The Drive That Separates a Biker From a Motorcyclist, Part 2

VOICE ONE: Newer companies like West Coast Choppers in California and Orange County Choppers in New York State get a lot of attention. But the biggest American motorcycle company is Harley-Davidson. William Harley and Arthur Davidson started producing motorcycles more than a century ago. Since then, other companies have come and gone. Indian Motorcycle is another name that goes back to the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. Indian bikes went out of production. Now, they are coming back again. The Web site of the Indian Motorcycle Company declares, "America's first motorcycle." But as a recent press release noted, the controlling shareholder is now an investment group based in London. A blog on the Web site says the first production vehicle for the two thousand nine Indian Chief was finished in July. VOICE TWO: The Motorcycle Safety Foundation says only one kind of motorcycle was available until the nineteen fifties. The most popular kind built today is the cruiser. A cruiser is long and has a low seat. The most important thing is appearance. Performance is most important in a sport bike. Sport bikes are designed for racing. Touring bikes are built for comfort over long distances. Newer ones even have heated seats. Touring bikes generally have music systems and two-way communications between driver and passenger through headsets in their helmets. Twenty of the fifty states require all motorcycle riders to wear a helmet. Four states have no helmet requirements. VOICE ONE: Japanese and European motorcycles are popular in the United States. But Ty van Hooydonk at the Motorcycle Industry Council says Harley-Davidson is currently selling more motorcycles here than any other single manufacturer. Harley spokesman Paul James says the company sold two hundred forty-one thousand bikes in the United States last year. He says the company sold ninety thousand bikes in other countries. Prices start at about seven thousand dollars and go up to more than thirty-five thousand dollars. VOICE TWO: The American Motorcyclist Association has three hundred thousand members. Spokesman Peter terHorst says the average member is in his mid forties, and nine out of ten are male. But he says the membership is changing as children of older members join the group. Peter terHorst says it is difficult to know how many people have started riding a motorcycle because of high fuel prices. But his group follows sales of new motorcycles, and has found that sales of smaller bikes have increased in the past six months. Also, members of the association have reported more use of their motorcycles for short trips and for riding to and from work. Industry council spokesman Ty van Hooydonk says more than nine million people in the United States rode motorcycles as of two thousand three. New findings will not be ready until the end of this year. VOICE ONE: Part of the fun of riding a motorcycle may be the sense of danger. But deaths of motorcyclists have more than doubled since nineteen ninety-seven. The government says the latest numbers show that crashes killed more than four thousand eight hundred riders in two thousand six. That was a five percent increase from the year before. Motorcyclist deaths now represent eleven percent of all traffic deaths in the United States. VOICE TWO: Crashes often involve alcohol. In two thousand six, among all drivers killed while legally drunk, the highest percentage, twenty-seven percent, were motorcyclists. Says researcher Patty Ellison-Potter at the Department of Transportation: "It's really unforgiving when you're on a motorcycle." Robert Gladden is with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides guidelines for states and training for riders. He says each state has its own requirements to operate a motorcycle, but in every state, riders must pass a written test and a skills test. He says studies show that riders who receive professional training have fewer accidents than those who do not. VOICE ONE: Motorcyclists with years of experience say they have learned to ride as if other drivers cannot see them. People who buy mopeds or other scooters may not even need a motorcycle license. That only adds to the concerns of some experienced riders. The concern is that people riding motorcycles or scooters just to save money on gas may not be as well prepared for the road. VOICE TWO: Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach, who rides a touring bike with her husband. Our producer was Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember. VOICE ONE: And I'm Barbara Klein. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. Source: Voice of America