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Mark Hinchliffe·
Motorbike news
··6 Comments·2 min read

Cruiser riders concerned about safety

motorcycles ruff riders Adventure cruisers naked sports touring Safety

The most safety conscious group of motorcyclists and the most frequent riders are cruiser riders, according to the recent global MotorbikeWriter online survey.

Our survey of 739 riders found the five main groups were cruisers (151), naked (130), adventure (125), sports (119) and touring (115).

We asked our readers various questions about how often they ride, why they ride, what issues affect them, etc.

HOW MOTORCYCLE BRANDS RATE

See if you fit in with the results below for your category:

CRUISERSHOG rally Harley-Davidson Adventure cruisers naked sports touring Safety

There is an impression that cruiser riders only ride to the local cafe and spend more time polishing their bikes than riding them.

According to our survey, that’s a myth. In fact, cruiser riders are the most frequent daily and weekly riders, are the most interested in the biker lifestyle, are fairly likely to buy a motorcycle tour and ride more than any other group for recreation and even commuting.

But they do love a good cafe or restaurant, enjoy the scenery second only to adventure riders, are not really into challenging roads, but are most concerned about road quality.

They are also the least likely to seek rider training after touring riders.

ADVENTUREAdventure cruisers naked sports touring Safety

Scenery and challenging roads are understandably the top priorities for adventure riders who are the most likely to buy a motorcycle tour.

They are also the least concerned about the condition of the roads they travel on but are second in their concern for safety behind cruiser riders and second in seeking more training behind sports bike riders.

They aren’t into the biker lifestyle and they don’t ride on a daily basis as much as the other groups and few use them to commute, but they are second in weekly outings to cruiser riders.

Adventure riders might be stuck in the bush a lot, but they do enjoy a good cafe stop for lunch, second only to cruiser riders.

NAKEDDucati GT1000 Adventure cruisers naked sports touring Safety

Riders of unfaired sports-oriented bikes sit in the middle of most issues including biker lifestyle, safety, road quality, travel, scenery, challenging roads and cafe stops.

However, they are second in daily riding behind cruisers, often use them to commute and are equal second with adventure riders for further rider training behind sports bike riders.

SPORTSDaytona 675 Adventure cruisers naked sports touring Safety

Forget about the biker lifestyle, cafes, scenery, safety, touring and challenging roads, these guys are in it for the thrill of the bike.

They don’t use their bikes on a daily or weekly basis as much as any of the other groups, except for the tourers, but when they do ride, they plan to be the best at their craft by seeking out further training.

TOURINGBMW R 1200 RT

Touring by name and touring by nature, these riders are most likely to buy a motorcycle tour, want good quality roads and beautiful scenery.

They are also the least likely to ride daily or weekly, or seek extra training.

They are not into the biker lifestyle, but love a good cafe.

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Mark Hinchliffe
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6 Comments

  1. It makes sense that cruiser riders would be most concerned about road quality and adventure riders the least concerned. The suspension and brakes on cruisers are just not up to handling the poor state of Australian roads, whereas adventure bikes, to varying degrees, will handle poor road surfaces much better. When it comes to seeking advanced training, I’ve also found that a lot of cruiser riders are returning riders who haven’t ridden for many years. The people in this group are often the most in need of rider training, but seem to think that it will somehow admit they aren’t very good riders so are too proud to update their skills through formal training.

    1. I meant to add that the fact that their bikes are not so suitable for Australian conditions indicates to me that they are the least safety-concious, not the most. They also rarely wear proper helmets (as you’ve pointed out in your own articles, the most common area for head injuries is the area not covered by open-face helmets) and tend to wear clothing such as jeans and footwear that offer little protection in the event of a get-off. Harley riders are even worse, with their silly fingerless gloves and bare arms. Cruiser riders might claim to be the most safety-consious, but as the saying goes “actions speak louder than words”.

      1. Only see two cruisers a year? really?
        Not suitable for australian conditions???
        Maybe if you live in the middle of the Simpson desert

  2. As somebody who literally rides everyday to work. a good 40 minutes in traffic each way and every weekend. This is just my circumstance. Ive seen only 2 cruisers while commuting to work in over a year. I see 8 to 10 other bikes everyday mostly sport bikes. So these results are interesting. Considering most cruisers go out of their way to be noticed eg Loud pipes its in stark contrast to your survey. I commute on one of the busiest roads into Brisbane to work.

  3. This is interesting. Here in Townsville, I commute to/from work daily (40 – 50 minute round trip), and I ride a 600RR. The most bikes I see are sports bikes moreso than your cruiser / naked. Mainly see cruisers on Sunday morning fuelling up for their Sunday morning rides.

    Daily though, way more sports bikes.

  4. Before this turns into a ‘dunno what your talking about, that doesn’t happen around here’ session or a ‘cruiser riders are this and that’ look at how the survey was conducted. Perhaps you took part? People replied to a survey. The numbers are what they are …it is just compiling responses.

    I found the results interesting. The results pretty much align with what I’ve seen around the ACT, and throughout the 20 years I’ve been riding.

    Thanks for conducting the survey.

    Last point, if you came to bikes fresh and listened to some commentators on the website, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking that only cruiser riders had aftermarket pipes, were the only ones that weren’t dressed head to toe in leather, and only had open face helmets.

    Grow up – are you jealous or something? We are all motorcyclist.

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