services couldn’t even securitize all of their 2007 loans this past February and ended up taking a 5% haircut on the portion they could float. Defaults are up sharply in their loan portfolio, surprising, as we all know that only “rich” people buy Harley-Davidson’s©. Those of us that can’t afford them only “dream” of ownership. With sub-prime loans making up almost 20% of all HDFS loans recently I guess even some of them should have kept dreaming.

And there appears to be more pain in the future for our beloved sport. Industry sales are down 10% and show no signs of recovering. Don’t expect a lot from the foreign manufacturers until things start showing some signs of life in the US market. The Euros and other overseas motorcycle markets appear to be faring better than ours.

We shall see how many folks make the NAFO trip. I bet it will be down from were it would be in better economic times…the economy is even affecting our riders. And we see less of a fuel hit because we tend to be RIDERS…not trailer them.

Nice to know some things and some people can be counted on to never change.

 

[Larry33319]

I have been going to Daytona since the late 70's. I have NEVER seen attendance as low as it was this year. It seemed more like the early days of Biketoberfest than Daytona Bike Week. Maybe 50% of normal showed up. It has become very spread out but the Cabbage Patch and Pub 44 were both fairly empty. Not normal. The town of Daytona did not want the bikers there and Bruce Rossmeyer went and built Destination Daytona. Now Daytona is bitching about the lost revenue. I guess they want it both ways. Sorry. The weather was fairly wet and a bit cool later in the week but you did not know that when you planned your vacation earlier in the year. I think the economy has just got people a bit scared to spend a large sum of money. I live in Fort Lauderdale and still ended up spending almost a grand between food, hotel, and adult beverages. If you travelled down from Canada or up north the cost would go up. Although we had two guys from the Ukraine and a couple from Italy staying at the motel in New Smyrna that we stayed in.

 

[Powerman]

I hung out with Larry33319 so I saw most of the same things. Also been going since the late 70's, but I didn't go the last two years. I miss the dyno HP shootout at the old MMI, don't know what they had at the new WYO Tech school near Destination Daytona. The ease of getting around in less heavy traffic was nice.

I noticed an almost complete lack of sport touring vendors, except the Goldwing guys.

Many have told me they are going to more local events, like Myrtle Beach etc.

Tight finances and gas prices.

Larry, sorry I missed you guys. I stayed up late, and slept with earplugs in.

Went to main street and hung out until @ 2pm. Took a leisurely ride up the coast

and stayed in SC last night. Got home about 8pm. Had a large time, thanks.

 

[Kane]

I have been going to Daytona since the late 70's. I have NEVER seen attendance as low as it was this year. It seemed more like the early days of Biketoberfest than Daytona Bike Week. Maybe 50% of normal showed up. It has become very spread out but the Cabbage Patch and Pub 44 were both fairly empty. Not normal. The town of Daytona did not want the bikers there and Bruce Rossmeyer went and built Destination Daytona. Now Daytona is bitching about the lost revenue.

I live in New Smyrna, 20 minutes from Daytona, and have been a regular attendee at Bike Week and Biktoberfest since the early 90's. Attendance definitely seemed to be way down this year, which is a mixed blessing for the locals - the revenue is decreased, but so is the cacophony of unmufflered bikes. (Many of the locals choose to go on out of town vacations during Bike Week, because the noise really is a PITA.)

Rossmeyer moved his operations to Ormond several years ago, largely because the city of Daytona was gouging him mercilessly on rental fees for the park on Beach St. (Reported to be above $200k for the duration of Bike Week) He told them to stick it, and took his little party to Ormond. Good for him, it serves the city right.

Down here in New Smyrna, bike traffic was way down, and as Larry stated, Pub 44's business seemed to be taking a hit. Having the Gold Wingers at New Smyrna Airport was pretty cool, I dropped in and they seem like a friendly, unassuming bunch.

The vendors at the Speedway seem to grow more sparse every year. It used to be cool to go shopping there, as you could find a lot of stuff that is normally only available via the net. I was very disappointed with the lack of goodies available this year.

No doubt a depressed economy, and particularly the price of fuel, had a lot to do with the lack of attendance. We went to the Thursday night flat track races, and for the first time I can remember, there were a lot of empty seats.

Kane