Motoriding

Archive for October, 2009

Will The RV Industry Survive The Economic Crisis?

Unfortunately the immediate future of the RV Industry is not looking bright. I am afraid there will still be a few more RV Manufacturers going out of business. Once the dust settles the RV Industry will start to slowly grow once again and yes people will start to buy RVs again.

I am going to use the example of the Dot Com Bubble burst of 2000 and 2001 to try to explain what has happened to and what is going to happen to the RV Industry. You are probably asking yourself “What the heck does the Dot Com Bubble Burst have to do with the RV Industry?” stick with me here it will all make sense at the end I hope.

In the late 90s more and more people were getting on the internet. Some retailers and entrepreneurs saw the internet as an opportunity to start selling tons of merchandise. So they started up a bunch of websites selling everything from pet supplies to music CDs. The philosophy of some of these dotcoms was “If we build a website people will come and buy all of our stuff”. So the dotcoms starting borrowing millions of dollars from the banks and went public with their stock so they could build their websites. The stocks kept soaring and the dotcoms kept borrowing more and more money to add on to their websites and advertise them. There was only one problem; a lot of these dotcoms were making no money at all.

In fact there became a glut of dotcoms on the internet all spending millions on their websites to sell their stuff. These dotcoms knew they couldn’t fail after all it was the internet and everybody was making millions of dollars on the internet weren’t they?

Well all the sales didn’t come in as expected in fact some of these dotcoms never made a profit the whole time that they were in business. Now the banks were getting worried about some of these dotcoms because loan payments were not being made on a timely basis and some of the banks started to callin some of the loans. Now the shareholders were getting worried because of lack of sales and profits defaulted loans bad business practices etc and they started selling off their stock like crazy and stock prices plummeted and lot of the dotcoms went belly up out of business.

Here are just a few of the dotcoms that went out of business Beyond.com Boo.com Pets.com KOZMO.com eToys.com eXcite.com and so on and so on. But wait if you search the internet you can still find some of these websites “What’s up with that?” Well some of the other dotcoms that did not go out of business bought their names and are using them.

Now there were some survivors of the DotCom Bubble Burst such as eBay.com Amazon.com Travelocity.com and Yahoo.com to name a few. It took these survivors awhile to get back on track but they are now flourishing.

So what went wrong? Rather than trying to figure out what the consumer really wanted the dotcoms adopted the philosophy of “if we build it they will come” and “if they don’t come we will just borrow more money and make our website bigger and advertise more until they do come”. It never dawned on the dotcoms that not all of the internet visitors were ready to buy stuff online because they were not sure how secure their transactions would be there was no consumer confidence.

These dotcoms also ignored the fact that were lots of other websites that were selling the same stuff they were and that these other websites actually understood what the internet consumer wanted. These other websites were doing a better job at customer service etc. These big dotcoms just ignored the fact that there were too many websites selling the same stuff and ended up going out of business.

Does any of the above sound familiar? During the 90s and into the 2000s many of the RV manufactures increased production and opened new factories as a result of strong RV Sales. Of course a lot of the manufacturers had to get loans to continue their expansions. According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association RV sales peaked in 2006 at about 390000 vehicles. Some of the RV Manufacturers were caught by surprise when RV sales started to decline in 2007.

Then came the volatile fuel prices which caused a lot of potential RV buyers to steer clear of buying “fuelguzzling” RVs. To be honest there really has not been a major improvement in fuel mileage in the motorized RV category for the past two decades. Now if the fuel prices were not enough to hurt the RV Industry the housing loan debacle sure was. Lending institutions were being hit hard by subprime loan defaults. So their reaction was to tighten up the loan market making it harder for someone to buy a “luxury item” such as an RV.

Then to put the final nail in the coffin of the RV Industry the stock market decided to make a “major price correction” in other words the stock market plummeted. This price correction affected a lot of “baby boomers” financially. Since baby boomers are the major buyers of RVs it also affected the RV Industry. Because the RV industry was too slow to react to the economic downturn they produced too many RVs that were not selling creating the new RV glut that we have now. So the RV Industry has gone from “feast to famine” in 2 1/2 years.

So as you see there are quite a few similarities between the DotCom Bubble Burst of 2000 and 2001 and the RV Bubble Burst of 2008 and 2009. Just like the DotCom Bubble Burst there will be survivors of the RV Bubble Burst. The number of RV Manufacturers that survive is yet to be determined as we are in the middle of the RV Bubble Burst. But there will be survivors.

What will happen to the RV Industry in the future is going to be in the hands of the surviving RV Manufacturers. All of the surviving RV Manufacturers by default will have larger market shares of RV sales then they had prior to the bubble burst. Some will come back quicker than others. Some may even start to look at the future and build some innovative motorized RVs that are far more fuel efficient while still providing the luxuries that RVers expect. Hopefully all of them will have learned from this experience; that they need to keep their ears to the ground and have contingency plans in place on how to react quickly to changes in the RV marketplace.

