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Motorcycle dealers in Canada blame rising insurance for drop in sales

By General Posts

Robb Hertzog, owner of Prairie Harley Davidson in Regina, inside their showroom.

by Gillian Francis from https://leaderpost.com

“I’m not going to say it’s all because of SGI, but I’d say three-quarters of it is.”

In just over three years, Robb Hertzog, owner of the Regina motorcycle dealership Prairie Harley Davidson (click here), estimates he’s lost well over $1 million worth of sales.

“I’m not going to say it’s all because of SGI, but I’d say three-quarters of it is,” he said in an interview Thursday, adding that skyrocketing insurance rates for motorcycles are leading to a decline in the amount of customers he receives.

Hertzog is one of many business owners in the motorcycle industry who have voiced concerns about the increasing expenses for bike owners. SGI is considering upping insurance rates again, by 15 per cent for insurance premiums greater than $1,000 and by $25 to $150, for those that total $1,000 or less, leaving businesses with increasingly dire prospects.

“They just can’t afford to ride anymore,” Hertzog said. “My younger clients are just not getting into it because when your monthly rate is as much or more than your loan payments, it makes it very, very difficult.”

Earlier this week, an SGI spokesperson told the Leader-Post that increasing fees are part of a plan to rebalance insurance rates. This would lead to an annual rate decrease for some types of vehicles and in an increase for vehicles like motorcycles that are perceived to have higher accident risk. A latest proposed rate increase is being reviewed by The Saskatchewan Rate Review Panel.

Insurance rates for new models with large engines, like Harley cruisers, can range from $2,000 to $3,000 per year. While this is enough to dissuade individual motorists from buying, there is also a chain reaction that extends to other parts of the industry as well.

Hertzog explained the number of motorcyclists attending their community events and fundraisers is down by half, leading to a decrease in charity funding of a few thousand dollars, and his bike repair team is getting fewer clients now that people are riding less frequently.

Collin Cossette, owner of Action Cycle in Moose Jaw, switched from selling street models to off-road bikes, a decision motivated by a variety of factors unrelated to insurance, including losing a franchise. He said the demand for street models is not strong enough for him to want to go back.

The few street bikes he continues to carry, have remained untouched for years, brands that would have sold in the hundreds a decade ago. Most dealerships in his area, he said, have lost around 80 per cent of their sales now that more expensive models come with high insurance.

Rick Bradshaw, owner of Schrader’s Motors in Yorkton, estimated insurance rates have increased around 67 per cent in the past decade, causing their street bike sales to decrease from 50 per year to 20.

Most of the clients who visit Schrader’s are older adults who have more disposable income, while younger cohorts are dissuaded by the expense. Prior to the insurance hike, he said more young women were taking an interest in the sport than ever before, but he believes expense has since reduced this trend.

“You can be a high performance car enthusiast and buy a $100,000, loaded-up, 600 horsepower BMW car and you don’t pay any more for that car based on value … But for motorcyclists with the same zero clean record and no accidents, if that bike happens to have a bigger engine or more horsepower all of a sudden you’re penalized dramatically,” he said.

As for Hertzog, he thinks raising awareness of the issue is key to creating change.

“We’ve got to find a way to get people out riding and enjoy life, but it will be a bit of a cost on SGI,” he said. “But the cost of that is worth a lot because I think the industry and the sales and the amount of jobs that were lost are way more money than SGI will ever have lost.”

New Pan America motorcycle drawing national attention

By General Posts

by Sarah Hauer from https://www.jsonline.com

Harley-Davidson Inc.’s newest bike — a less expensive and lighter motorcycle — is drawing national attention as the company tries to lure new riders.

Harley-Davidson’s Pan America is arriving at hundreds of dealerships now.

“(The Pan America) is definitely not your dad’s Harley-Davidson cruiser,” New York Times reporter Mark Gardiner wrote.

The Pan America is about $2,000 cheaper and 200 pounds lighter than Harley-Davidson’s most popular touring bikes. The base model of the Pan America is around 530 pounds and starts at $17,319.

Pan America’s launch was delayed a year. The company held a virtual launch event in February.

Kevin Duke, who writes about motorcycles, was impressed by his test ride of the new bike.

