ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The ongoing nationwide labor shortage is reaching all aspects of business, even the world of motorsports.
Riders are feeling the impact as the supply of parts struggles to keep up with demand.
“Bikes are on backorder, oil and stuff like that is on back order also," said James McDaniel, general manager at Roc On Harley Davidson. "We have customers waiting as long as five-six weeks just for parts to get them back on the road again.”
McDaniel's customers are left wanting to know what the hold-up is.
“We ask those same questions to all our OEMs and they say it’s the materials and obviously what drives that is the labor to get the materials through processing plants and everything else,” said McDaniel.
But as registered vehicle owners are seeing a drought in dirt bike parts, the auto impound is flooding with illegally ridden vehicles that were picked up by law enforcement. The impounded bikes are full of parts waiting to be used.
“These are all the dirt bikes and ATVs that Rochester Police Department has confiscated at some point over the last year or so,” said Lt. Greg Bello with the Rochester Police Department. “If you look around behind me, you’ll notice that none of these have license plates on them, none of them are registered, none of them have inspection stickers, things along those lines that make them safe to operate on city streets."
There is currently a total of 96 off-road vehicles being held, most of them unregistered. Lt. Bello says that many of the bikes end up being destroyed after being left unclaimed.
“Illegal riding of ATVs is a huge problem in Rochester," said Bello. "So number one, they’re not rated to ride on city streets, right? These are off-road vehicles, they’re not on-road vehicles. And then two, typically the riders associated with them are riding dangerously.”
It's only adding to the problem of lack of supply available for registered vehicle riders.
“We get a lot of people buying motorcycles that are not street legal and they’re just riding them out of here to wherever they live," said McDaniel. "A lot of those are being confiscated by the local police and they’re being destroyed because of that reason. They’re trying to get the word across that you gotta be safe and legal.”
The issue is leaving businesses wondering what happens to bikes once they’re sold and whether the cycle will end anytime soon.
“A lot of people are just buying bikes, leaving with them and then you see the same people coming back in a week or two or three weeks later and doing the same kinda thing," McDaniel said. "So you kinda figure out what’s going on but it’s a nasty process we’re in right now.”