Almost 63 here, have met hundreds of Hub fans since many years, have great friends among adventure travellers, have had many talks not including problems/solutions of long distance and adventure travelling but also on how to make the world more peaceful, friendly incl.humanity supports..We call it the way of hub. and feel its getting behind the new age now..For eg.Still no HUB. recommended countrywide repair shops,biker friendly hostels rtw. which can be accepted to the hub list with a door or wall sticker against a fee and by recommandations of travellers..

I guess average age of the followers and voices here is around 50.s.And our generation is becoming techonology disabled!! The truth and best solution is not only the one we know with our experiences..So I think hearing voices of the younger generation is going to be needed more and more in all stages including here..I even started learning new developments from my son too.Yes, after some age its very hard to get updated with new technologies but being able to applicate and use it seems more useful...

This is all personal idea and here goes some ideas,offers to the big boss and big brothers (this is used as a well experienced in oriental countries) for a start so as to see young generation more crowded here..

1-HUB travellers festival...Can be organized inside say undeveloped or developing countries instead of europe,usa,canada.These countries are always home countries not a destination or target for adv.travellers.. Australia is still a destination and target..

2-Gifts for each article written in ezine (a t-shirt for eg.) and new members of hub (a pair of stickers), gifts for participants of hub meetings for all aged say under 30.s.

3-Making cooperation with travellers/adventure clubs of universities,the mayors, local authorities even ministries of sport and young of the target countries to make speeches during meeting/festival time which can be organised just after a local festival..

4-As a start for all new steps, an important point is to have a well known, respected, powerfull volunteer in all the countries who will be offered and elected by the local travellers/members here..Will be better if someone in the local automobile,bike production or service industry will be appointed..

As said before,these are all personal ideas for a better and more peacefull world which we have been unable to build for them but believe they will build it, and also using the traditional friendly hub way..

Best Wishes and selams all...

__________________
Mehmet Zeki Avar
''Borderlines divide countries,HU friendship finds a way to reunited"
https://www.facebook.com/mehmet.avar.12?ref=tn_tnmn

Hi Mehmet,
You raise some interesting points and for whatever reason our favourite passtime does not seem to of caught on much with younger people, either that or they conduct a lot of their research on places like Facebook. I have noticed a few younger people from India on here which is encouraging but it might be in the long term that people move on to other things.

I absolutely agree Mehmet. We really do need some younger blood not only in these hallowed pages but also on the road. I've mused on why the average age of bikers seems to be going up at about the rate of one year per year and can only conclude that's there's something about riding bikes that puts youngsters off.

Whether (UK reasons) it's the difficulty in getting a licence, insurance costs, all the hassle when a car is easier, can't afford a bike and a car, not much point, very little entry level choice or just seen as something old blokes do so I'm not I've no idea but I suspect most of us are riding because of a variant of "teenage indoctrination" i.e. I enjoyed it then when I was impressionable and I still do now.

When I see who's riding bikes in my little market town I'd guess the middle years or older riders outnumber the "kids" by about 10:1 and it's probably not that different in most of the "1st world" countries I've ridden in. The paranoid recesses of my brain keeps whispering to me that it's all a "government" plot to let age kill off bikers rather than road accidents so the statistics look good for the voters but the more rational parts wonders whether it's because widespread motorcycle use is more a phenomenon of middle affluence countries. As cheap cars become ubiquitous for transport, bikes are just relegated to playthings for the weekend - and mostly expensive playthings that the "elderly" find easier to afford.

Whether some other factor is at work here on the HUBB is a different question. When I look at the list of the number of people online at any time I wonder why the place isn't swamped with conversation but at times you can almost see the tumbleweeds blowing through. Whether it's because only the brave or the foolhardy dare to tread in the waters infested by "experts" for fear of getting parts bitten off or whether the "use the f-ing search function" message has finally got through - or whether everyone's off on Facebook, I don't know but something's not right. When I talked to people at Baskerville Hall back in June hardly anybody said they were regular posters (and I suspect most of the others were lying) but they all knew enough to come to the meetings.

I 100% agree with all the above, especially as to why kids don't ride m/bikes.

From a personal point of view, I now prefer to use FB as my circle of real friends (as in "I have drunk a with them in a real pub" or in Mehmet's case a tea and a great lunch in Istanbul) and FB friends (people I've never met) is very wide. Hence someone knows the answer or knows someone who does. I can also control who reads my stuff and those I'd rather not interact with are pre-excluded.

Having FB on my mobile device, rather negotiating a clunky bulletin board is easier too. When I have a question, I Google it and quite often a HUBB post pops up at the top 5 of my search. But also other sites I didn't even know existed.

