The format below is replicated from the last survey in 2015, which allowed members to send in responses by mail or complete the survey online. And by the time the results were tabulated, 833 members had responded out of nearly 11,000 AMCA members, at that time, from coast to coast and around the world. The 2025 survey was conducted 100% online and enjoyed a 40% increase in participation with 1,187 members participating of the 13,644 active members. 8.7% of the members participated in the 2025 survey.
One way to put those numbers into context is to compare this sample of AMCA members to the political polls you hear about on the nightly news. You know how reporters tell you those polls may have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent or 5 percent? Well, applying the same rules here, this survey of AMCA members has a margin of error of 3.26 percent at a confidence level of 95 percent. In other words, if we conducted this poll 100 times, in 95 cases, the results would be within 3.26 percent of what you see here.
Looking at the Numbers
Here is what we have learned in the last twenty years. As in the previous two surveys, the most obvious factor is that the AMCA is an aging organization. Fifteen years ago, the average Club member was 58.8 years old. Ten years ago, our average age was 61.8 years. Today, our average has leaped to 67.4 years old, an increase of 8.6 years from our first survey.
Of course, that number just represents the average. In fact, the youngest survey respondent was 27 years old, while the oldest was 90! The reason behind that aging trend is pretty simple: Just about everybody who was an AMCA member ten and fifteen years ago is still a member today.
Back in 2010, the amount of time that the average AMCA member had been with the organization was 11.9 years. In 2015, that increased to 13.6 years. Now, that’s 15.4 years.
Likewise, the number of years that AMCA members have owned or ridden motorcycles has also increased. Just looking at the +45 year bracket, In 2010, that figure averaged 28.1%. In 2015, it increased 47.5%, and Today, it’s a whopping 72.8%.
When you consider that the average AMCA member is 67.4 years old, that means they started riding at the age of 17.9—in other words, right out of high school. And it means the average AMCA member took up motorcycling in 1971, which happens to coincide with the height of the late ’60s/early ’70s motorcycling boom.
If you go to many AMCA meets, you won’t be surprised to learn that the survey respondents were predominantly male (by a margin of nearly 99 percent to 1 percent). Out of the 1,187 members who answered the survey, 2.9 percent were female. So, while the Club’s primary membership may be heavily male, there are a lot of women carrying AMCA cards as well.
The Bikes You Own
Some of the most interesting survey trends came in the area of motorcycle ownership, which is where AMCA members really shine. The average response to the question, “How many antique motorcycles (made prior to 1990) are owned in your household?” was 8.1. That means the AMCA membership as a whole is responsible for preserving more than 110,000 antique bikes!
If that number seems high to you, remember that the average is raised considerably by those members who have truly impressive collections. Indeed, more than 5 percent of the respondents reported owning more than 25 motorcycles apiece, and 1 percent of the respondents—which would still represent more than 136 AMCA members—said they own 60 or more antique bikes.
For those of us of more modest means, it’s useful to look at the “median” number of bikes—the number right in the middle of all the answers. That turns out to be four motorcycles, which means that if your collection comfortably fits in your garage, you’re like most other AMCA members.
So where do those motorcycles come from? There’s a not-so-surprising simple answer, and a much more interesting story behind that answer.
The 2015 survey revealed that 83 percent of AMCA members own antique machines made in the United States. That was up from 79 percent in the 2010 survey. For 2025, that number decreased to 81%.
Those numbers might lead you to believe that the Club is overwhelmingly dominated by American iron. But here’s the interesting part: As it turns out, 30 percent of AMCA members own bikes from Japan, 28 percent from Great Britain, 17 percent from Germany, 15 percent from Italy, 7 percent from other European countries, and nearly 2 percent from anywhere else.
Right about now, you’re probably saying, “Hey, that adds up to a lot more than 100 percent!” And you’re right. Respondents were free to check all of the answers that applied to the motorcycles they own, and it turns out that the motorcycles owned by the typical AMCA member often come from more than one place.
We all know there are some AMCA members who focus on motorcycles from one particular brand or country. But even more than before, this tells us there are also plenty of members whose garages are home to a classic Harley or Indian parked next to a BSA, a BMW and/or a Honda.
