Has Ewan McGregor saved the UK motorcycle industry? Read more: http://www.visordown.
 

Eight years after Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman's Long Way Round trip, it appears as though the duo's influence is stronger than ever. BMW have made huge profits on the back of the Long Way series while KTM must still be kickng themselves for turning down the duo's request for the loan of a 950 Adventure all those years ago.

In 2012, motorcycle sales in the Adventure category in the UK were up 15.2% in a market that was down 0.2% overall. In 2012 the Touring segment was down 22.9% while Customs and Sport Touring were down 13% each. Just a handful of categories were up and of those most showed single digit rises but the Adventure sector is - at 15.2% up - booming.


Read more: Discuss: Has Ewan McGregor saved the UK motorcycle industry? - Features - Visordown

For a Hollywood-type actor, he seems like a reasonably nice enough guy - but just because one guy advocates a style of riding, that doesn't save an entire industry. I mean, really, how much of motorcycle riding is "adventure touring"? 95% of motorcycle riding is just some ordinary schmoe commuting to work or maybe going out on the country roads for a couple hours in a sunny weekend.

40 years ago the adventure bike category, even BMW's GS bikes, hadn't been invented but people still went on adventures. The poor dispatch riders during WWII weren't riding adventure bikes but they went on worse trails than most GSers would tackle. Have a look at old Harley adverts from the 1920s and 30s, the roads they rode were dirt trails. Today's adventure category is a fashion grouping.

And a 100 years ago, they'd use camels.

So, should we all stay at home and cry for bygone days or get up and get what is left to us out there? :cool4:

Well, I reckon they drew attention to what was at the time a very small niche within motorcycling. Whether they saved the industry is a different matter. The article says sales of tourers are down, so is it that people who in the past would have progressed from sports bikes to touring bikes now buy adventure bikes instead?

I see it a bit like the current boom in 4x4s. In the past people bought estate cars if they wanted something to pack the family in, now they buy soft-roaders.

What E&C did is got their show on major networks around the world and a certain manufacturer under people's noses. It meant the mass media could talk about bikes in a positive non-threatening way (would the Radio Times, a TV listings guide ever have had a multi-page spread on bikes if it weren't for LWD?). Inevitably that drew some people into biking, me for one, and almost certainly it drew some people to adventure styled bikes and then some people ended up here and learnt you can have just as much of an adventure on a C90.

Something I've always wondered, when LWR and LWD hit the screens, did this site and others like it see a rise in hits and registrations?

I recently heard claims, that BMW R1200GS is the best-selling large-capacity motorcycle in the world(!), and that one out of three of all Beemer bikes produced today are 1200GS´s. Hard to tell, how big an influence Ewan & Charlie really had, but yeah, I believe KTM must be kicking themselves!!

I´ve always loved these ´ADV´ kind of bikes, so even if the average user never takes one off-road, I´m really happy to see that the category is doing so well, and that new models keep coming from basically all manufacturers. Ewan & Charlie definitely gave this development a boost, I believe.

Well, in Germany almost every 2nd bike you pass on the road is a 1200GS.
But, E&C were not seen on German-TV a lot.
Maybe it helped selling overseas, but they can't claim the saving of an industrie to them self, although they maybe would like that.
Once again it shows how overrated they are, in history books they might be mentioned in the future.
And not to mention, who wants an SUV, buys one.

Like for all SUVs, better don't go off-road.

Would the Germans have won the war, had they had the 1200GS ?

:D I love bashing the SUVs, not only BMW, Yamaha, Triumph and Co. just try to copy the hipe. :D

Clearly E and Thingy didn't harm BMW GS sales. As far as saving the m/c industry? IMHO no. The Jap m/c industry is far from saved. They are struggling a lot: too expensive (Yen x rates etc) and not selling what the customer wants (i.e. a BMW GS).

Or possibly:

Insurance and the fact that you can't use 200 mph performance anywhere killed the sports bike.

