How Consumers Search & What They're Searching For

We know motorcycle buyers can be brand loyal -- with 27% saying manufacturer is the most important thing to them when searching for their next ride. I didn’t fully believe it until I was at an event where we were giving away a free Yamaha dirt bike - and someone decided not to enter because they only ride Suzuki. That’s serious dedication.

But is that dedication reflected in their search habits? Yes. And are they searching any other way? Yes. We took a look at search habits for buyers on Cycle Trader from 2017 to give us a better understanding of what they’re up to.

Starting out the most popular - manufacturer - in 2017, our top five most searched manufacturers were:

Harley-Davidson - 20%

Honda - 15%

Yamaha - 9%

Kawasaki - 7%

Suzuki - 6%

Harley’s been a powerhouse in the industry for a long time - and riders, both new and old, like to check out what’s on the market from them. But Honda’s continues to keep a fairly close pace behind them. Another interesting thing to note is that 12% of buyers chose not to search by manufacturer. So that could account for new buyers in the industry who aren’t sure what they want to ride yet, someone looking to switch types, or just sheer curiosity as to what else is in the market.

Some buyers choose to take it even more detailed than just manufacturer and choose to search by model. Now - this is a smaller group, so the percentages are much smaller - but these are the loyal of the loyal. They not only know what manufacturer they want to ride, but what bike specifically. Harley still holds the top spot - with Honda and Kawasaki not far behind.

Street Glide - 1.5%

Road King - 1%

Gold Wing - 1%

Road Glide - .9%

Ninja - .8%

Even fewer riders - but still some - choose to narrow their options by type. These riders are looking more generally, rather than focusing on a specific bike make or model. This could be new riders who aren’t yet brand loyal, riders entering a different stage of their riding life, or maybe they’re just looking for a new type of bike to add to their collection. Trikes and dirt bikes lead the pack for this type of search behavior - not surprising, since they are more of a speciality.

Trike - 2.6%

Dirt Bike - 2.6%

Sportbike - 2.1%

Cruiser - 1.8%

These buyers know what they want - and their search habits reflect that. They can be loyal to a fault - but that knowledge just gives you the ammo to fuel their obsession.