"We’re talking here about 20-somethings, predominantly with good educations, who are well-informed, but often still living at home with their parents. They have a lot of debt and a low-paying job – if they are lucky. (*Yes, I know there are exceptions to this.)
They don’t read newspapers. They don’t watch TV news. All of their information is sourced from the Internet. "
My god that is a spot on description of my life. I do however ride, and have a few other friends that are recent engineering grads like myself riding also.
I would have been riding at 19 if it were possible, but my mother was the biggest obstacle. Even at 24 and a graduate of college, my mother went for months without speaking to me after I purchased the bike, and I moved in with my fiancee's family.
I am a bit of an extreme case here, but most of the obstacle come from the perception of bikes and their dangers. Young riders are discouraged from riding from the statistics of death and injuries. When you ride without gear, you will get hurt. With gear, that chance drops dramatically. Cost is a bit prohibitive as well, with supersports and sports generally going for 8-10k+, and insurance being unreal (I was quoted 7k a year for insurance on a new r6!). These are the bikes that the youth want. 250s are just not powerful enough to be "cool", and can be unsafe or uncomfortable on highways filled with traffic doing 85 mph. The 300 is borderline with its extra 10 or so hp, and has been doing well, at least around here ( I see a lot of them). If manufacturers could make some affordable 350-500cc sportbikes, I think the youth would take to it with considerable interest.
You need to know what the kids want, and they dont want touring bikes. They want something that looks fast, and goes [relatively] fast. Promoting sportbike racing would probably be a huge factor too, look at how drifting has driven the sales and production of cars like the fr-s and genesis, as well as classics like the 240.