If you've consumed motorcycling content in recent months or years, you'll likely have read two main headlines parroted by everyone ad nauseam. First, motorcycling is dying and the youths don't care. Second, EV motorcycles have failed. Sometimes, these are even combined into a single, stunningly bad headline, usually talking about LiveWire's woes.
And if you noted a strained vein of annoyance in those statements, you were right on the money.
Over the weekend, while mindlessly scrolling, I came across one social media post about how motorcycle sales have fallen, highlighting that the youths "just aren't buying bikes anymore!" to paraphrase the post. It was one of those throwaway accounts designed to ragebait people and, honestly, it worked, as the comments section was full of boomers, Gen X, and millennials all decrying that the kids of today just don't want to buy motorcycles.
Comment after comment, like after like, and the whole motorcycling world coming together to gang up on this supposed fleeing of "how things used to be" descended upon the post, all echoing similar grievances. That same mentality reared itself this morning as I perused my colleague's diatribes elsewhere on the internet, as "kids aren't riding, which is why motorcycle sales have crashed," entered the chat again. As did how the EV revolution failed. But there is a massive problem with these premises.
They're horseshit.
If you stop and actually look at the very overlooked segment that is EV dirt bikes, you'll find that while not counted in traditional motorcycle sales data, they're not only the fastest growing segment for both youth and regular riders, they're outpacing the rest of the industry by leaps and bounds. So much so, you have more OEMs either adopting them into their lineups from outside companies, or are actively working on bringing them to market through their own R&D.
LiveWire just bought Dust Moto for its first EV dirt bike. Zero partnered with Zongshen for the brand's new X-Line of EV dirt bikes—one of which sits in my garage ready to be assembled at the moment. Stark is already profitable and has barely been around. And the giants of the industry, SurRon and Talaria, have dominated for almost a decade.
Then you have KTM working on building new EV dirt bikes to expand the company's own lineup of them. Yamaha has one in the works, as do Honda and Kawasaki. Can-Am created the Origin dual-sport, but there've been signals that it, too, might spawn a dirt bike model. And Segway, the folks behind every old person's tourist-related two-wheel injury, just dropped its own EV dirt bike. All youth-oriented. All electrics.
The EV revolution didn't stall, and kids still want bikes; they just converged, and the internet needs to stop lying to itself about that absolute fact.
Where the internet is correct is in that EVs failed for on-road use in the motorcycling sector, as batteries aren't small or light enough to offer the sorts of range motorcyclists demand of their machines outside of city dwellers commuting to and from work. And, the youths of today—but more so their parents—aren't buying gas machines in the same way they used to. Again, those are true. But they also don't do the whole picture justice.
EV infrastructure for much of the world is still in its infancy, despite what you've likely read online. And charging speeds vary from place to place, with many requiring lengthy stops for a charge that'll only take you about 100 miles for the average EV motorcycle. That will change as better batteries come around, and charging infrastructure expands. It's just not the case right now, and the prohibitive cost of an EV motorcycle compared to a gasoline motorcycle just doesn't make sense. Yet, cost is also why the parents of kids, and the kids themselves, are buying EV dirt bikes in droves.
They're cheap as hell to buy and to maintain.
No more carb rebuilding, gasoline to buy, oil to change, air filters to swap, clutches to replace, shift linkages to repair, or any of the other regular maintenance you were once required to do with a gas-powered motorcycle. And they're often cheaper than your average 250cc. In an age of inflation and where your dollar doesn't stretch past your nose, why wouldn't you choose an EV over a gas engine? I wouldn't.
This is all to say, don't believe everything you read online or on social media posts. They're often designed to elicit a reaction and get people mad, as it often leads to better engagement. The real truth is that motorcycles are kind of having a renaissance with the kids. It's just not dino-powered like it used to be, and that rubs some fuddy-duddy industry insiders the wrong way.
To paraphrase the great Mark Twain, "The report of [the motorcycle's] death was an exaggeration."