“The news about Harley for the past couple of years has been quite pessimistic,” said Duke, the editor in chief at Thunder Press in the New York Times article. “With the older demographic aging out, there was no real hint at what the company could do to gain market share, but this really changes it. The new motor is that good.”

The Milwaukee-based company has been trying to expand its customer base for years.

The company experienced a steep decline in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. Motorcycle sales were up 9% worldwide for the company during its most recent fiscal quarter. That bump was driven by a 30% increase in North America motorcycle sales over the same three-month time period last year.

Harley-Davidson launched its all-electric motorcycle brand LiveWire in May. The first motorcycle branded as a LiveWire bike is scheduled to premiere at the International Motorcycle Show on July 9.

Harley borrows Detroit’s used-car playbook to pursue younger riders

By General Posts

from https://www.channelnewsasia.com

Harley-Davidson has decided the best way to get younger customers to buy a new motorcycle is to sell them a used one first.

The Milwaukee-based company plans to roll out a certified pre-owned bike program, known as H-D Certified, adapting a strategy carmakers have been following for years to position well-tended used vehicles as a substitute for low-margin, “entry-level” new models.

Harley’s embrace of used bikes is part of a new five-year turnaround strategy under Chief Executive Jochen Zeitz, and is the latest effort to expand the brand’s appeal beyond middle-aged and affluent riders.

The 118-year-old American brand has been steadily losing US market share amid declining retail sales for six years.

But the demand for used Harleys, which are less expensive, has remained strong. Some dealers told Reuters that pre-owned bikes last year outsold new ones by three-to-one.

Melissa Walters, owner of a Harley dealership in Fresno, California, says the coronavirus pandemic has led to an increased demand for outdoor recreational activity, but dealers are hard-pressed to find bikes to sell to customers.

“People are tired of staying home,” she said. “They want to go out and do something.”

That sentiment was echoed by over a dozen dealers in six states.

Data from industry consultant JD Power shows Harley was the most sought-after brand in the used big bikes market last year, boosting bets the certified program will draw in new customers.

For Harley, it offers a way to build brand loyalty and attract new customers without engineering and manufacturing new lower-cost bikes, which tend to have lower profit margins.

“We believe this program will drive Harley-Davidson desirability, increase sales and margins, and enhance the overall customer experience while supporting growth,” Zeitz told Reuters.

Under the pre-owned bike program, which was revealed last month, Harley will certify motorcycles up to five years old with up to 40,234km. Certified bikes will be inspected and backed by a 12-month limited warranty, and can be financed by Harley’s financial arm, distinguishing them from other used Harleys.

While the heavyweight motorcycle maker has a similar program in the United Kingdom, this is the first time it is entering the used marketplace in the United States – its biggest market.

The program will be launched in late April and over 300 dealers have expressed interest in participating so far, Harley told Reuters.

“It’s going to draw new riders … and will give them entry into the Harley-Davidson world,” said Brad Conn, marketing coordinator at an Indiana-based dealership that plans to sign up for the program.

A POTENTIAL REVENUE STREAM

In the auto industry, according to JD Power, similar programs offer higher profit to dealers with faster inventory turnover. JD Power’s data also shows the programs are more effective in cultivating brand loyalty and tend to generate more business for the financial arms of automakers, which fund the vehicle purchases.

James Hardiman, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said the secondary motorcycle market has become a big business over the last decade and could be a “significant” revenue stream for Harley.

In 2017, online retailer for pre-owned vehicles RumbleOn pegged the value of the used motorcycle market in the United States at US$7.5 billion a year, with Harley bikes accounting for more than half of sales. The study also showed customers aged 18-34 were buying three used Hogs for every new one.

NEW VERSUS OLD

A booming demand for pre-owned Harleys until now has been a drag on the company’s US retail sales, which have declined by nearly 40 per cent since 2014.

As its motorcycles do not wear out or go out of fashion quickly, used Harleys tend to be more in demand vis-à-vis pricey new models.

Zeitz has tried to address the problem in the past year by tightening the supplies of new bikes. Leaner new inventory together with the increased demand for outdoor sports have driven up the prices of pre-owned bikes.

Still, the company estimates there are 3 million unsold used Harleys in the United States, far more than the approximately 80,000 new bikes it shipped last year.

