Australian Motorcyclist — December 2017

(Martin Jones) #1

Editor Stuart Woodbury
Contributing Editor J Peter Thoeming


Sales Manager Ralph Leavsey-Moase
[email protected]


Photo Editor Nick Wood
Designer Amy Hale


Photographers Nick Wood
Photography, Half-Light Photography


Contributors Robert Crick, Jacqui
Kennedy, Robert Lovas, Phil Gadd,
Boris Mihailovic, Lester Morris, The
Possum, Colin Whelan


Editorial
[email protected]


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T


HE NEWS ISnot good. Latest
quarterly motorcycle sales
results recently came out and
road bike sales overall are down 14.9%
compared to the same time last year.
This is a worry for all of us, but I have
a couple of ideas as to what has led to
this downfall.
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strain a lot of people are feeling is
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industry has obviously got its marketing
spend wrong. Their internet and social
media marketing has been wasted,
when they’ve actually ignored their core
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to try new things – excellent, but for
the second time now, it simply hasn’t
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know who clicks on ads that pop up on
an internet page you’re reading, or on
your Facebook feed? I certainly don’t,
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of the people I speak to.
Thirdly, I think the boom of new
riders into the market has stalled for
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bikes still selling well, others have fallen
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sales are quite small compared to the
category that everyone thought was
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across the country will rejoice at all the

new business! Hahaha!
On our Facebook page we
had some opinions from you
guys about what you feel are
he main reasons sales are
own. The consensus was
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arassing motorcyclists for
o other reason than that
ey’re on two wheels. What
e your thoughts on the
atter? Let us know.
What is the world coming
” is something I’ve heard
m many people lately. With all
t’s going on around the world,
this made you think twice
ut travelling to Europe or the
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holiday? I know a few people who
have mentioned to me that this worry
has halted their plans. But if there is
one place that you should be thinking
of going, it is New Zealand! Yep, our
friends over the ditch seem to be out of
the way with all that happens in other
countries. Er, so I guess I should also
plug our New Zealand readers’ tour,
shouldn’t I! Hint, hint; wink, wink!
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Island for another readers’ tour in 2018.
You can read all about the details in
this issue. What encouraged us to not
skip a year, like we had planned? Well,
it’s quite simple – irresistible scenery
and unmatched roads. Anyone who has
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Zealand will know that kilometre for
kilometre, nowhere else in the world
can offer so much stunning scenery
and amazing motorcycle roads in the
one small package. We are doing the
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Motorcycle Tours NZ. Andre and Mike
are great blokes and run a mega
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see you there and as you’ve probably
read in the past, anyone who has
come along on one of our previous
tours has had the time of their lives!
And don’t forget our Vietnam tour
as well. Two very different tours, in
two amazing locations, 2018 is going
to be very exciting!
Enjoy!
Cheers, Stuart.

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