50 States Ranked for Highest Motorcycle Ownership: You Won't Guess Who's No. 1

[Eck]

Info was published - February 16, 2014

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/16/50-states-ranked-for-highest-motorcycle-ownership.aspx

 

 

Alabama was ranked # 32 ....Ho-Hum........

Most bikes registered by state: = http://www.statista.com/statistics/191002/number-of-registered-motorcycles-in-the-us-by-state/

[cowpuc]

BAAAARUUUTHER was I way off!! Thought I would have been wayyyyyyyy closer than that:confused24:

Thanks Eck for

[Venturous Randy]

Alabama was ranked # 32 ....Ho-Hum........

 

 

Yeah, you are tied with Tennessee and Arkansas.

This was a good way of ranking in relationship to population. Otherwise, the most bikes registered would probably be California.

RandyA

[Grandpagak]

i'm rather suprised that Minnesoda is 9th, being that we have winter most of the year,,???

[Evan]

Very interesting, and surprising too. Wonder how Canadian provinces would compare and rank.

[mabeline]

AB 116,605 MC 4,025,100 pop

 

SK 11,646 MC 1,108,300 pop

 

BC 61,883 MC 4,582,000 pop

 

NL 14,760 MC 526,700 pop

 

PEI 3,288 MC 145,200 pop

 

NS 18,563 MC 940,000 pop

 

NB 21,406 MC 756,100 pop

 

QU 193,853 MC 8,153,300 pop

 

ON 211,294 MC 13,538,000 pop

 

MB 17,186 MC 1,265,000 pop

 

YT 1,060 MC 36,700 pop

 

NWT 804 MC 43,500 pop

 

NUN 80 MC 35,600 pop

 

There you go. 2013 Stats Canada

Somebody else has to do the math

[steamer]

Wait a minute! Just exactly what time of the year are they counting these MC's?....During bike week????

[CaptainJoe]

Closely resembles this one...

http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/gas_prices_by_state/

[Hazenson]

surprised where Alaska is! wouldn't have guessed it

[djh3]

So I wounder if this includes off road machines also, or just "road registered". But it was taken off a population type survey. So South Dakota has whatever 20K folks living there and 6k ride. Calif has a million peeps and 80k ride percentage wise its less people. Still pretty cool that those states that have winter beat out us that have summer most of the year.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

In many of those top ranking states, including South Dakota, there are tens of thousands of street legal ATVs that are registered as 'motorcycles'...and in Iowa, ATV's that are just ridden on public lands, not pavement, are also required to be registered.

 

In South Dakota, I think almost every rural family has one or two street legal ATV's or side-by-side's that they putz around on when the weather is good...and especially if the weather is really bad.

 

 

So the numbers are a bit misleading.

 

 

It's puzzling to me that the authors of these articles never bother to mention that.

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2014 by tx2sturgis

[Condor]

I don't think this is a very good representation of bike ownership ranking per state. The low population states will always rate higher. A better and fairer count would be per square mile within each state. In otherwords dealing with density.... IMHO

[Karaboo]

In Wisconsin the ATV's and such are not registered by the DMV. They are registered by the DNR. Like a boat or snowmobile. Same goes for the title of all off-road vehicles.

[Rosie1965]

In Iowa, off road registrations are not included with road registrations. I think the riders from the more populous states just have to face the fact that they are a small minority in their states.

One reason the northern states could be higher per capita is because we cherish the summer after a long, cold winter.

[cowpuc]

Well,,, I dont know nothin about none of this stuff but I do know,, I really really like South Dakota and the people out there.. They deserve 1st place just cause they are nice:bighug:

[bj66]

One thing to think about for South Dakota and other more rural states. We get our kids to ride at a young age, meaning multiple motorcycles per houehold. I have 3 in my garage, also have a side by side atv and a 4 wheeler. The side by side and 4 wheeler are licensed though I do that for insurance purposes. If something happens while I am riding them off of my property, insurance will pay just like auto insurance. I started a fire with a 4 wheeler about 5 years ago in some cattails by a river. 6 rural fire departments showed up to help control it. The bill from the fire was over 6500$. My insurance covered it and life was good. If I wouldve had them insured through my farm policy, it wasnt on my ground and I wouldnt have been covered. Im glad I didnt get that bill......So I contibute 5 of those vehicles myself in one household. The joys of having two sons.

 

Also, I dont ride the ATV's on the highway much, but I do use them ice fishing. Its nice to have them licensed when bombing around on the frozen lakes. Not sure it is necessary though.

 

I just got to thinking 4 farms 6 miles apart (mine included), 13 motorcycles total---- 2 goldwings, 2 yamahas, 9 HD's. So I would say the motorcycles are still a very big percentage. Yes there are ATV's but when you talk rural country roads with less traffic, you will see more bikes out riding.

Edited August 13, 2014 by bj66

[cowpuc]

Well,,, I dont know nothin about none of this stuff but I do know,, I really really like South Dakota and the people out there.. They deserve 1st place just cause they are nice:bighug:

 

One thing to think about for South Dakota and other more rural states. We get our kids to ride at a young age, meaning multiple motorcycles per houehold. I have 3 in my garage, also have a side by side atv and a 4 wheeler. The side by side and 4 wheeler are licensed though I do that for insurance purposes. If something happens while I am riding them off of my property, insurance will pay just like auto insurance. I started a fire with a 4 wheeler about 5 years ago in some cattails by a river. 6 rural fire departments showed up to help control it. The bill from the fire was over 6500$. My insurance covered it and life was good. If I wouldve had them insured through my farm policy, it wasnt on my ground and I wouldnt have been covered. Im glad I didnt get that bill......So I contibute 5 of those vehicles myself in one household. The joys of having two sons.