“The biggest competition for a new Harley-Davidson bike is not an Indian bike or a Honda, or a Suzuki bike, but is a used Harley-Davidson bike,” said Hardiman.

Faced with a similar situation in the 1990s, automakers launched certified programs to resell thousands of returned leased vehicles to first-time and budget-minded buyers.

The programs allowed them to scrap less-expensive entry-level models, which had razor-thin profit margins, freeing up resources for more profitable products.

Harley is pursuing similar goals. It has done away with some of the cheaper entry-level models and will ramp up investment in touring, large cruiser and trike bike segments that drive company profit.

It is also looking to increase sales of ancillary products such as accessories, general merchandise and financial services by leveraging the certified bike program.

Michael Uhlarik, founder and lead consultant at Motorcycle Global, reckons the certified program is aimed at replacing lost motorcycle revenue from falling shipments.

Harley’s bike shipments to dealers in the United States have dropped more than 60 per cent from the 206,000 units in 2008.

“It will never be a 200,000 vehicle-a-year company,” said Uhlarik. “They have to replace that lost revenue somewhere.”

Harley-Davidson to Begin Selling Used Motorcycles Next Month
by Rich Duprey from https://www.fool.com

Riders will be able to buy a used Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) motorcycle from dealers beginning in April under a program called H-D Certified as a means of introducing new riders to the Harley-Davidson brand and developing new revenue opportunities.

CEO Jochen Zeitz announced the new initiative during last month’s earnings conference call as part of The Hardwire five-year strategic plan, telling analysts, “There are two distinct parts to this market: new bikes and used bikes, both of which present opportunities which we will pursue.”

Amid declining industry sales, Harley-Davidson has been hit especially hard. U.S. sales fell 15% last quarter, hitting levels not seen in decades.

One problem that has plagued Harley has been used-motorcycle prices; because used bikes have been substantially cheaper, it has made selling new ones more difficult. Gone are the days when demand for Harleys was so high that there were shortages of new bikes, and used bikes could be sold for close to what they cost new.

Zeitz pointed out there are approximately 3 million used Harleys on the road, a million of which are seven years old or more. It wants to focus on those that are five years old or newer, with no more than 25,000 miles.

He says that’s the sweet spot of the market, offering “the highest potential to also get them engaged in new motorcycles in the future.”

While used-bike prices have been rising, Harley is looking to capitalize on the opportunity to bring new riders into dealerships by giving them an option on what they want to buy. It’s also a chance to get a customer in the door, since the program will be completely run at the dealer level.

The used bikes will be professionally inspected, verified as mechanically sound, and backed by a 12-month limited warranty.

Indian Motorcycle 2020 Sturgis Update

By General Posts

Indian Motorcycle will be at the 80th Sturgis Rally. Due to the current circumstances, there will be no official owners ride or event. If you are planning to attend Sturgis, here are some additional details:

Sturgis patch will be available at the dealership

Demos will be available at the dealership and on Lazelle Street

VIP Demos for owners will be at the dealership

Owners that sign up for Elite Status at the dealership during Sturgis will get a special gift while supplies last

Ride safe & we hope to see you at the Sturgis owners event in 2021!

This year at the 80th Sturgis Rally, Indian Motorcycle has a VIP Demo Experience that is only for our owners. You have to sign up online before the event to reserve your spot.

An invite-only VIP demo experience for Indian Motorcycle Owners.

About this Event – August 7 to 15.

Because you’re an Indian Motorcycle Owner, you’ve been invited to an exclusive VIP Demo Experience hosted by Indian Motorcycle at the Sturgis Rally.

With this invite you get:

– A thorough walk around of whatever model you choose to ride

– A self-guided, one-hour demo ride

– A special gift

Date: VIP Demos are available almost every morning of the Sturgis Rally from 7:30 – 8:30am. *Please arrive early.

Where: The Indian Motorcycle Sturgis dealership, 2130 Main St, Sturgis, SD 57785

To sign up for the VIP Demo Experience, click the green register button above to sign up for a motorcycle to demo (while they last).

There is limited availability, so please RSVP quickly!

When: Arrive 15 minutes early. Kickstands up at 7:30 am and return at 8:30 am.

