According to Black Book’s Scott Yarbrough, Senior Analyst, Motorcycle & Powersports: “July normally marks the peak of both summer temperatures and powersports prices, and this year appears to be no different. What is unique is that this peak in values comes on top of the past 18 months’ worth of steady increases in prices, though we are beginning to see signs that the pandemic fueled rise in values may be cresting.”

June to July Average Segment Change in Value

• Jet Boats, Scooters, and Personal Watercraft are our hottest segments this month. All three of these segments have two things in common; they see their strongest demand when the weather is warm, and they are popular rental units at vacation destinations.
• The Off-Road segments continue to see exceptional demand with the Dirt Bikes up 3.5% and Utility Vehicles up 3.0%.
• The on-road motorcycle segments are where we are seeing the first signs of prices softening. Both Cruisers and Street Bikes are up half a percent or less, while Dual Sports have barely changed in value at all. This may be the beginning of the end of our current “overheated” market conditions. In addition to the softening prices, several dealers have told us they have recently seen retail demand lessening as well.

Cruisers

The Cruiser segment is following last year’s valuation trends pretty closely at this point. The biggest difference is from the initial shock the coronavirus caused, reflected in the sharp drop in values last spring that was not present this year. Yarbrough says the drop in demand and values may be a sign the pandemic market is finally starting to end.

• The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) Retail Sales Reporting system which tallies new motorcycle retail sales from 14 leading manufacturers showed a 34.6% increase in Scooter sales for the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year. Off-Road bikes saw a 45.4% increase in new unit retail sales versus the first quarter of 2020.
• AIMExpo announced that their next show will be held in Las Vegas Jan 19-21, 2022. The show will be co-located with Tucker Powersports annual expo and training event for Powersports Dealers. After the past 18 months of virtual meetings, it is safe to say nearly everyone is looking forward to meeting in person again.
• The Powersports Industry is still experiencing shortages of product at nearly all levels. In particular, OEMs are still struggling with supply chain issues which limit new unit shipments, and dealers are shifting that unit demand to the used side, creating shortages there as well.

Dirt Bike Performance

According to Yarbrough, over the past 18 months or so, the dirt bikes have been exceptional performers, and continue to increase in value again this month. Other than the negligible drop in prices for March and April, they have increased in value every month since the pandemic began last spring.

Source: Black Book Specialty Market