April 2013 new registration stats

[Rogerborg]

You know the drill.

Well, April was down on 2012, but not as down as for the year as a whole average. Is that good news? Depends on your point of view.

There's a significant drop in the number of peds being sold. I can't think why, unless Yoofs have been taking the advice to just skip them and ride a pushbike until they turn 17. I may accidentally have waved to a tracksuit-and-trainers Pedboi today, but I didn't inhale.

Adventure-sports and touring bikes have both started to firm up. I think we can look to BMW to explain that. Actually, I know we can, the R1200GS and F800GT are top of their categories. The R1200 is selling in obscene stirring numbers.

Even so, Triumph are skelping them. They're nipping at the heels of Yamaha, but without a 125 to pad out their numbers. Not that Yamaha will be complaining, when they shifted 138 YZF R125s at... (winces) £4420 a pop.

If you want a bellweather for UK biking though, look at Harley Davidson. 408 bikes, more than Suzuki, more than Kawasaki. My god, the margins, the merchandise...

The great news is that 126-650cc sales continue to rise, up a whole 13.1% in April and 6.5% year-to-date. That's still low compared to the heady days of 2007, but has to be a hopeful sign for a recovery.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike