At
Stuart's leisure
It's a while
ago - late 1998 - and I was hanging around the national Honda rally and listening
to Oz MD Stuart Strickland deliver a speech on what he saw as the future of
motorcycling in Australia. It was Honda's 50th anniversary.
A few phrases still strike me today. "Touring will increase in popularity
as those leading sardine-tin existences in major population centres seek the
type of freedom that only motorcycling can offer.
"Off-road activities will increase, with more access to private land, created
through the necessity of landowners that will be seeking support income streams...
"Cruiser motorcycles will increase in popularity as the laid-back, low-speed,
characteristics will appeal to those who want freedom and an image.
"The sports bikes will be popular in a hostile environment created by new
road-surveillance technology...
"It won't all be Utopia. Motorcycle and car licences will be harder to
obtain. Governments will be focussed on trying to protect us from ourselves
and, in doing so, become a bloody nuisance..."
That's a very selective take on the speech, which is by far the most interesting
I've so far heard from an industry bod. They don't happen all that often - mostly
because the people involved think (often wrongly) that no-one would listen to
what they really have to say. What distinguished the Strickland verbage was
that he took the opportunity to speak his piece on the broader landscape (albeit
with a fair bit of PR tossed in), and to a general audience - including the
punters who attended the rally.
Some of it was even (shock, horror) controversial and (worse) imaginative. Yes,
you can call governments a bloody nuisance, and yes you can suggest leasing
out your land to a bunch of nutters on dirt bikes. What the heck, we can even
take a punt on where the local usage is going.
Stuart has a history of making controversial statements (which might be ignored
as over-conservative in other spheres), and I have a history of giving him a
hard time over some of them. We've had some robust discussions over the years
and I've come to learn a couple of things. Which are that he's passionate about
motorcycling and he will listen to opposing views.
Something that's refreshing is that he's told me to shut the hell up on occasion,
sometimes bluntly and sometimes nicely. Advice which I've cheerfully ignored
and taken notice of - it depends on the day and issue.
In 1998 I figured he might be on to something with his speech, but couldn't
prove it. Nor could he, I suspect. There's a lot that's yet to happen - for
example the idea of farmers leasing out their land for leisure has some ugly
insurance implications, but is also brilliant in its simplicity.
The general thrust, however, is worth looking at. Particularly now. It's getting
increasingly difficult to support the idea of FireBlades, R1s, Hayabusas and
the like on the road. We should, because they're beautiful pieces of machinery
which work well, though the justification gets harder.
Maybe I'm wrong, but can see four classes of motorcycles thriving locally in
the future. One is tourers and cruisers - motorcycles which can show you a good
time on the highway and still feel good at near-legal velocity; Next is the
adventure tourers - a market which BMW has effectively cornered, though the
harder-edged challengers from folk like KTM might become more desirable, as
riders head a long way out of reach of the speed cameras; Next is serious electric-start
dirt-only bikes from 50cc-up. We're seeing the 250-plus versions, but I reckon
the makers are slow to catch on to the convenience factor that will really grab
the next generation of thrill-seekers, used to the appeal of extreme action
with maximum convenience; Last is a new class, which will be (is this a leap
of faith?) manufacturer-supplied tar track-day bikes - essentially Blades and
R1s out of the box with no lights, but slicks and easy-repair fairings. It's
becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to take a full sports bike for
a real fang on the road, while the track is probably cheaper and smarter.
Stuart's thrust towards leisure came several years too early, but (this depends
on a wild interpretation of what he said) he might have been on to something.
Guy "Guido" Allen
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