Bikes that are available to reserve:

3 – Indian Challengers

2 – Indian Chieftains

2 – FTR 1200s

1 – Indian Roadmaster

1 – Indian Springfield

1- Scout Bobber

Please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled VIP Demo and make sure to bring proper riding gear: closed-toed shoes, long pants, and eye protection.

We will NOT HAVE helmets you can borrow.

This is an owner opportunity only.

Always wear a helmet, eye protection, protective clothing, and obey the speed limit. Never ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Sign up today. Spaces are limited and must be reserved before the rally starts. CLICK HERE

Location

Indian Motorcycle of Sturgis

2130 Main St

Sturgis, SD 57785

United States

Harley’s New Rewire Strategy Is A Bad Idea

By General Posts

by Justin Hughes from https://www.rideapart.com

Why refocus the brand on capturing a rapidly shrinking demographic?

Earlier this week we reported on Harley-Davidson’s latest change in direction: to abandon some of their more ambitious ideas and focus on growing the core brand, with their core bikes, in the US. While models like the LiveWire, Bronx, and Pan America are already far enough down the pipeline to continue, beyond that we can expect nothing more than cruisers, baggers, and tourers from Harley for the foreseeable future. That’s too bad.

As an amateur radio operator, I have often heard the derogatory joke that the average age of one who participates in the hobby is “dead.” Sadly, that is beginning to apply more and more to the average age of a typical Harley rider. There are always exceptions. I’ve had my radio license since I was 15, and I’m actually considering an 80s or 90s Harley for a future project bike. But even I have a bit of gray in my hair and beard, something you will see in the vast majority of Harley enthusiasts. We’re only getting older.

From the investors’ perspective, I get it. They’re not in it for the bikes or the culture. They’re in it for the money, and especially these days the money isn’t there. Shareholder Impala Asset Management has been arguing for a while that a change in direction is needed, and chose to act during the recent management shakeup at Harley. While we hoped this might be good for Harley, it looks like they have chosen to take what it sees as the safe path, prioritizing short term profit over the long term survival of the company.

Given the crazy economic condition of the world right now, maybe that’s the right choice for now. It’s not like there will be any long term plans if the company doesn’t survive the next year, for example. Its existing models won’t save the company, though. While used Harleys are cheap, new ones are still expensive. Harley is essentially competing with itself, with all the used bikes out there that are may not be quite as good as the latest and greatest, but are certainly far less expensive. Harley tried some entry-level bikes with the Street series, but hasn’t seen the success they had hoped for.

Of course, there’s also the fact that there are other types of motorcycles in the world than cruisers, and that’s what most younger riders want. We like the LiveWire. We’re genuinely excited about the Bronx and Pan America. Even here, though, I’m worried. For example, while Harley has not yet announced pricing for the Pan America, some suspect it could be in the ballpark of $19,000. Why would the serious adventure rider spend that much on a new, untested Harley when they can pick up the tried and true BMW R 1250 GS for $17,895? Again, we don’t know that the Harley will cost more than the BMW, but if it does, it will essentially doom its sales to failure before it even gets into the showroom. The same goes for the Bronx, where riders would be more likely to go with a Yamaha MT-09 or even a smaller Triumph Street Triple.

It’s possible that the intention of the Harley Rewire is damage control for the current economic situation. Cutting research and development of new models is a natural choice in these circumstances. I just hope this is a temporary step until the world stabilizes again, and that we’ll eventually see some of the new models that Harley has put the brakes on. I want to see Harley survive as much as the next American motorcycle rider.

Harley Davidson: The Road Only Goes Downhill

By General Posts

Harley-Davidson delays its first $30,000 electric motorcycle after unexpected findings during final quality checks

  • The company delayed the motorcycle after ‘non-standard conditions’ were discvoered during final quality checks
  • Dealers had begun selling pre-orders of the bike in January
  • Harley-Davidson had forecast shipping 1,600 bikes

Harley-Davidson has delayed production on its first electric motorcycle, called LiveWire.

In an email sent to dealers last week, the company announced it had found a ‘non-standard condition’ in its final quality checks but didn’t elaborate further.

The LiveWire was officially announced for commercial release last fall with a planned price of $29,799.

‘We recently discovered a non-standard condition during a final quality check; stopped production and deliveries; and began additional testing and analysis, which is progressing well,’ the company said in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the decision came after a problem with the vehicle’s battery charging was discovered. The manufacturer did not say when they planned to resume production.

