Title: How to get rich from motorcycling
Date: March 6, 2008 12:45 PM
Category: My Riding
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Like most of you, I sure would love to know the answer to this question. I know Rossi isn’t doing too badly and I’m sure most of the other racers aren’t too bad, at least in WSB/MotoGP. To be frank, I’m too old and crap to earn a living riding around a circuit, much as I would love to.

I guess I could invent some fantastic new motorcycle – a 400lb, 200hp crotch rocket – Now, I may actually have a degree in mechanical engineering but I have trouble putting up shelves let alone building such a complex thing as an engine, chassis and all the other pieces you need and I think that’s another avenue closed for me. That also closes off the possibly even more lucrative market of aftermarket parts and being a mechanic.

What about a motorcycle store? Well, there seems to be no money in that, at least in Toronto: Both McBride and Cycle World shut down in the past year and they were about the biggest in the city. Having shopped at both locations, I can honestly say it’s not a bad thing though.

I guess I could be a motorcycle courier. On the plus side, I’d get to ride a bike all day. But on the many downsides i’d have to contend with riding in city traffic, all weather types known to man and people yelling at me that their packages are late. I get enough of the last one from the editor when my copy is late. And I hear the wages aren’t exactly great.

So what next? Magazine writer and bike reviewer? Why not? Well, apart from the obvious that I have neither a racing background or a degree in journalism there really is no magazine industry to speak of in Canada. Still, it’s a dream and until then I’ll run a web site about bikes instead.

But the other day I realized I had neglected to consider one avenue of opportunity and I was reminded of just how lucrative it was the other day. Let me elaborate how this works.

Once a year, you get an envelope and when you open that envelope, you wonder if it is time to give up motorcycling. You see, it’s time to renew your insurance. Your broker very kindly sends you the renewal quote that you will automatically accept if you do nothing and at that bottom you think he’s mistakenly entered the price of his new Lexus. Then you read the small print and realize there are more wiggle out statements than you’d get from a politician caught with a hooker. But hey, the government says you need it so you have no choice. You call your broker to confirm. The conversation goes something like this:

me – “so, this insurance is kind of expensive. Why is there a 30% increase in the premium?”
him – “that’s an industry standard increase this year. it mainly due to the cost of health coverage we provide and the perceived risk of that particular bike”
me – “I kind of get the health care bit, but are you telling me that bike is that much more dangerous this year?”
him – “yeah, our underwriters have reclassified that as a race bike. You’re lucky it’s not more expensive”
me – “race bike? it’s never been near a track”
him – “well, that’s what it says on my notes. I don’t normally insure bikes.”
me – “so there’s nothing you can do?”
him – “well, if you let me insure your house, car, health and sanity too I can send you a free pen”.
me – “bye”

So this year, rather than accepting it, I called around the major brokers. Most of the quotes I got were pretty much the same and this means one of two things: either it really is the price and the free market economy has made it as low as it can be or there’s some fixing going on. So I called some of the smaller brokers – you know, the ones that can’t afford the full page ads advertising the lowest possible prices and I got a very pleasant surprise. The two I did call could save me between $600 and $1000. They were more than happy to take my details and make some inquiries. They called me back when they said they would or apologized profusely for being ten minutes late. They even talked intelligently about the bikes I had. In short, they acted like human beings and I liked that. I even got so comfortable that I asked one broker about this reclassifying of my daytona as a race bike and he told me that yes, from time to time some bikes would be classed higher but it didn’t really conform to any actual real world statistic. He didn’t say it outright but i know he was trying to tell me it was a scam.

In short, I am going with a little guy and I am happy – same coverage for a lot less, though I still think it’s too expensive. So if you want to make money in bikes, my advice to you is start an insurance company. It seems you can charge pretty much whatever you want and probably wiggle out of paying too.

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