In July, 2021, we told you that the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations wanted rider input about potential combustion bike bans. The rider advocacy group wanted to gather as much information from European riders as it could regarding both combustion bans and motorcycle emissions in general. To that end, survey results were accepted through August 9, 2021—and now, in September, we have the results of that survey. 

A total of 23,768 surveys were returned, with 1,188 female riders and 22,580 male riders responding. In answer to the simple question “What do you think about a possible ban on the sale of new petrol-powered motorcycles?” an overwhelming 92.91 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t like it. FEMA reports that if you break those results down by country within the E.U., the numbers differ slightly—but in all countries that returned surveys, over 80 percent of riders don’t want such a ban in place.  

The survey also revealed some other interesting things regarding the current pulse of motorcyclists in Europe. For example, if pre-2006 bikes were banned from entering certain cities due to emissions, around 55.46 percent of the riders surveyed would consider buying a new bike. However, over 44 percent would consider shifting to another mode of transport entirely.  

Of riders surveyed, 53.38 percent said they would stop riding altogether if new combustion bike sales were banned, rather than switch to a zero-emissions motorbike. 38.96 percent of riders said they’d buy a zero-emissions bike and keep riding, and only 7.67 percent of riders said they’d choose a zero-emissions bike over a combustion-powered bike if given the choice.  

Additionally, among riders that said they would be happy to switch to a zero-emissions bike, 88.75 percent said they weren’t willing to pay more for a zero-emissions bike than they would for a comparable combustion bike. Interestingly, although the survey results are also broken down into age groups, there’s not a huge a difference in opinion between 16 to 30 year-olds, 31 to 45 year-olds, 46 to 60 year-olds, and riders aged 61 or greater on all issues surveyed. 

You can see the full results of the survey on FEMA’s site, which we’ll link in our Sources.