Powersport dealers see young millennials come into their stores all the time looking for the largest, fastest, most-expensive sportbike on the market. That’s when the warning light starts flashing in a lender’s head.
“They start all gung-ho: They want the Suzuki Gixxer, they want the Honda CBR, anything that goes fast and looks really cool — all their buddies are doing it, and they do wheelies down the road.” said David Goff, assistant vice president of marketing at Westlake Financial Services. “They are constantly trying to get too much bike,” Goff said. For example, a millennial buyer might have a friend who owns a Kawasaki Ninja 1000, and the buyer immediately wants to purchase that particular motorcycle, too.