A few weeks ago we told you that 2011 would probably be the year of the scooter, and according to a press release from the Motorcycle Industry Council, it looks like we may be right on the money.
The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) issued a press release yesterday with US motorcycle sales numbers for the first quarter, and get this: despite ongoing economic woes south of the border, scooter sales are up 50 per cent.
That’s a huge boost in sales, but are the scooters actually being ridden? It appears so – scooter tire sales, a sure indicator of road use, are also through the roof, up 48.6 per cent.
Of course, scooters aren’t the only two-wheelers that are selling well – dual-sport bikes are also doing pretty well, with sales up 25 per cent. The MIC report doesn’t indicate whether those sales are mostly small gas misers like Yamaha’s XT250 or off-road behemoths like the BMW R1200GS Adventure, but no matter their displacement, dual-sport bikes have a reputation for good fuel mileage.
Motorcycle street tire sales rose 27.5 per cent in the first quarter – that’s another good indicator that more people are turning to their bikes to save money.
Of course, US sales numbers won’t necessarily translate to big sales in Canada; it’s too early in the year to see a significant amount of bike sold yet, but with rising gas prices here, we’re betting that as the riding season starts to kick off, there will be a noticeable spike in bike sales in the Great White North as well.