The ages of the bikes being preserved in AMCA garages are also pretty remarkable. The highest numbers come from the most recent antique eras, with 56 percent owning a bike made between 1970 and 1980, and another 50 percent owning a bike from the ’60s. Those numbers drop off only slightly for the next two decades, with 42 percent owning a bike from the ’50s and 47 percent owning a 1940s machine.
Going back even further, more than a quarter of AMCA members, 24 percent, own a motorcycle made in the ’30s, 14 percent own a bike from the ’20s, and 9 percent own a bike from the 1910s. Oh yeah, and nearly 2 percent tell us their collection includes at least one bike made before 1910. That would project to more than 300 AMCA members preserving machines from the very dawn of the motorized age.
Again, the numbers add up to much more than 100 percent for one simple reason—AMCA members own lots of antique motorcycles that come from multiple eras as well as multiple countries.
It’s important at this point to note that AMCA members don’t just own those motorcycles—they ride them. When we asked, “How many miles do you ride your antique motorcycles each year?” the average response was 1,300 miles. That’s an amazing statistic, because it’s more than two-thirds of the number of miles the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the average American motorcyclist rides on modern bikes. And AMCA members are racking up those miles on machines that are 40, 50, 60, or more years old.
Getting Involved
In addition to your motorcycling interests, we also asked a number of questions about your involvement in the AMCA, learning, for instance, that 66 percent of you attended one or more AMCA National Meets within the past year, but that only 19 percent of you participated in National Meets as vendors. We also learned that just 24 percent of you say that you have ever entered a motorcycle in the AMCA Judging Program.
When it came to involvement in the AMCA’s network of 120 Chapters and Associate Chapters, though, things got considerably more interesting. It started with a simple question: “Do you belong to an AMCA local Chapter?” To which 54 percent of you replied, “Yes.” That’s an increase of almost 12% from the last survey. For the first time since recording this information, the majority of club members also belong to at least one chapter.
603 are Chapter Members
584 are Non-Chapter Members
When it comes to AMCA National Meets, for instance, 63 percent of Chapter members told us they had attended at least one during the past year. Among non-Chapter members, only 44 percent said they had attended a National Meet in the past year.
We found the same thing with the questions about vending at meets and entering bikes in the AMCA Judging Program. A quarter of the Chapter members who responded said they had been vendors in a National Meet during the past year, while only 16 percent of non-Chapter members had done so. And 29 percent of Chapter members said they had entered a motorcycle in the Judging Program, compared to only 18 percent of those who don’t belong to a Chapter.
Geography may help explain some of the differences between Chapter members and non-Chapter members. Looking at the map of AMCA Chapters on pages 86-88, you’ll see that there are still empty spots where the Chapters are a long way apart. AMCA members who live in those areas are less likely to join a Chapter that may be located in an entirely different state. And they’re also less likely to have a National Meet nearby where they can become vendors or enter bikes in AMCA Judging.
The Club is aware of this problem, even though the number of chapters has more than doubled in the past twelve years. If you live in one of these black holes, we could use your help in establishing new Chapters in some of those empty areas on the map.
But there’s more to this issue than simple geography, because we also found that members who belong to AMCA Chapters are much more likely to use the Club’s online Community Forum than those who don’t, despite the fact that the Forum is equally available to all members, no matter where they live.
This raises one of those chicken-or-egg questions: Are the people who get heavily involved in the AMCA—those who go to more meets and enter their bikes in judging—more likely to join Chapters, or does joining an AMCA Chapter make you more likely to go to meets and enter your bike in judging, etc.? This survey doesn’t give us an answer to that question, but it does tell us this: If you really like old motorcycles, you’ll find plenty of people who share your passion in an AMCA Chapter. So check out the growing list of Chapters on pages 86-88 and see if there’s one near you.
How would you rate the following services and benefits of AMCA membership?
Rating the AMCA
Of course, one of the main purposes of the survey was to find out what you think of the AMCA and its membership benefits. The fact that the average AMCA member has chosen to remain in the Club for more than 13.6 years says a lot, but we also asked you to rate the various benefits you receive as a Club member.