The company had already begun delivering models of LiveWire to dealers in September.

The company had expected to ship around 1,600 bikes, or an estimated 1 percent of the company’s total big shipments.

The LiveWire is said to go from 0-60 mph in three seconds and reach top speeds of 110 mph.

Harley-Davidson recommends users go to dealers to charge the vehicle rather than trying to use standard electrical outlets in their homes.

It is powered by a 15.5 kWh battery and has a 105 horsepower magnetic engine and a range of 146 miles city driving on a single charge.

Harley-Davidson had told potential customers to charge the bike only at registered dealers and not in their homes.

The bike was first shown in The Avengers: Age of Ultron as a sleek prototype ridden by Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow character.

The LiveWire promised a slew of advanced technical features, including what PR Manager Paul James descried as ‘twist-and-go.’

‘Because it’s all-electric, it’s twist-and-go,’ Paul James, PR Manager at Harley-Davidson, told Dailymail.com at the Las Vegas Convention Center earlier this year.

The LiveWire’s battery is said to have a range of 146 miles of city driving.

‘There’s no transmission, there are no shifters, no clutch – it’s very easy to ride.’

LiveWire is equipped with a full suite of electronic lateral aids, with a slew of sensors and programmable touch controls.

It also has cellular connectivity, making it the first mass market motorcycle in North America with the capability.

This means it can alert the owner if the bike has been tampered with or moved. It also has built-in GPS for location tracking.

As for the sound, Harley says its electric powertrain will produce a ‘new signature Harley-Davidson sound,’ with minimal vibration, heat, and noise.

The ‘twist-and-go’ bike ditches the traditional shifters and chirps out a turbine-like whir in lieu of the characteristic rumble. The company is hoping this will usher in a ‘new signature Harley-Davidson sound,’ with minimal vibration, heat, and noise.

LiveWire will also launch in Canada and most of Europe later this year, Harley-Davidson says.

  • Harley Davidson sales have been on a decline the past five years hurting the company’s bottom line. The company has introduced new initiatives to buck this trend.
  • Despite the new strategy Harley Davidson will have a hard time attracting millennial customers and will face stiff competition in Asia.
  • Harley Davidson is highly levered and not trading at a large enough discount to warrant an investment.

Harley Davidson (HOG) has been having a rough last couple of years, with its current stock price nearly half of where it was in 2018 as it fell from around $50 per share to its current price of about $35 per share. The company is an American icon, with the Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker being founded more than 100 years ago, and conjures up a certain type of imagery – that of big bikes, loud engines and groups of somewhat older riders riding together in large groups.

This level of brand loyalty and, dare I say, cult following has been a cornerstone of Harley Davidson’s strategy for years. However, Harley Davidson’s sales have begun to slump in recent years after reaching a high in 2014 with this trend set to continue in 2019. In Q2 2019, the company delivered nearly 69,000 bikes for the quarter, down 5% compared to the same period a year earlier and overall sales fell 6% to $1.4 billion.

The brand loyalty that Harley Davidson has cultivated has become its weakness as its core demographic of rider’s ages the company struggles to attract the new millennial rider and re-align its brand messaging to match what that segment is looking for.

UBS conducted a survey of more than 2,000 people between the age of 21 and 34 in an attempt to figure out why Harley-Davidson stock has fallen 32% in the past 12 months. While their findings are bad news for big expensive cruisers and touring bikes, they are actually good for other parts of the industry. Unlike older buyers who considered a bike “as a hobby” or because “motorcycles are cool” Millennial responders want them for “ease of transportation.” Young buyers are interested in practical and affordable bikes, for now, partially because many of them don’t have a lot of money. There is no telling if hooking Millennial customers now with affordable and practical might lead to selling them a big touring bike when they are older and have more time and money. Among the young target demographic, the second most common reason listed for buying a bike was “it goes with their self image” so the important thing might be to not try to sell them their dad’s motorcycle.

