The Milwaukee-based company\u2019s decision to expand the number of dealerships that have a Harley Riding Academy comes as the industry grapples with years of declining sales and an ageing customer base.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div><\/span><\/p>\n Imagine your\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Ad<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0placed\u00a0here<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div><\/span><\/p>\n The program was started in 2000 with about 50 locations; now 245 dealerships in the U.S., including Bert\u2019s Black Widow Harley-Davidson in Port Charlotte, offer the three- or four-day course. The company says about a quarter of those were opened since 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n Harley sold 124,777 new motorcycles through nine months of 2017, down from 135,581 during the same period the previous year, according to the company\u2019s most recent earnings report.<\/span><\/p>\n 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 to 34.<\/span><\/p>\n Samantha Kay rode on the back of her father\u2019s motorcycle growing up, but when the 25-year-old took a class to learn how to ride, she couldn\u2019t help being anxious.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think motorcycles inherently do scare a lot of people,\u201d said Kay, a Milwaukee resident who is one of 50,000 people nationwide who took a riding course at a Harley-Davidson dealership this year.<\/span><\/p>\n The training is one of the ways Harley is trying to attract a new generation of riders like Kay amid big demographic shifts.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSome of the aging Baby Boomers, which have been the guts of Harley-Davidson\u2019s purchasers, they\u2019re getting older and some of them are just getting out of the sport because they can\u2019t handle the motorcycle anymore,\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n He said the idea behind it was \u201cgetting people comfortable on a motorcycle and getting them to feel safe and confident.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Younger people priced out<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Among the newest models, a 2018 Softail Slim starts at $15,899 and a 2018 Sportster Forty-Eight at $11,299.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe younger generations are buying plenty of motorcycles, they\u2019re just not new,\u201d Williams said.<\/span><\/p>\n But it\u2019s not all the millennials\u2019 fault, said Robert Pandya, who managed public relations for Indian Motorcycles and Victory Motorcycles. Pandya recently launched \u201cGive A Shift,\u201d a volunteer group discussing ideas to promote motorcycling. One of their conclusions, he said, is the idea that \u201cif mom rides, the kids will ride.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Currently, women are about 14 percent of the riding population, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest possible opportunity in motorcycling is to invite more women to ride,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s not lost on Harley-Davidson. Among the ways Harley-Davidson is trying to reach younger riders is by having motorcycle role-models like Jessica Haggett, the founder of the \u201cThe Litas\u201d all-women motorcycle club, be a voice for the company on social media. And the company is also focusing advertising efforts in male-dominated sports like the X Games and UFC events popular with younger viewers.<\/span><\/p>\n Reasons for the slide<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think we have to work harder to gain share of mind with young adults, for example, in that they have other activities in their lives. They\u2019re on screens, they\u2019re connecting socially, they\u2019re involved in gaming, they\u2019re involved in other things,\u201d said Heather Malenshek, Harley-Davidson\u2019s vice president of marketing.<\/span><\/p>\n She said the easily customizable Sports Glide model that launched in November and the aggressive, performance-driven Fat Bob also have younger riders in mind. In all, the company plans to release 100 new motorcycles over the next 10 years. During that time, the company also wants to gain 2 million new riders.<\/span><\/p>\n Terri Meehan, 42, took plenty of motorcycle rides with friends as a passenger but has wanted to be in the driver\u2019s seat for a while. She took the Harley-Davidson riding course in October because she wanted to learn from \u201can expert who could teach the right way versus someone who had learned bad habits.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The price of the class varies by dealership but it\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy son\u2019s a psychology major so he asked me if I was going through a mid-life crisis, which is actually quite hilarious,\u201d Meehan said.<\/span><\/p>\n Kay\u2019s experience notwithstanding, another challenge for Harley-Davidson is that motorcycling simply isn\u2019t a major part of people\u2019s upbringing like it was once, Malenshek said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you think about Baby Boomers, they probably were brought up on a dirt bike or had an uncle or a neighbour or something who was riding around on a Harley-Davidson. That may not be the case today,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n Follow us on TWITTER for more Logistics News<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Follow us on FACEBOOK for more Logistics News<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n She said the company\u2019s CEO, Matthew Levatich, is encouraging employees to engage people in conversations about motorcycling if someone happens to say, \u201cNice bike.\u201d Melanshek took that to heart during an interaction with someone at a gas station who complimented her on her motorcycle and told her he\u2019d never thought about riding.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bus-Travel-Ad-24-A-1-278x300.jpg\")
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