The enduro and trail riding motorcycle market in the US has shrunk almost out of existence largely replaced by ATVs and SxSs for the average outdoor OHV enthusiast. ... MX is really the only remaining market left for offroad motorcycles to be sold in any volume in the US as the Japanese have shown.
It is likely region specific, but along the rocky mountain front, the dealerships are filled with enduro bikes (race bikes and air-cooled "fun" bikes) compared to motocross bikes. And used versions of the air cooled fun bikes, in all sizes but especially kids sizes, are hard to find and hold their value.
Regarding ATV and UTV, my wife and I ride ATV and we see next to no ATV on the trails anymore. Everyone is in huge $30,000 UTV. Thankfully, we still have a lot of 50" trails where they are not allowed (though some areas have expanded our 50" trails to 60" unfortunately and we constantly see UTV poaching 50" trails and widening them).
My wife and I like to each ride our own machines rather than both of us packing into a "trail car with no car advantages" like enclosed cabin and HVAC. (Yes, I know there are now those UTV as well).
But as for bikes, they are still very popular, a good percentage of dealership showrooms, and there are plenty of mountain single track so great riding that keeps buyers interested and new kids coming up that are riding (though not as much as there used to be).
We would buy electric ATV in a heartbeat if they were competitively priced with ICE ATV ($10,000 - $12,000) but ATV are a tough form factor. They don't have the size to accommodate big enough batteries to give them the range where UTV make a pretty good platform. Polaris has the electric Ranger XP Kinetic which looks great and has great range, but price is offputting. And they did it the economical way by using Zero motorcycles motors and battery packs (similar to what Royal Enfield is doing with the Stark motor and battery pack).
When the Polaris/Zero partnership was first announced in 2020, Polaris promised one new electric machine, in various categories, for the next 5 years. Well, it took them 2 years after that to get the Kinetic out the door (2022) and even though they showed some rough prototypes that same year, so far, no electric ATV, snowmobile, slingshot, or motorcycle (Indian subsidiary) production plans announced. (They stopped making watercraft in 2004).
Will be interesting to see the electric market expand. For me, the main advantage of BEV over ICE for our ATV is when we are doing work around our small property. No noise to talk over, no worry about properly warming up engine and belt for short duration uses, etc. Would be fun to have silent on the trails and not have to do oil/filter changes, front and rear diff lube changes and air filter, but really it's the "around the yard" uses that are really attractive to me.
But that was a huge digression from the Stark enduro model. Ha. But I've made my enduro wish list before. Bigger battery of 7.5kWh or larger no matter the weight (or choices for different sizes when ordering), head/tail/brake lights (better trail safety), plush enduro suspension, softer/wider seat, good sidestand, enduro focused armor/protection. Good to go.
enduro21.com
www.mcnews.com.au