Harley will have difficulty attracting the millennial audience

I struggle to see how 10 years from now a millennial who would have values such as being more frugal, more minimalistic and more environmentally conscious would not opt for a sleek, sporty high-tech Ducati and go for a big, loud, chrome-plated Harley Davidson. Therefore, it makes sense that Harley Davidson would try to shift its brand away from this older image and embrace something more modern. And the fact is, the company is well aware of that. On July 30, 2018, the Company disclosed its “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” plan to accelerate the Company’s strategy to build the next generation of riders globally. Under the plan, the Company intends to introduce new products including electric motorcycles, a new middle-weight platform of motorcycles that includes adventure touring, custom and streetfighter models with engine displacements ranging from 500cc’s to 1250cc’s; and smaller displacement motorcycles for emerging markets. The Company plans to introduce these new motorcycles between 2019 and 2022, starting with a new electric motorcycle, LiveWire, in the second half of 2019.

These plans are hitting a bit of a snag, as the company is seeing soft demand for its Livewire electric vehicles. These electric motorcycles, which are aimed at millennial customers and billed as a way to attract a new generation of riders, come with a sticker price of $30,000 nearly as much as a Tesla model 3. It’s as if the company ignored the main necessary selling points (i.e. “practical” and “affordable”) for this demographic. Harley Davidson does make some decent, affordable bikes in their Street lineup. But they still have that stigma, of being expensive toys. In the sub-$10,000 motorcycle market, Harley can’t compete in terms of bang-for-the-buck with the likes of Triumph, Ducati, and the Japanese big four that’s been cashing in on cheap Harley alternatives since the 1980s.

Harley to face stiff competition in the emerging markets

Harley Davidson’s other area for potential growth is through expanding in emerging markets, particularly China and India. The company announced a collaboration with Qianjiang Motorcycle Company Limited (“Qianjiang”) to launch a smaller, more accessible Harley-Davidson motorcycle for sale in Harley-Davidson dealerships in China by the end of 2020. Motorcycles have been a presence in Asia for years with brands like Honda and Yamaha, along with local country-specific brands, dominating the sale of smaller vehicles.

There is a difference in motorcycle riding philosophy between the US and Asia. In many Asian countries, a motorcycle is considered a legitimate transportation option. A motorcycle is easier to park in the densely packed cities, can squeeze right through traffic, and is far more affordable than a car. Fuel in many Asian countries is also more expensive, and the taxes and permit fees for motorcycles are much lower too.

Given these considerations, in my view for Asian customers the main selling point of these motorcycles would be affordability and reliability as the next “tier” in terms of status symbols would be purchasing a car. The way I see it, Harley Davidson’s Asian motorcycles will slot in a premium category as is typical with other Harley products. The question then becomes for the Asian customer who may not be as familiar with the Harley brand and who do not view motorcycle riding as a “hobby” is that will they be willing to pay for that premium.

Harley Davidson is highly leveraged

Looking over at the financials, the company is trading at a low forward GAAP P/E of about 13. This is justified though as the company’s revenue has declined by 8.21% from 2014 to 2018 and its Net income has declined at an even faster rate of 37% in the same timeframe. The company is not trading at a cheap valuation.

Even more worryingly, the company is highly leveraged at 82 percent of total liabilities to total assets and with a debt to equity ratio of 4.62. Furthermore, a large portion of the company’s assets (nearly 70%) are finance receivables i.e. amounts owed by customers who have bought Harley Davidson motorcycles on finance. As we have seen in the experience of Kraft Heinz (KHC), a large amount of leverage would limit the flexibility of the company to make the necessary changes to its strategy. Given the headwinds the company faces due to declining sales and the need to change its strategy, I am quite bearish on Harley Davidson. The company is not trading at a large enough discount to warrant an investment.

NEWS SOURCE:
https://seekingalpha.com
https://www.dailymail.co.uk
https://www.wheels24.co.za

Motorcycle Makers Are Getting Hip to Women-Only Rallies

By General Posts

Anxious to find new audiences after a decade of declining sales, the giants like Harley-Davidson and BMW Motorrad are finally taking notice of a self-made community.

On Valentine’s Day, Sharry Billings posted a photograph on Instagram. Below the image of herself, her hair a red caramel and her smile open, she wrote: “I love you so much I wanna squeeze you!”

The object of her affection? “All the motorcycles I have owned and will own in the future,” she explained. Alongside the photo of her astride a Harley-Davidson, she wrote that bikes “have changed my life, healed my soul, and brought me more love and friendships than I could have ever imagined.”

