Soft kids reject bikes

Yamaha’s boss blames molly-coddled kids for a downturn in bike sales in Japan – one of the few markets in the world to have seen sales go down in recent years.

In an interview with Times Online (external site ) the president of Yamaha Motor Takashi Kajikawa says he has seen surging oil prices drive a 30 per cent sales rise across the world in the last three years. But it’s a different story in Japan.

“It’s not like the old days when young Japanese boys joined biker gangs. It wasn’t so good for the public image but it was good for sales,” he tells Times Online. “Nowadays, their mothers think it’s too dangerous and forbid their sons to buy bikes. And anyway, youngsters would prefer to stay in and play on their computers,” he tells Times Online.

He goes on to say that the increase in fuel prices and concerns about the environment means he wants Yamaha to have a Hybrid bike – like the Gen-Ryu concept launched this year – in production by the end of the decade.

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