Preaching to the Choir

Recently I was exchanging ideas with a friend about the future of MABs, we have similar views on the topic, and he suggested it was preaching to the choir, that despite good intentions he felt it was a waste of breath and he wasn't going to get upset with stuff he couldn't influence.

I think about the inverse too though, how this stuff is gonna influence or effect me? Also, I think the jury is still out whether he or I or us or we can influence things, not hugely or all at once, but simply persevering with a consistent and commonsense message.

Are MABs becoming more popular? Who knows, hard numbers are not easy to come by but probably they are, as word gets around and people sight them on the street. I think there is a fairly high attrition rate, guys lose interest. I'm guessing it's 1 1/2 steps forward one back, a low overall increase but I don't know, it's an open question, not rhetorical.

High fuel costs effect things, though right now for the short run anyway, energy costs are flat and dropping. I noticed a big uptick in MAB interest 4 years ago when oil was $147@bbl. The downside to that is the markets will also react to prolonged economic troubles, which also effects people thinking about cheap trans. I lost track of the number of college kids I've seen recently asking about MABs because they can't afford a car. And to say it's just college kids and not working adults wouldn't be the whole story either.

I'm also noticing what appears to be a huge increase in the number of catastrophic mechanical failures in MABs. Maybe they were always there but I'm led to believe because there are more MABs out there, it's more noticeable. Not talking about chain tensioners or fender suck either, but frame tube failure, wheel bearings blowing out, torque steer pulling cheap forks apart. Faster speeds, heavier engines, cheap bikes and the chickens come home to roost. A corollary question would be are there more crashes and wipeouts happening? I think so, I'm seeing some mentioned, but it's the kind of anecdotal evidence that's bound to be hugely under-reported also. Guys will brag about road rash but not brain damage.

But it's no wonder guys lose interest without a lot of practical, commonsense opinion and advice going around. Is the whole scene too big to worry about or influence or even care about? Yeah, probably. But sometimes I think about just narrowing the focus down: the noob thinking about getting started, that young guy just searching for sound advice or the seasoned old timer looking for exercise or travel but who can tell the difference between good advice and bullshit...........which is the category I count myself in, lol.