“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” used to be the motorcycle trade’s favourite mantra, as the exploits of racers from Sheene to Rossi set the tills jangling. But the decline in popularity of the supersports category over the past 20 years shows that the results from MotoGP, WSBK, BSB et al now have little bearing on the level of sales.
Since 2004, sales of supersport (now classed as road sport) machinery have dropped by almost 80%, although there has been a slight reversal from the downward trend recently – sales rose in both 2022 and 2023, and based on current performance they are climbing again in 2024. Could this be a resurgence of the once-dominant sector? Maybe the arrival of new, cheaper, small capacity sporty machinery from China can rejuvenate a sector that has been almost abandoned by the major brands.