You know we talked about an industry slump?

[Pete]

Well it's starting! 27% down on last year!

More than 26,000 new registrations down on this time last year!

Massive drops in all categories....except Dualsport/Adventure Tourers....only 8 sales down.

http://www.mcia.co.uk/_Attachments/149_101CMS.pdf

[axl]

Maybe more n more people might be feeling the pinch and no one's buying stuff.

Companies cant expect people to keep making them richer n richer every year buying their cheap manufactured shit, (I dont just mean bike's but "thing's" in general), the bubble has to burst sometime.

It's all profit profit profit thats all these bastards think about, thats why I absolutely hate companies with a bloody passion.

But back to the bike sales, people are maybe more concerned about their jobs and just simply not buying the same, just a guess!

[XT Alan]

People are getting the message - minor improvements and colour schemes do not a new model make. Who can really justify £8K on a new R1, when last year's is almost as quick and trading in a year old one will cost you a mint in depreciation? There is still money around, bikes are cheaper than they have been for years. The problem is Flavour of the Monthism.

Adventure Bikes are just this year's flavour of the month, which worries me as they are rapidly getting less and less Adventure and more and more Kings Road Posemobiles aka SUVs. Most never see rain, let alone a dirt track. The new BMW GS1200 is miles removed from the original, go anywhere, fix it with gaffa tape, GS80. I mean! Who would take my watercooled catalized XT around the world without a backup mechanic and a service truck? The old XT could virtually run on camel piss.

Adventure Bikes should be air cooled with carbs. In my opinion, the ONLY true Adventure Bike on the marketis the Yamaha TT600E. I, for one, wouldn't dream of taking my XT660 too far out of the range of an RAC Recovery Van.