46 MOTORCYCLETRADER
Superbike owners are increasingly being
herded into track days and the occasional
risky ride on public roads. Manufacturers
will still make these bikes in the
foreseeable future, but the market for them
in a more tightly controlled Australian/
NZ environment will diminish. The
shockingly low attendance at Australian
Superbike rounds is a sign.
Road design in Australia has reached
its financial and logical conclusion. The
philosophy and expense of building roads
for high speeds is finished. The Hume
Freeway between Sydney and Melbourne
was designed for 130km/h, but 110km/h
was as courageous as any government
(barring NT that now has a limit of
130km/h) has been able to manage. That’s
likely to get worse in the future.
Aust ra l ia’s top-selling road bike is
currently the Honda CB125E, which is
fatter and slower than the 125 Honda
was selling in the 1970s. Bikes to deliver
food and get university students to and
from their learning institutions may
continue to be popular but they don’t
make the manufacturers any money and
it’s questionable whether the owners are
actually motorcyclists rather than just
cash-starved commuters.
The biggest external forces on what
bikes we’re likely to be riding in 2030
are environmental. It won’t matter
that Australian and NZ riders like
petrol because manufacturers will be
concentrating on alternative energy
sources including solar-powered
electricity and, in a perfect world,
hydrogen. It will be transport, but will it
be riding?The notion of ‘private’ transport will
also be threatened. Many European cities
already have taxes on riding and driving
in inner-city areas and public transport
will be more dominant in the mix.
Logically, bikes should be encouraged
for their low environmental footprint,
but it’s never helped us in the past so it’s
unrealistic to think it will in the future.GLOBAL PICTURE
Worse, geopolitics will affect what we’re
riding in 2030. The Middle East will
inevitably collapse when the demand forABOVE: BMW’s Vision DC
Roadster concept unveiled
back in July married
electric propulsion in
the configuration of the
company’s trademark boxer
engine for effective cooling.BMW
NIGEL HARVEY
BMW Motorrad Australia
marketing manager
What local conditions influence
what bikes are distributed in
Australia and New Zealand?
We import all BMW models from
Germany, and there are no real
differences. The only exception
being the C-Evolution, the electric
version of the C 650 scooter, which
is something we’d consider based
on customer demand.The way Australians ride
their GSs is a lot more off-
road focussed than what
the Europeans typically do
so, in that sense, there’s a
lot of input locally. A prime
example of this is the hardcore
Rallye X version of the R 1200 GS
(now in R 1250 GS guise), which was
conceived in Australia because it
suits our conditions and satisfies
a demand. These customers want
longer-travel suspension and don’t
want a big screen, centrestand and
pannier frame rails, which starkly
contrasts with the demands of
European customers.What do you see as the long-term
global influences on what kind of
bikes we’re likely to see here in
the future?
The influences will comprise
socially acceptable, responsible
and sustainable use of the product
in its environment.
Like any manufacturer in the
business of personal mobility, a
huge influence on our future is
going to be emissions laws as well
as consumer trends in terms of
sustainable mobility.
For BMW Motorrad, that will
be balanced with an emotive,
experiential side.How much influence does
your input have in what your
parent company decides for
its model range?
GS models account for around
50 per cent of total sales for BMW
in Australia. On the global scale,
BMW Motorrad sells more than
250,000 units annually and Australia
accounts for around 3000 of that,
so we’re a small market but we’re
also an important one. Munich
takes our feedback and our desires
very seriously, especially when
it comes to our experience with
GS models and, again, the way
our customers use them.