The fact that you aren't a rebel for wearing a leather jacket with your name spelled out in studs on the back when your bank manager, accountant and dentist wear the same every fourth Sunday in July kills the Cruiser thing.

Lots of old boys who passed their test by driving round the block without falling off or running the examiner over who thought they would be the next Kenny Roberts or Dennis Hopper are now riding electric scooters in shopping precincts.

Those who are left are skint after the 17 part test, can't insure a 200 mph bike (or three bikes so they can have specialised ones) and really need something that will do a bit of anything at better than 40 mpg.

I'll credit E&C with convincing some parts of the UK press that race replicas were not the be all and end all.

Andy

I'm one of them. I'm 67 year's old. And been to just about every country in Europe. Are these the electric scooter's you are talking about?

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/CBR1000f.jpg

And this...

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...ikegsx1400.jpg

John933

They probably influenced the bike market , as mentioned in a previous post , its brought to Mr averages attention , same as in the 4x4 area , people are looking for escape , the majority dont actually do anything but its the idea thats seductive , and if the vehicle isnt so intimidating that helps , plus with the cameras etc you cant go for the performance "escape" so they look for another . JMHO

I'm 59, have Cbr 600, Vtr Firestorm, cbr 400 track bike.
Ride nearly every day since I was 17.
No walking frame needed.:rofl:

I agree with some of the above. I do think they raised the profile of adventure motorcycling and the GS in particular (even though the bikes didn't actually do terribly well!)

The fact people used to manage without trail bikes is totally irrelevant. I have a book by a guy who travelled accross russia in an Austin 7 in the 1930s but I wouldn't expect people to do that now! (Or a series one landy called Polyana for that matter!)

The fact most people will never use their bikes off road is irrelevant, the same way as it is irrelevant for most 4x4 drivers, it's an image thing, trying to portray your self as being a bit rugged and outdoorsy, or maybe just dreaming a dream that one day it might happen.

In the words of Clarkson, 'this watch is waterproof to 3000ft, I will never take it underwater to 3000ft, but it's nice to know that if I drop it in the sink doing the washing up it will survive!)

The vast amount of traffic now on the road of bones is testament to the influence of the series!!

Germans will ride a lot of BMWs anyway so lack of exposure there isn't that relevant, but I think the series had a massive effect on sales elsewhere, even though most owners wouldn't admit it. I suspect Mitsubishi didn't do too bad out of it either!

I do also think though that, as someone mentioned above, a GS makes a lot of sense as an everyday road bike, maybe it's the new maggott!

I don't know if the KTM rep has been let down from hanging upside down in his chains yet!

The KTM rep will be doing fine so long as he's the one who started the claims/rumours/comments that posers who've never been further than Starbucks without a support team use BMW's while "real" extreme adventure off-road extreme adventurists go Orange! Promoting Pepsi over Coke, Maccy D over KFC, Chelsea over Man U etc. is never such a hard job so long as the market wants sickly sweet drinks, junk food and football. Beer drinking, steak eating Rugby fans are not in that market.

Andy

I resemble that remark.
Well nearly so. :innocent:

Someone lead me to this promised land if £5000 R 1200 GSes I just looked on Bike Trader and found two, both nine years old, with between 65,000-75,000 miles and neither with much in the way if Tourabling.

How Many Left shows registration, tax and SORN data for the UK, this is taken from them.

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...38074463_n.jpg

I guess that bump in 2004 is the E&C effect. Sadly it all got complicated around 2007-8 with a whole host of different GS and GSA variants but have a play with the site, it's fascinating (put in your dream bike/car and see how few there are for you to try and find).

Now what would be interesting would be to look at member registrations for the HUBB and ADV Rider (did it exist back then?) to see if there was a corresponding jump in registration and activity following the two Long Ways, I know I will be one who registered soon after seeing Long Way Down, being inspired and then quite quickly finding Horizons Unlimited when googling for Overland travel sites. I'm fairly certain the first thing Google found was one of the interminable "Ewan & Charley, good or bad?" threads.

