How do we get more young people to start riding motorcycles? That is the question now that the average age of the Swedish motorcyclists is getting higher and higher.

Most people who get a motorcycle licence Sweden are mature adults and not youngsters. This becomes obvious when you look at the most recent drivers licence statistics from the Swedish Transport Administration.

There are also significant differences in the age between women and men. The female motorcyclists are always older, no matter what driving licence they choose to get. The average age for women is actually so high that they could have taken the higher level of A license, A2 instead of A1 and A instead of A2. This difference doesn’t exist for B license.

Motorcyclists’ association SMC – member of FEMA – is worried about the aging of the Swedish motorcyclists. There are only 5,000 motorcycle owners under the age of 25 in Sweden, on a total of 335,300 motorcycle owners. That there is a need for a rejuvenation of motorcyclists is an understatement. The largest age group among motorcycle owners is now 60-64 years old.

So what is happening already to attract younger riders? In Sweden there is a program called ‘Start2Ride’, where you can come and try to ride a motorcycle with a traffic school if you don’t have a license. Test rides are being offered at the national motorcycle show. SMC offers licence students to come to its courses with their riding coach (it is allowed in Sweden to ride with a person on the back or to ride on a motorcycle behind the student, if the coach has had a motorcycle licence for at least five years); it is a way to improve safety at a low cost for the new riders. Svemo (the Swedish FIM organization) does a lot to recruit young riders to the motorcycle sport.

But every motorcyclist can help, by practicing riding privately with future motorcyclists, talk about the benefits of commuting with a motorcycle, invite new motorcyclists in the community and convey the wonderful feeling of riding on two wheels.

Ages of new driving licence holders in Sweden (2020)

Written by Maria Nordqvist (SMC)

Top photograph courtesy of Kawasaki

This article is subject to FEMA’s copyright