American Motorcyclist April 2021

Page 40

Striding To Riding Strider Bikes…helping build future motorcyclists, today By Joy Burgess

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hen I took the leap and learned how to ride a motorcycle, I remember being told, “If you know how to ride a bicycle and can balance, you’ll have no problem.” Luckily, I’d learned to ride a bike really young, so the transition to a motorized two-wheeler was pretty seamless. But what happens when kids or adults don’t know how or are unable to experience bicycling? Biking is an excellent pathway to riding motorcycles, especially among youth, but it’s been on the decline. Sports & Fitness Industry Association data from 2018 shows that only 16 percent of kids between the ages of 6 and 12 cycle regularly, a drastic decrease compared to numbers in the ’70s and ’80s. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has fueled bicycle sales in a way not seen in several decades, but this downward trend over the last few decades is a scary one for the motorcycle industry.

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