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Ticket To Ride. Rediscovering the joy of riding a motorcycle.

Jan. 4 2022 News By Romney Cycles

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THE PANDEMIC MEANT SPENDING MORE TIME OUTDOORS, WHERE WE REDISCOVERED THE JOY OF RIDING.

  • By Joanne Helperin

Transportation was one of the industries hardest hit by COVID.  Especially in the early days, any form of transport in which you’d be standing or sitting close to others took a big hit. In the cities, mass transit ridership plummeted, and ride-hailing services were devastated. And with so many businesses shuttered, even auto sales were way down across the country.

We stayed home. As weeks turned into months, though, it got old.  


THE HATFIELD-MCCOY AND MOUNTAIN RIDGE TRAILS. REMEDIES FOR CABIN FEVER. 


“People were sick of being at home, says Romney Cycles manager Jacob Buttrum. “They came in and bought everything that we had. They would say, ‘I can't go do this or that, or I can't go on a family vacation, so I'm going to buy a side-by-side, and we're going to go down to the trailhead for five days.’ Hatfield-McCoy or Mountain Ridge. It's been a replacement for the typical family vacation.”



Parks and outdoor spaces: How did the number of visitors change since the beginning of the pandemic? 

Includes local and national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas, and public gardens.Like many Americans, West Virginians spent a whole lot more time outside. The mountains, the parks, you name it.



HITTING THE ROAD AND OFF-ROAD WITH ROMNEY CYCLES


Across the country, the newly empty roads beckoned.

If your motorcycle, four-wheeler, or RV was collecting dust, you took it out and fixed it up. If you didn’t have one, you bought one. U.S. consumers purchased an estimated 780,000 motorcycles in 2020, up some 67 percent compared to 2019. Yet while sales climbed, the average price of two-wheelers remained stable.

Source: Motorcycle Industry Council Ride Report


Powersports gave owners the freedom to go where they want, when they want, while still maintaining social distance.

Perhaps more important, getting out of the house and leaving the pandemic behind, even temporarily, and gave people the critical psychological lift they needed.  The spirit of the road helped people rediscover why they love about powersports and, for many, the joy of being with a good friend, a loved one, or a family.

This is why, in 2021 — despite global inventory shortages during the fall — motorcycles and ATV sales were at their highest level in a decade.


WEST VIRGINIA TRAILS: LOCAL (AND LOCALS) BENEFIT

Many folks used the pandemic to take advantage of the nearby trails. In 2020, the celebrated Hatfield-McCoy Trail System, one of the largest off-road vehicle trail systems in the world, sold nearly 65,000 trail permits — the highest number of annual permits ever. Even with an eight-week closure due to the pandemic, permit sales grew 15% over 2019. ATV pass permits at the Trail System were on track to set new records in 2021.

“We saw an increase in service customers as well as sales,” says Jacob. “It was almost like a motorcycle/ATV renaissance.”

Many new riders joined in the fun, made easier by full-featured, small-displacement machines, such as the Kawasaki Ninja 400, which comes packed with features but can be ridden with a lower-tier license.

While the pandemic hasn’t fully retreated the way we had hoped, neither have the people of West Virginia. While planes and trains can still be worrisome, they’ll find their family vacation in the best way possible: on two or four wheels.