It’s not a secret that the traditional motorcycle industry was too focused on selling bigger, faster and more expensive machines. A lack of general interest in riding was created these past years. I am referring here to a report from former Indian Motorcycle executive Robert Pandya who published the report Give a Shift. A roundtable discussion based on a written survey and a two-hour discussion with 25 influencers (the complete rapport can be found here).

This is a short brief of the panel’s conclusions:

• Sales are falling in most places
• Babyboomers (°1947-1964), the most loyal motorcycle consumers, are becoming older
• The industry ignored and underestimated female ridership
• The old dealership model must change to a new retail experience
• What about autonomous vehicles versus individual motorcyclists?

Who can bring us future motorcyclists?

Today I visited “De Vroemfabriek” in Edegem, Belgium. De Vroemfabriek is an indoor offroad center with electric motorbikes suitable for children from 4 years. In a safe, fun and uncompetitive way, this offroad parc brings young riders (under supervision) in contact with electric motorcycles in different sizes for every age.

I spoke with Sebastian & Alain, owners of De Vroemfabriek:

“For these kids it’s their first acquaintance with a motorcycle – they don’t think traditional or electric. They think “motorbike” … and it’s their motorbike for 2 rounds or more and every lap is an adventure. In our center, on the indoor and outdoor track, we learn these children how to sit properly on a motorbike, how to look and to ride … and to look out for each other. This is completely back to basics and these kids are the clients of today … and for the future.”

“We admit, we are dealing here with a public, who wants a pleasant afternoon but there are a lot of parents who ask a lot of questions about the possibilities of offroad riding for youngsters.”

This could be interesting for specific brands to have more exposure in these offroad centers. I can imagine that there must be creative possibilities to work together. I already shouted out for electric centers some months ago … I am certain that these parcs could offer a new retail solution in cooperation with local dealer(s). And I can imagine that you can build a road track as well in an old industrial factory …

European offroad centers

These offroad centers are popping up, not only in Belgium but we also visited one in The Netherlands – Electrocross.nl – and they are opening a second offroad park in Amsterdam on 22/04/2018. A few days ago, we wrote about the initiative from Rusty Griffiths with Motorfamily Electric Racing (South Gloucestershire – UK). We have mentioned earlier on this website Hyper Trax Indoor Electric Bike Arena (East Kilbride – Scotland) with a safe track for kids (you can find all the links here below) and recently we got a message from Elec-Trick Blitz who offers 1 to 1 coaching and group coaching on their electric Kuberg motorcycles.

These initiatives must be encouraged!

De Vroemfabriek: from 4 years

Motorfamily Electric Racing: from 4 years

Hypertrax: from 5 years

Elec-Trick Blitz: from 5 years

Electrocross: from 6 years