Here, we take a little bit of pride in the fact that 77 percent of you rated this magazine “excellent,” and another 19 percent of you rated it “good,” adding up to more than 96 percent positive responses. The next highest-rated Club benefit was the free classified ads each member is entitled to in the magazine, which were rated excellent or good by 95 percent of respondents. That was closely followed by the AMCA’s annual calendar of National Meets at 94 percent, and Road Runs at 92 percent, rated as excellent or good.
In order, the next most-popular Club benefits were the Club’s online Virtual Library, the AMCA website, the National Judging Program, and the AMCA’s network of local Chapters.
There was one more question that truly represents the bottom line for any membership organization: “Do you plan to renew your membership in the AMCA?” And the response to that question is a great indication of the strength of the AMCA, as it’s in its 72nd year of existence.
Out of 1,187 people who answered that question, 1,108, or 85 percent, said they definitely plan to renew, and another 145, or 12 percent, said they probably will renew. That adds up to 97 percent of AMCA members who say they’re likely to remain in the Club, compared to 2 percent who said they weren’t sure and less than 1 percent who said they probably or definitely would not renew their memberships.
In other words, when we go to conduct the next AMCA survey in another five years, we expect to run into a whole lot of you—a little bit older, but still very interested in antique motorcycles. And we can start this conversation all over again.
Planning for the Future
Most of the 2025 AMCA Membership Survey was devoted to finding out as much as we could about the AMCA’s current membership, so we can serve you better.
But at the end of the survey, we also looked at the challenges the Club faces, and future directions you’d like to see for the AMCA.
We presented you with a series of statements, asking you to indicate how strongly you agreed or disagreed with each. Together, these results add up to a consensus of your opinions about each statement.
At the bottom of the survey is a list of the nine statements we included in the survey, along with a tabulation of your answers, based on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating complete agreement with the statement and 1 indicating complete disagreement. NOTE: You will see a glitch in the results. This year, we used a survey module within the ClubExpress database system. As described prior to the results, the data is in question. Somehow, we assume the system inverted the answers, but we cannot prove this, so we left it as it was downloaded, but we assume each result is in the wrong order based on the previous survey. All the information below is based on our assumptions and history and not what is listed in the 2025 column.
As you look at the rating average for each statement, it’s important to note that a rating of 3 indicates an equal amount of agreement and disagreement. So, any rating higher than 3 indicates a majority of AMCA members agree with the statement, and any rating lower than that indicates majority disagreement.
As you can see, AMCA members expressed significant concern about two trends within the antique-motorcycle community: the aging population of old-bike enthusiasts and the increasing cost of the machines we all cherish. In each case, a majority of members agreed that those trends are likely to make it difficult for the AMCA to maintain its current membership levels.
The strongest agreement came in response to statement 35C: “I would like to see the AMCA expand by creating programs designed to attract younger members,” which received a 51% complete agreement. This has not fallen on deaf ears. There is a new committee focused on new areas for youth in high school and college-aged students. AMCA recently launched a new virtual membership to attract the 30s and 40s age groups through social media with a recruiting campaign already underway.
Meanwhile, we saw the strongest disagreement in response to statement 35D: “I do not think that a focus on membership growth is in the best interests of the AMCA’s current members,” which recorded only 9% agreement to the statement, meaning the far majority of members understand that growth is the key to the club’s sustainability.
That was followed by four other statements, each about encouraging involvement in the AMCA by owners of antique motorcycles from, respectively, Great Britain, Europe and Japan, along with modified motorcycles, like bobbers and customs. In each case, a majority of you expressed agreement with those directions.
On the other hand, a slight majority of you expressed disagreement with the final statement: “I would like to see the AMCA as an organization find ways to create opportunities for owners of vintage motorcycles that are less than 35 years old.”
None of this indicates that you should expect radical changes in a Club that has progressed a long way on the vision of its founders more than seven decades ago. But these areas provide interesting topics for discussion as an organization focused on the past contemplates its future.
Thank you to all those who participated, and we look forward to taking the next survey in 2030 following the club’s 75th Anniversary.