In what could be considered the darkest hours for the motorcycle industry, the highly desired younger demographic consumers may be riding in on a white painted bike to save the day.

Even as dealerships close from slow moving inventory and agreements are struck between motorcycle manufacturers and labor unions to reduce costs a subtle transition with the public's perception is taking a past-time once associated with aging, old rich men to realm of young and hip riders.

Tell-tale signs of popularity are seen in advertisers using motorcycles to give a rebellious or ‘cool’ aura as well as the growing list of young ‘A-List’ celebrities tripping over themselves for some time in the saddle.

Even the daughter of one time presidential hopeful John McCain has been be bitten by the motorcycle bug. In an interview with Elle Magazine in November 2010 Meghan McCain, 25, made it clear she has an eye cast to the open road.

"I'll get my motorcycle license," she said, noting it was something she wants to accomplish before turning 30.

But where this may have turned heads just eighteen months ago, it realized so little press coverage at the time some would apparently consider it a rite of passage into the adult world.

Looking to cash in on the biker chic, Vogue incorporated a vintage Triumph motorcycle into a photo-shoot featuring Sam Worthington (star of Terminator: Salvation and Avatar) that had an air of Mad Max visits Pandora.

And this approach isn't unusual. Readers would be hard pressed to make their way through any issue of GQ, Details, Maxim aimed at the male readers as well as any fashion magazine published for the fairer sex without coming across at least one advertisement selling something other than the bike, yet using a motorcycle in one fashion or another.

Case in point, in early November 2010 pictures surface of British actress Keira Knightley on a vintage Ducati for her latest Chanel advertisement. Keira wrapped her body with a figure hugging beige cat suit adorned by a vintage style helmet and matching boots for the photo-shoot in Concorde Place in Paris.

Whether the actors or models featured in the various advertisements ride or not doesn’t seem to matter as the younger generation are bombarded with well-known faces that do.

Teen heart throb Zac Efron,22, famous from Disney’s High School Musical series revealed in an interview with Detail Magazine that he has found his way into the saddle with motorcycle lessons courtesy of Tom Cruise none the less.

To see where else the motorcycle is riding into the hearts and minds of the younger generation, one has to look no further than the immensely popular Twilight series. Twilight is a series of four vampire-based fantasy romance novels by American author Stephenie Meyer which have been turned into a popular series of movies.

As the lead female character flirts with a teen that has the ability to turn into a wolf, they build a motorcycle from scratch together. The motorcycle image was taken from the screen to a real life beach for the millions of Twilight fans as Taylor Lautner (pictured left), the actor that plays the sometimes wolf-teen Jacob Black, professed his two-wheeled passion in a Rolling Stone interview.

But all this teen attention isn’t an unexpected gift from the economic gods. If the rush of youth to two wheels becomes an ongoing trend it can be attributed to part hard work and part timing. Millions of dollars of advertising over the years have tried to tempt the very age bracket that created the term biker during the golden age of motorcycles back into the saddle.

Painting an irreverent, rebellious image motorcycle manufacturers refreshed the biker icon for a younger, bolder generation. Gone was the shiny showboating chrome as matte paints and darker colors adorned the latest models. The prices also came down to fit the wallet of the younger rider.

All of these ‘retro’ efforts to capture the newest generation of bikers came about even as modern motorcycle sales peaked at the height of popularity, albeit with one thing missing, the younger rider. At the time, those that did venture out onto two wheels tended to lean towards the high-performance sportbike motorcycles for not only the adrenaline rush but also the smaller ticket price.

This age-spiraling trend didn't escape the attention of the manufacturers. Ask the question about aging demographics of any Harley-Davidson executive and there is an immediate and apparent tick on an otherwise smiling face.

But that may be changing and not just for the legendary HOG, but also a British manufacturer that also managed to capture their classic, vintage designs in the latest models. Completing the retro circle of life, two motorcycle giants seem to be facing off for popularity again as Triumph rides into numerous advertisements while also being the ride of choice for the young and popular celebrities as much as Harley-Davidson is.

When ‘The Prince of Persia’ actor Jake Gyllenhaal came out of a hip Los Angeles café in September 2010 to check out a parking ticket on his motorcycle, reportedly a new T100 Triumph Bonneville.

All this attention and unofficial celebrity endorsement gives those same executives the opportunity to replace that twitch with an ear to ear smile as they continue to ride out the economic storms.

At least for now.