Billings goes by @sistermother13 on Instagram, but the main account she oversees is @thelitaslosangeles. The Litas is a group she joined three years ago as a way to connect with other women riders in her city. She’s co-led the L.A. branch for two years. When she joined, it provided her with much-needed healing and camaraderie after her kids grew up and she got divorced. Billings had ridden as a teenager and into her 20s but took a hiatus later. “It was always in my heart,” she says. But when she was married with young children, “I thought it was a little too dangerous.”

After the breakup in 2015, she found herself longing for escape. And adventure. “My prayer at the time was, ‘God, I don’t want to date.’ These men are not happening,” Billings says, laughing. “The first thing that came to my heart was the motorcycle I wanted. It was a Harley.”

She bought the bike, took the ride. Then she joined the Litas. “I’m very grateful to have found my heart again,” Billings says.

Founded in Utah by Jessica Haggett half a decade ago, the Litas have expanded to include hundreds of branches around the world (Litas Denver, Litas Lisbon, Litas Rome), with members ranging from twentysomething singles to 60- and 70-year-old retirees with grandkids. They take regular rides, often along wild back roads, including the Pine Mountain Ridge route near Ojai, Calif., that Billings took with 32 other riders one Saturday in July. It’s about riding with your own style and pace but surrounded by like-minded friends.

“If you’re learning to ride, you’re going to kill yourself riding with men—they ride like bats out of hell!” Billings says. “And women—I’m generalizing here—tend to be more careful. We are mothers, we are sisters, we feel obligated to stay alive.”

The Litas are singular but not uncommon. All across California, Oregon, and Utah, from Texas to New York, women-only motorcycle groups and riding events are springing up like wildflowers. They go by names such as the Miss-Fires (Brooklyn, N.Y.), the Chrome Divas (Austin), and Leather and Lace (Daytona Beach, Fla.). They do regular rides: Tuesday night pizza runs, say, or weekend coffee meetups—and they take periodic excursions to women-only destination events such as the Wild Gypsy Tour, which is organizing a festival in Sturgis, S.D., in August, and the Dream Roll in Ashland, Ore.; it’s early June event near Denver was photographed for this article.

The biggest crowd follows Babes Ride Out, a series of events founded by Anya Violet and Ashmore Ellis in 2013. It started with 50 women riders who gathered to camp out in Borrego Springs, Calif. They built fires, pitched tents, drank beer, and played games on Harleys, Husqvarnas, and Hondas while soaking in nature and one another’s company.

These groups are tapping into an undercurrent of the motorcycle industry. As sales have faltered, dropping more than 40% from 2008 to 2010, then recovering somewhat by 2014 but never to previous levels, manufacturers including Harley-Davidson Inc. and BMW Motorrad have struggled to create appeal beyond their core demographic of older white men. Their efforts include offering electric and less-expensive motorbikes and introducing exciting conceptual prototypes. Female riders offer enthusiasm and youth, and, yes, they’re spending money that brands crave.

The number of women who own motorcycles has almost doubled since 2010, according to a 2018 study by the Motorcycle Industry Council. Today, 19% of owners are women, up from 10% in 2009 and 8% in the late 1990s. And the number of female riders gets higher as you go younger: 22% of Generation X riders are women, and 26% of millennial riders are women. What’s more, the average woman who owns a motorcycle spends $574 annually on maintenance, parts, service, and accessories, while the average man who rides spends $497.

While the industry on the whole dropped 40% from 2008 to 2010, the amount of women who own motorcycles has almost doubled

“We are riding a ton,” says Joy Lewis, who started when she was 12. “I have a friend who put 20,000 miles on her bike in one year.” Lewis’s father, an Alaskan crab fisherman who owned a Harley, got her hooked. “We spend a lot of money on our gear and our bikes, and a lot of things to go with them. I think that’s starting to be appreciated.”

Andy Jefferson, a spokesman for Husqvarna, says one of the brand’s priorities must be to provide support for women’s motorcycling. “We were like everyone else—going after a piece of the pie,” he says. “But everyone was looking at men, and there are all these other people—women—that nobody even really talks about in conversations about how to sell more bikes.” The brand lacks figures for how many of its owners are women but is “working to change that,” Jefferson says. “That’s part of the problem.”

