While at the Vancouver Motorcycle Show this year, I found myself conversing about how to entice younger generations to get into motorcycling. Of course, there are a few hurdles, such as money, limited options for inexpensive beginner bikes (slowly changing with the introduction of smaller cc streetbikes), and more kids are being raised in the city without the need to have a personal vehicle. On top of this, I think that there is a lack of mainstream media showcasing motorcycling these days which creates that spark of interest in youngsters — keeping it as a passing thought instead of an attainable dream. 

My millennial generation (yes, I’m a millennial; don’t hold it against me) experienced the height of extreme sports on TV; Nitro Circus comes to mind as the most memorable, which featured Travis Pastrana and his crew of misfit daredevils attempting stunts on nearly any vehicle they could get their hands on. 

It was easy for children to stumble upon shows like this, becoming inspired by the skill and the allure of each sport. Although not all kids were interested in riding bikes — or attempting stupid stunts as seen on TV — extreme sports were often talked about and were common knowledge amongst my peers throughout the late ’90s and 2000s. 

For those not into the stunting motorcycle shows, you may remember Long Way Round (Long Way Down, and most recently Long Way Up) which featured Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman riding from London to New York City around the Northern Hemisphere. The show quickly became a hit with gearheads and regular folk alike. It propelled the Adventure segment of motorcycling and the BMW GS series into the top ranks of interest for many people. 

Let’s not forget Wide World of Sports, which aired from 1961 to 1997, and featured a variety of sports including regular features on motorcycling. This weekly TV show appeared in the living rooms of every family in North America.

But more than the TV shows, I miss the movies. The 1969 counterculture film Easy Rider portrayed the freedom that a motorcycle offered and touched the imagination of a generation. Of course, On Any Sunday, released in 1971, is a film that has spawned generations of riders and is touted as the greatest motorcycle film ever. It showcased the joy and struggles of motorcycle racing and why we just can’t quit doing it.

Attending the bike shows reminds me every year how much I used to look forward to stocking up on a plethora of motorcycle content that would sustain me for the remainder of the year. At any of the Toronto shows I would no doubt stop by GoVideo to see Glen, where I could peruse several hundreds of movies spanning across every genre of motorcycling. I would save my money, and then ask my parents for more, and try to negotiate a deal to get more movies than I could afford. 

For me it never really mattered what type of motorcycling was featured in the videos. I had everything from superbike and trials competitions, dirtbike videos, Isle of Man TT coverage, and rally racing. Nowadays, full-length films on motorcycling created in the last 10 years are few and far between.  

Aside from this change in media, younger generations tend to have the attention span of a goldfish thanks to the many social media platforms that offer short, exciting clips with no real substance. Kids scroll through their phones with eyes glazed over. On top of this, the algorithm embedded in each platform adapts to show the user what they think they want to see, creating a surprisingly narrow scope of what is shown to the user. 

What does this mean for the up-and-coming motorcyclists? Well, you don’t know what you don’t know. Footage of motorcycling used to be displayed in most living rooms, accessible by everyone to stumble upon and fall in love with. Now, unless someone knows that they want to watch these things, they’ll likely stick with their “made-for-them” content without ever searching elsewhere to explore and discover things outside of the bubble that social media has created for them. 

So, no more mainstream films about the culture of motorcycles, about riders testing their limits on their bikes. No, now we must settle for shorts, adapted for the attention span we no longer have. And although I can’t say I’m happy about it, it would seem we have no choice.

YouTube is now our best option, where you’ll find lots of great content that showcases riders’ experiences, struggles and joys with self-made video content. It is a great place to share and find new motorcycle content that can bring the same inspiration as films and TV once did, if you know to search for it. So while the times have inevitably changed, I hope the youngsters still seek out the wide world of motorcycling that’s needed to grow the motorcyclists of the next generation.