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" I'd really love to see Duc make a sub 1000cc faired, low end grunt (for real riding), comfortable, 55mpg+ machine (oh! and much less than 15 grand as well please!) that we could use to commute and would still be good for a weekend ride out."jacksonc001 They did: Multistrada 650; I had one but didn't rate it much; poor finish and a pain to ride in town (sharp clutch, tall gearing, peaky power delivery). Great article; I'm old enough for those ads to make me feel nostalgic for '70s. I used to commute to college by bike (CB175) year round out of necessity but really can't recommend it for half the year in the UK: those days when you have to scrape the frost off the saddle, feel the rain trickling down the back of your neck and suffer the agonies of frozen hands thawing - no thanks. Bikes are a great recreation but unfortunately our climate will always discourage daily use while alternatives exist.

A london transport monthly card costs 1200 quid?

That is a lot of money.

Brilliant Article.

As a copywriter, I love reading old ads and these are great! But, of course, times change and maybe the slightly more liberal, or PC, adverts work better within this modern demographic. I'm not saying that's right, but when I pose a "new" way of advertising to my clients (instead of the spiel everyone expects), some will decline because they don't want to rock the boat. We live in very different times but, don't worry, like fashion it'll all go full circle. Hmm... "You'll live more in five minutes on a GSXR, than a lifetime in a car. Life's too short to drive a Prius."

Just an add on

One of the things that could make bikes pleasing is if biker didn't have to wear helmets all the time, for sure on open roads going at speed it is best to have a helmet on but ploding around town at cycle speeds there is no need for helmets in fact a study has shown by wearing a helmet at cycling speeds you are more likely to injure yourself because of the helmet.

Consider this, a cyclist can ride his bike at around 30 mph on the flat but has no need of wearing a helmet a motorcyclist has to be law wear a helmet even to ride at 1 mph, and according to a cycling study helmets cause serious harm to the wearer at low speeds.

So perhaps around town if motorcyclists didn't have to wear helmets they would be considered more in fitting with everyone else.

Brilliant article, bang on

Some great comments too.

Being a relatively recent convert to biking, I'm distressed at the decline in the past few years.  Sales down 25% since 2008, dealers and training schools closing all over the place (lose too many and they won't come back in that area), number of new licensees halved after the 2 part test came in, and the pending 3rd Driving License Directive and FUN IST VERBOTEN regulations look set to inflict yet another huge boot to the lug nuts.

I can't remember the last time I saw an advert for a motorcycle or biking anywhere other than in motorcyling media, selling altar candles to the choir.  Bike ads are essentially all the same: lean the bike over, knee out, and rotate the picture so it's essentially horizontal. Slap "YamaHonZuki XRZ900ZZRXR - Liberate the freedom" or equivalent other wankspeak on it, add the mandatory "0% finance available (conditions apply)", print it, and go to the wine bar.

And that might actually be the best adverts that they can do.  I like the idea of advertising bikes as being cheap transport, but they're not.  Above the 125 budget commuter sector, 2011 bikes are almost all expensive, heavy, over powered, over complicated, with erratic build quality, surprisingly high running costs and practically stone age economy and emissions.  Look, just for example, at the Audi A1 1.6 tdi.  104 bhp, 120 mph, 76 mpg combined, 99 carbons (so VED and congestion charge exempt) while carrying 4 in heated, air conditioned comfort.  And that's not even the most efficient supermini out there, not by a long shot.

To get anywhere near that while avoiding the 125 mirthmobiles, you'd looking at spanking about £5,500 on something like a G650GS (good luck finding a dealer who'll give you the time of day if you have the cheek to ask about a 250).  Then it snows and you're crowding into the rush hour sardine train, wishing you'd bought the car.

So, OK, we're back to emotive adverts.  I love the "Life's too short" idea, but it does rather play into the ZOMFG U GUNNA DIE!!!!!!11!!! lobby.  Horse riding is 20 times more dangerous per hour (so probably 200 times per mile), but nobody has it in for horsists, so you won't hear about that.

Sod it, I don't know what we can do, but it looks like the MCIA and manufacturers don't either, and instead are happy to just shift increasingly expensive litre+ bikes to codgers.  Focussing on people cashing in their pensions may not the be best long term strategy, mind.