When I was a lad, there were always men on their drives

[alanjennings]

Approaching Berlin in 1989 on my Vincent I saw an East German lad had got his m.z. engine out on a picnic table on the autobahn! He must have been really deperate!

[MalcW]

There are a number of interesting business reports out there showing a slowdown in motorcycle sales due to Covid lock down, but forecasting a major resurgence in sales in a post Covid world. Recession/ depression (don't need to be an economist to recognise the world's economies are kaput) will drive the need for cheap affordable transport such as motorcycles and scooters. Also, with social distancing embedded in our psyche, individual commuting will be for many, the preference to sharing your personal bubble with 50 others on a cramped bus or train. Home working is set to become the norm for many and therefore, no need to have the average of 2 expensive cars on the drive costing a small fortune due to tax, high rate insurance and depreciation.

I was talking to a motorcycle salesman last week - he's really busy. He said it was a mixture of people that would have bought a bike earlier, but couldn't, and people buying commuter bikes to avoid using public transport.

Malc

[Andy51]

Re classic car insurance, some 20 years ago my student son wanted a car with a bit of 'street cred' which a second hand mini metro just wasn't going to provide, so he (we) bought an MGB GT. about the same price then as an oldish modern car, and much cheaper to insure - he was limited to 3,000 miles/ yr on a classic policy, but his student income kept his miles below that! Sold it 3 yrs later for a good price - much less depreciation than a mini metro. And yes, we mended it on our drive, changing big end shells - to complete the classic image! Andy