WEST PALM BEACH, FL (NBC) -- Standing at a local gas station, watching the numbers roll by faster than his eye can keep up with, Marco Almeida swears this may be one of the last times he fills up his car with gas.
$4.00-a-gallon fuel has financially drained him."That's why I'm switching to a bike," he says. A bike, as in, motorcycle.At the local Harley Davidson dealership, they've been seeing more and more people like Marco just within the past couple of week."The fuel mileage ranges anywhere from 35-miles per gallon to one of the bikes we make that get 70 miles to a gallon," says Andy DaMiano, General Manager at the Harley store.DaMiano says people are still hesitant to purchase a new motorcycle because they're already feeling the financial pinch from higher fuel and food prices, and don't need yet another payment.But pre-owned bikes, he says, he can't keep on the floor. "We're selling every used bike we can possibly get. Everything we trade for, we sell. We're out of used motorcycles right now," says DaMiano.Leslie Kay, who owns an insurance company in Boynton Beach specializes in motorcycle coverage. Her company writes policies in 23 states for everything from scooters to cruisers. Business, she says, is booming."There's a whole group of people out there that are pulling the bike out of the garage that they quit riding 5 years ago and put a cover over and they got too busy to ride because that was their hobby," says Kay, "All of a sudden it's not a hobby anymore."Once considered an expendable-income luxury. Motorcycles are now becoming, for many, an economic necessity."I have no choice but to," says Almeida, "I'm working a part time job and it feels like I'm working to put gas in my car."
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