On a recent South American trip I twice had (for me, important broken bike related) questions. I posted of FB on my own timeline, on country/bike specific groups and on the HU-FB group and received some very useful leads. I contacted local HU Communities and got great help. On advrider: One or 2 good leads. On the HUBB: zilch, nada, nichts, tumbleweed

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

We see similar patterns here, big fall off of in bike sales, fewer new riders. The New generation have moved on apparently, much happier texting on Face Book 24-7.
Many youngin's in the Bay Area (more politically aware ones) don't even own a car, but MOST own a bicycle. (a good thing, I guess?) Values shift and a whole bunch more reasons why this has happened. (all debatable of course)

Tumbleweeds indeed. When you sign on to HUBB, it shows that you are ON LINE, fact is, most are NOT on line 24-7, just don't not bother to Sign Off. The stat shows this huge number, not sure it's accurate. I do this all the time, so it looks like I'm on line 24-7.

Agree, "somethings not right" ... and Yes, "it's finally got through" all right. I feel the constant berating of noobs over the years urging to "use the Search Function" puts many noobs off, pushes new HUBB members away.

Some moderators (or former moderators) here are guilty of this ... and I've complained about it for years along with other forms of "over policing" that drives off new members.

Hubb can't really afford to alienate ANYONE ... let alone new members when you've got streets blocked with Tumbleweeds. The Dust Devils are swirling ...

and i've no good plan to bring in Face Book/Twitter crowd or revitalize HUBB.

ADV Rider pace also has slowed down a lot ... but is still 50 times more active than HUBB. UK based HUBB is more international but clearly Imperial based values.

I like many of Mehmet's proposals, not sure how many would be effective here in USA ... I think HUBB organizers volunteers in each country will be the best ones to organize their events and figure ways to reach out to riders in their own country. No blanket restructuring policy will work world wide. To each their own.

I've always tried to keep on top of new technology - not because of some kind of concern about mental deterioration but because I like what comes along and want to incorporate it into my lifestyle. These days I use computers (obviously) daily, develop my own websites from scratch (badly), play computer / playstation games (even more badly), delve around in the nether regions of e.g. The Pirate Bay (when necessary) and generally lead a techno lifestyle not that dissimilar from my 20 something academic children. The only gap in my 21stC lifestyle is social media which I stay away from for reasons that are nothing to do with technology.

So what you might say (and you'd be right). Well, at 66 I seem to be out on a bit of a (high) techno limb compared to many of my contemporaries. For a good number of them such things are a mystery to behold and likely to stay that way. Many of them don't even own a mobile phone let alone a computer and if I want to get in touch the easiest way is to drive round to their door. I should hasten to add that not everyone I know is like that but often modern technology seems to be more like the other half of a marriage, something that's forever beyond any understanding but needs to be embraced (to a degree) in case others get the wrong idea. Nobody under 30 thinks like that. It's all just seamless and effortless and the way life is. We're going to have a bit of a struggle to get our age group "updated with new technologies" when a good proportion of the older shoppers in my local supermarket can't even use the self scan machines.

You're right that almost all the HUBB meetings are in developed countries. I quite like the idea of holding some in what would normally be regarded as "target" countries for bike travel and I note that recent additions to the list include Russia and a number in South America so perhaps Grant and Susan are already thinking along those lines. I have a couple of reservations though. Firstly, do you want to travel or do you want to talk about travel. I know a number of people who have been avid bike travellers for decades but who would never consider attending a bike travel meeting. The whole concept runs counter to why they use a motorcycle and I must admit to feeling a bit of that myself. I often wonder whether most motorcycles are used for anything other than riding to motorcycle gatherings (cafes, race meets etc) where you meet other bikers equally at a loss to know what to do with their machines. Bikes have almost got to the point where they're a form of transport looking for a purpose. Anyone who does serious travel by bike is so far out on a limb that they're getting on towards being the new 1%ers.

Not everyone is like that though and there are many who use the meeting's knowledge base and get inspired to push themselves just that bit further. Further though often means another European county, not Iran or Kenya or China. I suspect people heading there would have gone whether they attended a HUBB meeting or not. However I agree that meetings arranged in "undeveloped or developing countries" would have a much younger attendee profile.

I also quite like the idea of some kind of reward for the effort of writing something for ezine publication but then again I would as I know just how much effort and time goes into producing these things. Even this post will have taken me well over an hour to write and for every one I post I probably scrap another one half way through. Were T shirts up for grabs I may well reconsider the time vs effort equation and start tapping. Who else would though? I suspect it would soon boil down to a core group of "usual suspects" with a degree of literary competence; a kind of second division to the premier league scribblers who tout their wares in the authors tents at meetings.