 

Also, I dont ride the ATV's on the highway much, but I do use them ice fishing. Its nice to have them licensed when bombing around on the frozen lakes. Not sure it is necessary though.

 

and cause they like to play with motorized toys and have kids they train to do the same:cool10:

My kinda people:cool10::cool10:

[bj66]

Your right Puc. I had my first bike when I was 8 years old. A Kawasaki enduro 90cc. Then a bigger framed 100cc Yammy enduro. After that it was a Honda 185 3-wheeler. Then I made the jump to street bikes in high school.

 

The 4 wheeler I have is a 2001 Polaris 325 2wd 4 wheeler, not fast at all. Got that when kids were small and let them ride on it around the yard. With my fat butt on it,its barely fast enough to get out of its own way. So about 3 or 4 years ago I bought a Kawasaki Teryx side by side to replace the 4 wheeler I caught on fire. I use it around the farm and the boys like to bomb around with it when I take the yard sprayer off the back.

 

I start thinking how many bikes are around here and it is nuts. And to think several of them have to ride gravel to even get to a highway in the first place. It took me about 30 seconds to come up with 25 or so bikes in my immediate area and all but 1 have to contend with some sort of gravel before we get to a highway.

 

Your right though, we love our toys!!!!!

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Just for full disclosure, I really LIKE South Dakota...in fact, I may move there in 3 years or so...when some of my retirement funds become available.

 

I enjoy the fact that ATVs can be licensed for street use. Seems like a no-brainer when you see it there....but here in Texas....its a no-no.

 

People here look at me like I'm from Pluto or something when I tell them that ATVs can be made street legal in the Dakotas and Wyoming.

 

Having traveled in the USA for 32 years as a truck driver, I see a lot more bikes (2 and 3 wheeled) in the southern states than I ever do up north.

What would happen to the number of motorcycle registrations in Texas if suddenly it was legal to tag and sticker ATVs and side-by-sides as motorcycles in this state? I would bet the number of registered 'motorcycles' would skyrocket in the first year! There must be hundreds of thousands of those things on farms and ranches all over this state.

 

I still think the number of 'motorcycles' in some of those rural states are skewed by the ATVs.

 

I could be wrong....and if I am...I wont be bothered at all....its kind've a fun way to be incorrect...dont you think?

 

Edited August 13, 2014 by tx2sturgis

[bj66]

Come on up! Maybe you can invest in some property where Puc camps during Sturgis......you could start a campground and call it "The Puc Stops Here"

[Pegasus1300]

Back in the day when I was a dealer we used to get a Magazine called Motorcycle Dealer News. It would list the top selling states by number of motorcycle sold. California was always at the top no surprise there Next was Texas again no surprise. The surprise came when I saw Michigan and Wisconsin listed in the top 5 and always in the top ten.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

The surprise came when I saw Michigan and Wisconsin listed in the top 5 and always in the top ten.

 

Michigan is a bit of a puzzle but Wisconsin is the corporate location of Harley-Davidson and that company gets to record every bike out the factory door (and shipped to a dealer) as a 'sale'.

So its no surprise that Wisconsin has very inflated motorcycle 'sales' numbers...but its not really directly related to motorcycles actually sold to retail buyers in the state.

 

Mark Twain (and others) have said it best:

 

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics"

 

 

Edited August 13, 2014 by tx2sturgis

[Flyinfool]

Michigan is a bit of a puzzle but Wisconsin is the corporate location of Harley-Davidson and that company gets to record every bike out the factory door (and shipped to a dealer) as a 'sale'.

So its no surprise that Wisconsin has very inflated motorcycle 'sales' numbers...but its not really directly related to motorcycles actually sold to retail buyers in the state.

 

Mark Twain (and others) have said it best:

 

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics"

 

 

 

Not really, they are going by registrations not bike sales. Harley makes a lot more bikes every year than the total bikes listed for WI. The factory does not register any of the bikes they ship to a dealer. If the numbers included all of the bikes Harley made, WI would have more than the 800K listed for CA.

 

But having the Harley HQ located here does raise the numbers of registered bikes due to a generous employee discount that is also available for family members. Many of these employee discount bikes are replaced every year with a new one because the discount is good enough that you can ride it for a year and still sell at a profit. Pocket the profit and get a new bike.

 

On a summer day around here the bikes sometimes seem to outnumber the cars.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Not really, they are going by registrations not bike sales.

 

Yes really, in this post, I was referencing this quote by pegasus1300:

 

Back in the day when I was a dealer we used to get a Magazine called Motorcycle Dealer News. It would list the top selling states by number of motorcycle sold. California was always at the top no surprise there Next was Texas again no surprise. The surprise came when I saw Michigan and Wisconsin listed in the top 5 and always in the top ten.

 

So in this case I was referring to motorcycle 'sales'. Yes, I understand the rest of this thread is talking about 'registrations'....

 

 

[dacheedah]

31, reminds me of ice cream