Motorcycle riders — aging, male and moneyed
By Charles Fleming, Los Angeles Times
Who’s riding motorcycles in California? Older, married, educated men with money — and getting more so.
New statistics prepared by the Motorcycle Industry Council show the median age of California motorcycle owners was 45 years old in 2012 — having risen from 33 years in 1990, 38 years in 1998 and 41 years in 2009.
But the age number is a little misleading. Almost 40 percent of the study’s respondents were 50 and over — compared to only 10 percent in that age range in 1990.
That rising number is unnerving to motorcycle industry professionals, many of whom have said they’re afraid their core audience is rapidly aging out of the sport, and soon will be too old to ride at all.
The average biker is male — 88 percent of them, down from 94 percent in 1990 — and married — 63 percent of them, up from 57 percent in 1990.