Husqvarna honed in on women riders five years ago when it started sponsoring Babes in the Dirt, an offshoot of Babes Ride Out that’s more focused on off-road and dirt-bike riding. Last year the company spent $50,000 to $60,000 in support of the three-day rally, lending 27 motorcycles and nine staffers to service the bikes and teach.

“We counted between 80 and 100 girls out there [trying out] Husqvarnas,” he says. “The number is not huge by any means, but those are 100 people we didn’t have before. It also jumps down to their brothers and sisters and kids. We never would have got these people without doing this.”

But more important, “we want to get you to ride a motorcycle,” Jefferson adds. “If you ride with Babes and have fun and go buy another brand, great. We just want people riding.”

At BMW Motorrad, which on July 1 named Trudy Hardy vice president for the Americas, the company is sponsoring women-only events including the Sisters’ Centennial Motorcycle Ride. It’s also covering travel expenses and appearance fees for brand reps such as Elspeth Beard, an architect who was the first British woman to ride her motorcycle around the world. The brand also sends pro racer Jocelin Snow and Erin Sills, who holds a 242 mph land speed record, to attend events at local dealerships.

Harley-Davidson has expanded its retail line in recent years to include a host of riding jackets, helmets, boots, and gloves sized and styled for women. It’s perhaps the most critical field of growth for the 116-year-old Wisconsin brand, which has seen sales steadily decline since 2014. The average age of a Harley owner is 50. The average price of one is $15,800—more than many millennials will spend on a car, let alone a motorcycle.

“Even just in the last five years the conversation has shifted,” says motorcycle aficionado Lewis. “I’m sitting here in leather Kevlar pants as we speak, about to go into a meeting. Not only are companies making cute technical stuff that you could wear to work—rather than some weird leather pants with pink embroidery all over the butt that you’d never wear—they’re making things we can actually use.”

Attendees at events for Babes Ride Out (or BRO, the ironic abbreviation they’ve adopted) come to America from as far away as Sweden and South America. Some have ridden since they could walk; some can’t operate a bike at all, preferring always to be a passenger and imbibe the inspirational atmosphere. There’s always plenty of denim and leather on-site—but the hipster kind, not the leather-daddy look. Local shops give classes on basic bike maintenance. Some women get tattoos to commemorate the experience.

“People camp, and there are trailers, too,” Lewis says. “The idea is that you grab coffee and breakfast, and then during the day everyone is out riding. And then all the stuff happens in the evenings with bands or karaoke and slow races”—feats of throttle control.

Earlier this year, a 96-year-old woman joined them at camp; she’d first ridden cross-country on her motorcycle 75 years ago. Last summer the annual California desert meetup saw 1,700 women ride in Yucca Valley; 500 attended an East Coast campout in the Catskill Mountains in New York; 700 attended the most recent Babes in the Dirt in Lebec, Calif.

“Maybe people think that women who ride are pretty tough and badass, which is probably true, but all in all, women riders come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and lifestyles, so any label that you want to give them does not really work,” co-founder Violet says. “I can honestly say that there is no ‘type’ … and we like it that way!”

Be Here Next for Motor-Loving Ladies

The Dream Roll
Set at New Frontier Ranch in the southern wilds of Oregon, the Dream Roll offers camping, tattoos, dirt trails, an on-site bar, and water activities near stunningly picturesque Crater Lake. Aug. 23–25; Ashland, Ore.

Wild Gypsy Tour – Sturgis Buffalo Chip
The biggest and baddest Gypsy festival of the year, the five-day South Dakota event will appeal to the truly unbridled spirit with Super Hooligan races, minibike showdowns, the Wall of Death—and multiple concerts including Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Snoop Dogg, and Styx. Aug. 3–7; Sturgis, S.D.

Babes in the Dirt East
A mix of flat-track and motocross riding gives dirt-loving ladies a place to experience and perfect their off-roading skills. Where Babes Ride Out focuses on asphalt routes, here you’ll be on trails. Sept. 20–22; Greenville, Tenn.

Babes Ride Out 7 – Central Coast
BRO 7 will include the jewels of years past: karaoke, free beer, performances from local bands, route maps for area rides, and hands-on classes for working on your bike. B.Y.O. tent. Oct. 11–13; Santa Margarita, Calif.