August 2, 2010 - OK, we're halfway through the 2010 year with racing well underway and the heat is on, literally...  First we saw a great March and April to begin the selling season for motorcycles then May and June rained like mad, stalled the market, then finally gave way again in July, at least in my view.

The motorcycle industry hit a 30 year low last year, and is following that dismal year with another 20% drop so far for 2010.  These are real numbers folks, so when your local dealer wants an extra buck or two for that pair of boots or that bike, he probably needs it.  For some, this climate has afforded opportunities but for most dealers they're contracting their inventory, trimming their staff, eliminating advertising and promotional costs or in severe cases closing the doors for good.

The current climate is a tremendous time to buy new bikes though, just not a great time to sell them.  We see deep customer and dealer cash offers and financing as low as 0% for 5 years!  REAL financing through Suzuki...  These days won't be here long though as excess inventories are depleted and demand begins to creep up again, the days of great deals will begin to disappear and prices will move more towards MSRP.

I think we'll see much less in the way of color options etc... with new motorcycles.  Specifically the street, we'll see maybe 2 color options but not the four or five different colors we've seen in years past.  For dirt bikes, they'll be one color option as well and less options for the 85cc bikes as the two sizes will evolve into one.  It's just dollars and sense and the manufacturers are cutting everywhere.

As for the racing, well it's always good to be at the track.  Turnout at the local level has been low however, and the sad thing that I've noticed most is the lack of youth entries.  The largest classes of the day are the Plus 40 and Plus 30 classes with the smallest being the 50cc and 65cc classes.  This tells me a bad story for the future of the sport, and for track promoters and dealers that cater to the off-road segment.  It's not hard to notice that Indiana alone has lost several tracks, actually the entire southern half of the state is without a track, except for one lonely race in the woods. If I have anything to do with it we'll see a couple races pop up in 2011...

On the pro scene, the racing has been great!  Dungey is on his way to another championship and to be honest, without that James guy out there there's been much less drama and much more racing action...And even though attendance seems to be way down on the pro scene as well (except for Red Bud), don't think for a second it's due to the overpaid disappointment MTV star, it's the economy stupid...

Anyway, I'll cut it short for today but I have many more random, baseless thoughts I'd love to share with the world, so come back often for more of my painfully honest view of the industry....Cheers.