One thing that puzzles me though, if sales in the "Adventure" sector are up, why is it still so hard to find a decent selection of helmets with beaks or garish Goretex Sahara suits from any of the mainstream accessories suppliers? You'd think the likes of Hein Gericke et al. would have caught on by now.

I don't understand all the hatred and ridicule served onto the people that don't get to ride their BMW or whatever around the world.They are people like you and me, they even have the same dreams as us: They want adventure and excitement, so why ridicule them, when they don't succeed? They should be pitied, if anything.

Or do some people hate the fact, that the OTHER guys have the money and YOU don't? And you KNOW that if you had all that money, YOU would have gotten away?

I my youth I resented all the people with a guitar on the wall, where I new, if I had it, I would PLAY it! I have since learned, that the world isn't fair and you have to make your own place in it.

To all the "wannabees": KEEP DREAMING, SOME DAY................!

There are a few advantages to being old enough to have a mid life crisis. One of them is that you look like the sort of mature, settled, credit worthy individual that finance companies fall over themselves to throw money at (or at least they did before our current difficulties).

"When I were a lad" and actually bought new bikes I went to see my bank manager, told him I needed a new(er) car for work purposes and ask if he could lend me enough money to buy one. I'd then head for my bike dealer of choice to spend it. The last thing I'd do (or did) would be to take up the bike dealer's overpriced finance offerings. When I rode out of the shop I owned the bike outright but I owed the bank the whole of the purchase price and had to pay it back over the next three years.

I wonder how many people buy bikes that way now, particularly with the rise and rise of PCP type finance where you only have to pay for what is basically the depreciation. That's a purchase method almost custom made for mid life crisis men - you have enough assets, solidity etc that the finance company know they won't lose out and you get to buy the bike effectively half price (in terms of monthly repayments), ride it around for a while and hand it back when you feel better. And if the bug bites you can swap it for a new one and start again.

In my mind I have this vision of EnC sparking the idea but BMW dealers having the systems in place to enable it to happen. Finding out how little it'll cost to put a GS on the road while you're in the dealers anyway having your company 5 series serviced isn't something an under-the-arches KTM dealer is going to be able to compete with.

Riders might not like marketing, but, certainly, it is interested in you
 

This thread has pretty much gone full circle back to the original question of the OP, with this latest input.
Years ago (pre EnC), BMW announced a policy of introducing two new bikes to the market per annum, every annum; as far as I can tell, they have never failed to do this, although, on occasions, such models are "make-overs" to use a popular parlance e.g. the twin F650GS has become a twin F700GS, essentially the same bike (but, hey, all manufacturers do such things).
And the single cyl 650GS was resurrected after just a few years in abeyance.

Anyway, the point is that BMW had a marketing strategy for some time before EnC came upon the scene and it continues to be very successful, even despite all the nay-saying that goes on about the marque.
For anyone who doubts this, just take a look at any BMW dealership, here in the UK anyway.
In the meantime, here in the UK at least, many other dealerships have closed down, especially where they were selling (or trying to sell) bulk volume of the UJMs.
(Whites' based in Swindon is just one example).

So, no they did not save anything, but they sure gave the marketing folks at BMW an easy life.

I am an ex-Charlie, from before the condition was identified.

I wasted many thousands of pounds making an F650 look like the one in the Touratech catalogue. I should have spent the money on a trip to Iceland or an extra few weeks in Finland or further south than Morocco or Turkey before I got into work and family.

I used to go round telling people that the F650 was a serious contender for serious trips and they too needed an MSR stove and combined BBQ/birdbath/heliograph/laser cut sump guard. I didn't really know this, I'd only done Morocco and a few places North of here. I based my information on my own fundamental need to feel safe behind a badge when I truely wasn't ready. The F650 ate it's waterpump in Morocco which cured me. Riding an Enfield and XT600 was the learning curve I was missing, but anything would have done if I hadn't hidden behind the badge and belief in BMW advertising.

