Boomers in Hog Heaven
The New York Times reports that motorcycle unit sales have tripled over the last 10 years and risen 7.8 percent in the first six months this year. The growth has come, in large part, because aging baby boomers are looking to do their very best Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper imitations.
Today, the average age of a new-motorcycle buyer is 38, up from 24 in 1980, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council in Irvine. The average Harley owner is 45-years old and earns $78,300 a year.
Moderator’s Comment: How will the lifestyles and shopping
habits of baby boomers defy traditional senior citizen stereotypes in areas
besides motorcycles?
It has been said that if you can remember Woodstock (or
much of the late sixties and much of the seventies, for that matter), you probably
weren’t there. Perhaps, the Timothy O’Leary generation is seeing the inevitable
consequences of illicit drug use today – old men and motorcycle grand-mamas
driving Harley’s with their bi-focals on and hearing aids cranked high.
[George
Anderson – Moderator]