What can RV consumers expect? Once the glut of RVs is sold off you can expect fewer RVs to choose from. You will not have a selection of unlimited floor plans to choose from. Depending on the type of RV you are looking at you may find that there are only two or three companies making them. You may also find some very innovative RVs to choose from made by either existing RV Manufacturers or brand new RV Manufacturers who are trying to make a name for themselves. Either way the RV Industry will still be around hopefully a little bit wiser from their experience over the past couple of years.

RVing is not dead; it is just trying to catch its breath. The long term future of RVing will be bright as long as the same mistakes are not repeated.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Author Alan Wiener says; whether you are new to RVing and camping or a veteran http://www.everythingaboutrving.com/ has something for you. We know that Going Camping in an RV is fun and we hope that visiting our site makes it even more fun. We give you excellent information about RVs Camping and the RV Lifestyle.You can also submit your RV Questions on our free Ask An RV Question Page.

Why The Electric Scooter Is So Popular Among People Of All Ages

While there are a lot of people who love riding motorcycles and the great fuel economy they offer there is also a large number of people that are afraid of them and who just will not ride them regardless of the fact that gas prices are sky rocketing right now.

For those who are apprehensive about riding a motorcycle a great alternative is the electric scooter and with the popularity of these right now it is a good business to get into if you can find a reputable wholesale scooter vendor to buy them from. They are a great option for teenagers instead of a car.

Even though electric scooters are slower than motorcycles you still need to keep safety in mind and always wear a helmet and long sleeve shirts and pants so that in the event that you have an accident or fall off it will help to prevent injury. People tend to think of scooters as a motorized bicycle than as a motor vehicle but the fact is that they are considered a motorized vehicle and in many states you must hold a motorcycle license to be able to legally operate one on the street. You also need to check the laws of your state to see what age one must be to operate one. If you are selling them this is good to know as well.

Another name that the electric scooter may be called is a moped; this is a term that many are familiar with. Unlike gas powered scooters the electric variety is very friendly to the environment and do not pollute the air. The basic features of a scooter are much the same as motorcycles such as the turn signals brakes and even the seat. These fun vehicles are a lot easier to learn to ride than motorcycles but do not expect anywhere near the speed. They are designed to be ridden on streets where the speed limits are relatively low. You do not want to ride them on an interstate or highway because you will be going too slow compared to the rest of the traffic.

By now you should be starting to see that selling scooters can be a very profitable business and you can get them wholesale from under two hundred dollars to as high as one thousand depending on what type you go with. There are numerous styles and colors to choose from as well as many different engine sizes. You can also choose stand up or sit down types. The stand up are very popular with young children and teens but for most people they will prefer the sit down variety as they offer much more comfort.

When looking for a wholesale scooter dealer be sure to research them thoroughly by checking out their longevity in business their standing in the business and try to get testimonials from satisfied clients. Be sure you know up front what their price breaks are for quantities and what their shipping costs are so that you don’t have any surprises. You also want to know what kind of warranty and guarantee they offer as well as their return policy.

About the writer:  Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach Florida. Find more about wholesale sources as well as wholesale electric scooters at http://www.buywholesaleclub.com

Why It Is Necessary To Replace Pocket Bike Parts

Many us love motorbikes because they are fast and they have a fashionable look about them. We are able to imagine ourselves riding one of them with nothing to keep us from anything. The only thing we do not think about is just how rough it might be to study how to drive one.

The one features about motorbikes that you have to to be careful of is to never underestimate it. You need to respect that it is a mobile vehicle that when not driven correctly or safely it has the ability to cause a serious accident and harm you and the people around you. We find it best to start with a pocket bike.

These miniature sized motorcycles are good because you are able to ride them nearly anywhere and if you have the power to drive one of them than a motorcycle should not be a problem. They have the same appearance of a motorcycle except that they are about two feet shorter then average. Why they may not be easy to drive they help you to execute great tricks on them. Some people will likewise utilize them to race each other.

Fundamentally these bikes get a great deal of action and some are able to reach speeds of 70 mph. This is a good deal of wear and tear that they are being put through and because of this you will want to be prepared to replace certain parts. Most of the parts that will need to be interchanged are linked to the exterior.

You will probably be burning out a good deal which entails that the body panels will become scuffed scratched and perhaps even ripped off completely. They are not unbelievably highpriced but just remember to get the one specifically utilised for your make and model.

The one pocket bike part that you do not wish to be substituting is the engine. Plainly this is the heart of the bike and the most highpriced. There are several things you have the ability to do that will cause it to break and unless you bought a warranty you will need to have to shell out the money to mend it.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Learn how you can get your hands on a decent Used Pocket Bike and the kind of Bike Parts that you may need to buy for it.