If my current position that you can take anything you like on any trip you like so long as you understand it is "hatred and ridicule" I'll live with it. A bit of "hatred and ridicule" back in the early '00's might have got me a few better memories, good photos and fewer old bills from the shiney bike shop. I can tell you as a fact that you'll be riding long distances more often, sooner and with equal or more sucess if you do not become a Charlie.

Now, if you just like the look of R1200GS's with tin boxes in the same way the Cruiser crowd like leather tassles go for it, just don't think you'll be writing books about what you did on your holidays and please don't do the Charlie routine on newcomers to the hobby unless you ahve actually done the stuff they show in the adverts..

I now ride a Wee with my old TT boxes because I like the riding position and having something square to sit on. I have no intention of going anywhere they don't have brands of beer I recognise. I am a rider who takes the occasional holiday, not an extreme-adventure-off-road-hardcore-adventurist who just happens to be between extreme-hardcore-adventure trips!

Sorry if that offends, just trying to explain my version of the "Anti" reaction.

Andy

You know that wasnt a real phone call ... ?

There was no-one on the other end of the line. Its called acting. The reasons they didnt go with KTM wasnt because KTM wouldnt give them 3 bikes.

Now that I'm 70+ If anyone wants to give me 5,000 lbs (my Chile bought laptop hasn't got a sign I can find in a grown up currency) they can have my 2004 1200GS and I will throw in all 3 TT bolt on goodies and my boxes as part of the deal. Its got a few scratches and OK some of them are a bit long but it only has 170,000mls on the clock and some real poser stickers on the top box. Can't remember any blocks 50+ years ago, I think it was down the road to a roundabout and back up the road again, got lost, bloody roundabouts. Ride safe.

unforunately the world of travelling has it's share of snobs and inverted snobs, like most other areas of life, maybe even worse.

Too many people thinking THEIR way is the only way and anyone else is just pretending.
travellers are supposed to uphold the ideals of live and let live and each to their own, but some unfortunately just like to preach that rather than do it.

my comment above isn't aimed at any one individual. There are many. Having said that I do agree with some of the above comments re bling and In the 4x4 world the mags are full of articles, usually sponsored by the accessories manufacturers, that tell you you must have the pups parts off roader, a roof tent, ARB bars, underbody protection, snorkel, winch, fridge, drawer system, awning, camp chairs, table, cooking system etc etc etc etc and I do look rather with disdain at the people that follow it. Not out of jealousy, but out of irritation at their ignorance, lack of insight and willingness to believe the hype. It stopped me from travelling for years, until I realised you could take any beat up old car and travel somewhere. Now my transport of choice is a 23 year old rust bucket of a landcruiser with not a piece of bling in sight. it has never let me down and I would trust my life to it. Makes it a damn sight cheaper getting through borders and the rozzers as well!!

BMW marketing results in a lot of change over of bikes about every two years, which is the company cycle for upgrading the model.
It's happened every two years since 2004; there are a lot of them advertised now because the two year cycle is in full swing with the change over to the water cooled version.
Try looking at ebay.co.uk for the marque/model.

Soon, everyone will be able to afford a 1200GS. :innocent:
Maybe, at that point, the actor will have saved the motorcycle industry from extinction?

It's in the blood
 

They are always acting, always.
Simple.

Another pub thought
 

Maybe the actors can do something for the 4x4 world?
Just a thought for good Friday.

Dangle us not Walter, what was the reason? Was it that KTM wouldn't pay them to ride their bikes, whereas BMW would +

Could KTM have been able to handle the surge in sales?

If you don't have the capacity you just raise prices and launch a clothing/aftershave/video game range. Sell every bike you can at higher margin and do paddock jackets and t-shirts for the ones you can't sell a bike to. When the bubble bursts you can also drop price again to catch the consumers with longer memories of wanting one.

You can also think that KTM paid nothing for the advertising but get sales from the wave BMW made.

Andy