MILWAUKEE -- Harley-Davidson is placing a renewed emphasis on teaching people to ride as part of its efforts to attract more customers.
The Milwaukee company's decision to expand the number of dealerships with a Harley "Riding Academy" comes as the industry grapples with years of declining sales and an aging customer base.
The program began in 2000 with about 50 locations and now 245 dealerships in the U.S. offer the three- or four-day course. The company says about a quarter of those started since 2014.
Harley sold 124,777 new motorcycles through nine months in 2017, down from 135,581 during the same period the previous year, according to the company's most recent earnings report. Declining sales are affecting the whole industry and one bright spot for Harley-Davidson is the company still controls 53 percent of the market.
The Motorcycle Industry Council says the median age of motorcycle owners increased from 32 to 47 since 1990. About 46 percent of riders are over 50; only about 10 percent are 30-34.
Samantha Kay rode on the back of her father's motorcycle growing up, but when the 25-year-old took a class to ride for the first time she couldn't help being anxious.
"I think motorcycles inherently do scare a lot of people," said Kay, a Milwaukee woman, one of 50,000 people nationwide who took a riding course at a Harley-Davidson dealership this year.
Harley-Davidson, once a a symbol of youth rebellion, now wants to attract more customers like Kay.
"Some of the aging baby boomers, which have been the guts of Harley-Davidson's purchasers, they're getting older and some of them are just getting out of the sport because they can't handle the motorcycle anymore," said Clyde Fessler, who retired from Harley-Davidson in 2002 after holding several executive positions over 25 years. He created what became the Riding Academy.
He said the idea "is getting people comfortable on a motorcycle and getting them to feel safe and confident."
In addition to riders getting older, a slow economic recovery has made it harder for millennials to buy new motorcycles, said Jim Williams, vice president of the American Motorcyclist Association.
Among the newest models, a 2018 Softail Slim starts at $15,899 and a 2018 Sportster Forty-Eight at $11,299.
"The younger generations are buying plenty of motorcycles, they're just not new," Williams said.
But it's not all the millennials' fault, said Robert Pandya, who managed public relations for Indian Motorcycles and Victory Motorcycles. Pandya recently introduced "Give A Shift," a volunteer group discussing ideas to promote motorcycling. One of their conclusions, he said, is the idea that "if mom rides, the kids will ride."
Currently, women are about 14 percent of the riding population, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.
Terri Meehan took plenty of motorcycle rides with friends as a passenger but has wanted to be in the driver's seat for a while. The 42-year-old took the Harley-Davidson riding course in October because she wanted to learn from "an expert who could teach right way versus someone who had learned bad habits."
The price of the class varies by dealership but it's generally about $300. Students spend time in class learning about motorcycle safety and on ranges learning to ride. Meehan plans to buy a motorcycle soon.
"My son's a psychology major so he asked me if I was going through a midlife crisis, which is actually quite hilarious," said Meehan.
Kay's experience notwithstanding, another challenge for Harley-Davidson is motorcycling simply isn't a major part of people's upbringing like it was once, said Heather Malenshek, Harley-Davidson's vice president of marketing.
"If you think about baby boomers, they probably were brought up on a dirt bike or had an uncle or a neighbor or something who was riding around in a Harley-Davidson. That may not be the case today," she said.
She said the company's chief executive officer, Matthew Levatich, is encouraging employees to engage people in conversations about motorcycling if someone happens to say, "Nice bike." Melanshek took that to heart during an interaction with someone at a gas station who complimented her on her motorcycle and told her he'd never thought about riding.
Business on 12/27/2017