Unless you artificially restricted it to the, say, under 30's (something not done with the photo competition) it probably wouldn't do much to promote younger contributions - plus Grant giving away free T shirts .... ? There are a number of bike travel commercial publications (Overland Magazine for example) already in existance and if you've gone to the trouble of writing an article they might be a better outlet for your efforts. On the other hand when Bike magazine picked up on one of my Ride Tales here and asked me to rewrite it for them I got rewarded for days of effort with ... absolutely nothing. With a response like that a T shirt looks like an upgrade.

Sorry about the ramble but Mehmet's post touches on a number of bike related issues that have found root with me in the last decade or so.

Does Hubb need to be any bigger?

Its a pretty niche and specific market and filling it with non related stuff may well lose that market.

If you are a member over on advrider click on the 'new posts' button. Pages of non related stuff that I simply cant understand nor comprehend. Its kinda sad a lot of it IMO.

Whereas here it is normally a pretty happy place and you come away with good vibes.

Hey,

I'm completely new to the all motorcycle thing and HUBB and ADV-Rider and and and but I can say that I feel like im outnumbered (or outAGED :P).
I'm 26 and recently joined some Facebook Groups with travellers posting Pictures of their adventures and I sadly have to say that 99% of those are maybe 20 years older or even double the age of me.

So me as a total beginner, no experience in travelling, no idea of what im doing (mechanically whise) and pretty much non existent driving skills am not sure if I should go to one of the travelleres meetings alone. With all those veterans in travelling, screwing, fixing and modding.

Sadly non of my friends want to ride aswell.

But still this page and more important the PEOPLE on this board helped me alot already and I'm happy that no1 pushed me away by saying "go use the search". Thanks guys!

26! For God's sake stick around.

I really wouldn't worry about going to any of the HUBB style meetings - nobody there know what they're doing either.

You might just feel as though you've wandered into an old people's home by mistake though.




Nurse .....

I think it comes down to one simple thing: money.

You have a young person fresh out of university, saddle them with student debt, and then tell them to get out into the work force and compete against boomers who can't really afford to take an early retirement.

Travel is expensive, even backpacking and camping out in a tent or staying in a hostel for any length of time is pricey.
When I was 20 or 30, I couldn't afford to take lengthy tours overseas - hell, at 50 I can barely afford it!

__________________
Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

No prior knowledge required. Just GO ... and have a good time! Everyone comes to HU meetings to learn and have fun! ... and at just 26 I think you will be admired and envied by the "old" travelers ... especially in the "Screwing" department.

Happy to offer help and suggestions ... over and over again.

From what I can see, there seem to be several reasons fewer young people are buying bikes or doing long trips. Money is usually not available to the young, many can't take time off from their jobs for long periods of time without having to start a new job-when I started biking it was easier to get a good job when I returned. There is a lot of bad press about bikers-most appear to be inconsiderate jerks. When I was younger, there were movies-Easy Rider, The Great Escape-that made riding a bike look cool-I can't remember any recent movies, TV shows where the cool heroes/villains ride bikes--bike riders are usually traffic cops-not the coolest image for the young. In movies and TV shows, when a guy buys a bike its usually because of a mid life crisis, not a young guy going on a wild adventure. And finally let's not kid ourselves, its easier to travel in the rain and snow in a car.

Just turned 27, planning this trip ( http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...y-2018-a-92180 ), got the motorcycle about a year ago, rode it from Germany to Ireland as my first trip since getting the category A driver's license in 2009, did more than 10k kilometers on it so far including the Iron Butt Association Saddle Sore 1000, for which I am waiting the official results. The spirits are high when riding!

As for the age, at the Irish Photo Rally gala last February I could only find 3 guys (out of hundreds of people) that were as old as me. However, what I like the most about this world is that everybody I've met was friendly and the mutual respect between riders.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

__________________
BMW F650 GS Dakar -- South Africa to Europe starting February 2018 -- https://rtw.to -- https://facebook.com/rtw.to

I'm 27 but I bought an old bike to fit in, halfway kidding...

For me money isn't the biggest issue--even as a teacher with no outside support-- I would say that the hardest thing is using my time and money resources to build a formative travelling experience vs building career experience (in the corporate world) and investing (in real estate or financial instruments).

I've chosen to go RTW, as I think it is the most valuable use of both, but that's not to say it wasn't a tough choice or one that isn't constantly questioned by some older folk in my life.

Hey, Was just reading through this thread and im in the same boat, im 27, started riding 2 years ago, dont have ADV bike yet, but my vstar gets me through the local trails but my friends arnt really interested either, save 1. met a few guys who ride in toronto but none that want to travel like i do. joined here hoping to meet new people and travel europe if i can get the money together for a trip in 2019. would love to meet up with people from here and learn from their experiences or just ride with them when im in their neck of the woods. if anyone has any travel advice or knowledge, bike or riding wise, location whatever. send me a message or let me know. thanks for reading.

Allister McNeilage