Voices From The Asylum...... a two wheel perspective on life

I'm stoked to report that this humble jumble of words known to the world as "Chrome Asylum"  has its first official "follower".......from relative obscurity, to a "must link" in only a week......thanks mom! We here at CA promise to remain grounded regardless..........

In celebration of our one week anniversary we'd thought we'd introduce what, depending on audience response (you listening mom?),will become a regular monthly feature....an "op ed" column if you like. Generally speaking, it will speak generally on any and all matter of issues, people, products, events, trends, regulations, rumors, half truths and downright lies.........just as long as it has some remote connection to motorcycles and the whacko's that ride them, and most importantly, it interests me....ah, the staff here at CA.

So just who the *&%$ am I to be so P Diddy presumptuous as to think my observations onto all things motoland deserve your thoughtful review? Good question. Damn. For the last twenty or so years my role as marketing, e-commerce, and product guy for the "largest and fastest growing apparel and accessories retailer" (yeah, "that" company) in the motorcycle industry required that I stay on top of where the market was going, and why. It was my job, after all, to determine what Johnny Speed wanted, or thought he wanted, get it, let him know we had it, and sell him the damn thing. It's been an education to say the least, customers and the market can be brutal.....but if you just listen, well, you get the gist.

So how are we gonna kickstart this lump anyway? I really don't have a clue.......thought about a "top ten" list, and might do it down the road......apologies to Letterman and the millions that have ripped him off, but for now, I thought we'd try something a little simpler. Here goes.....

We're gonna be OK. That's it, that's all I wanted to say. Really. We're gonna be OK because despite the Great Recession, unit sales lower than a Chilean mineshaft, "it's all over" fat lady laments from the nitwits on Wall Street, and a scared spitless consumer.........motorcycles are still cool. Always have been, always will be. Few objects are as iconic as a motorcycle; it's real, it's dangerous, it's sex on wheels in a way unmatched in American culture.......so how cool is your I-phone now!? And better yet, folks still want them.

People didn't "fall out of love with motorcycling", the youth weren't seduced away by the siren song of a Wii or Play Station (as just about every analyst would have you believe), or a hundred other "virtual" stand-ins for an actual life. We didn't wake up one morning shivering in our boxers at the inherent stupidity of sharing the roads with, well, idiots, and swear off motorcycles right then and there. So what did happen?

We ran out of dough, simple as that. Want proof? A local dealer of a certain American brand of motorcycle told me that he never realized how many bikes were purchased using home equity lines of credit, he estimated at least 25%. No wonder sales are off,  house values are at record lows too.......kinda makes sense doesn't it? And if we still had a couple of dollars in the coffee can buried in the yard we sure as hell weren't digging it up to buy a new R-1. No sir, we're hanging on to that coin like grim death because rumor has it cardboard houses lack certain weatherproofing characteristics. We simply had new and more pressing priorities........like food, and bullets. Motorcycles would have to wait their turn. And that's where we are now.........waiting.

But they will be back, and back big. Yes, but back to the numbers of 2006/2007? Eventually, I have no doubt. Motorcycles have not lost their inherent desirability. If anything, because they offer an increasingly rare and unique experience....that being a visceral dose reality, not sanitized for your protection; I'd bet that as an activity (sounds so third grade recess) motorcycling will be in even greater demand in the future.

The more disconnected and unreal our world becomes the more pursuits like motorcycling make us feel grounded, part of something genuine.The best days of motorcycling done and gone? Not a chance brother.........it's just getting good!