Ya gotta feel bad for the guys at Harley Davidson. The Japs build a better Harley than they do and can put it on the market at - at least 30 - 35 points less. Harley’s been hijacked at several points in their company history by corporate shit hawks that understand profits and margins but know SFA about motorcycles and riding. For awhile they found a niche with purists and traditionalists, and successfully positioned themselves in that market as a premium ride. But time comes for everyone. The elderly boomers are aging out of the motorcycle market. The corporate shit hawks are back again, and have farmed out a lot of their parts and aftermarket to the fuggin (hork, spit) chinks. I’m talking out of my butt…but hell’s bells! If your corporate image is American iron and pride…GAH. Sales started to flatten when these guys made the wise corporate decision to side with Bud Light after their infamous Dylan Mulvaney debacle. I think they tried to float the idea of an electric motorcycle to Gen Z… and even they hated it! The guys over at Indian Motorcycles were starting to belt out nostalgic heart throbs featuring screaming eagles and Thunderstroke engines. Harley Davidson is dangerously close to the edge of the abyss again. They’ve gotta do something because they can’t keep doing what they have been.
Which brings us to this curious development: HD is reintroducing the old Thunderhead and Shovelhead engines with all the retro touches - supposedly blended with the best of modern tech.
I’m a sucker for mystique, nostalgia and tradition. I like Harley and I want to see them do well and succeed. They position themselves as an institution, a movement, and an admirable mindset that is more American than apple pie. Not many companies can do that in today’s world. That is because talking the talk is easy - you gotta walk it too. And - if you’re a fake… people will see it. Just ask Anheuser Busch.
I dunno what to make of this. The old pan heads, shovel heads and knuckle head engines went the way of the buffalo for a reason. When you take archaic designs and merge them with modern materials and tech …? As HD proved with the Evolution engine… oh boy, bad things can happen when ya do that…
I’m not a Harley guy… but…I’m not seeing anything here, for myself. Hopefully that’s just me and the market decides otherwise…
Flucking chatty ass AI bot, Sounds like a hair net for fags advertisement. All those electronic gizmos is superfluous! You get on a hog to ride! To feel the wind and the bugs in your teeth. You don't want traction control in a bike or steering ABS, shit, if you can't ride old school, keep your ass off of this faggot bike. This will go down as the old bowling ball HDs, nobody worth his spit will buy them. Besides, how can you have a "ride comfort" system when the damn thing is a hard tail? HD and their faggot bean counters and soi boys will tank HD. Rather buy an Indian anyway...
ReplyDeleteat 70, and having learned to ride on a REAL knucklehead at 14-
Deletethis is an abomination equal to or worse than piss water (light “beer”) & the fag with it.
At my age, I don’t know many Z’s, but 100% of them have 0 desire for h-d or frankly, any “bike” that isn’t electric or sth as complicated as clutches, shifting, revs, etc.
I agree on all your points CederQ.
Stuff like this, makes me glad to be a dinosaur.
Stuff like what Phil (I assume) endured today, reminds me,
getting old idn’t for soi boys!
gonna get my 1911 and shoot up some shit from my porch.
nekkid.
no neighbors…
eff the retards and clown nose swab!
Juan
I knew that Harley was doomed when they did the 100th anniversary celebration with the mystery musical performer being ..... Elton John?
ReplyDeleteThis was beyond New Coke, or Bud Light stupidity.
Harley...meh. IMHO, one of the best bikes produced in the last 25 years is the Honda Valkyrie. 1.5 liter flat 6 engine, swap out the stock exhaust for some 20" glasspacks and it sounds (and runs) like an Indy car. You can pick one up off Craigslist for 5k or less all day long...
ReplyDeleteYeah, hard pass. I was born in 65 and grew up in the 70's. My Dad and all his friends rode big 4 cylinder Jap bikes, the CB750, the Kawasaki Z1000, GS1000, and so on. Those were the bikes I lusted after. And then the 80's, with the massive musclecar inspired V4 engines and unbelievable (for the time) power. The V45 and V65 Magnas, the VMax, the Interceptor. OMG the ads for those bikes were awesome. I got to spend several hours in the saddle of a V65 and OMG that thing was a goddamned rocket ship.
ReplyDeleteNobody, and I mean NOBODY, at that time even cared to look at Harley. Nobody talked about Harleys, nobody rode Harleys. They should have bankrupted then and there and saved us all the trouble.
Everyone that's nostalgic for a knucklehead is dead already. Might as well try to market to the modified Model T racers at this point. If I wanted another antique in the garage, I'd pick up a 750 cc Nighthawk off of Craigslist. Those of us still young enough to ride and have the available money certainly aren't lusting after a Harley anymore.
They never learn. FFS look at the suits in the background.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge Harley fan, but there are a few models I like that they cant' seem to give away - like the street 750. I was looking at a second bike, a lighter one to toodle about town. But here's the deal, I have a Kawasaki Concours. It's a handful to back out of a space, but big as it is, it's light as a feather while moving.
Harley's issue is one of demographics. I'm 62. I'd have problems moving that thing around. Add to that the hit it would take to my finances. For what that thing costs, I could score a nice used jab bike AND a <10 year old Lexus.
And it's not like millenials and zoomers don't ride - I see them all the time - on those dopey small wheeled, street legal minibikes. I see them on scooters as well.
Lincoln and Cadillac had to change when their customer base started dying off. Harley needs to as well. How many iterations of a thumping rattling v-twin do you need for that market?
I'd rather have your used, Harley, adjacent rice burner. It's not a maintenance hog. HEHEHE...get it?! winkwink, nodnod...
ReplyDeleteI rode a Yamaha V-Star 100 Classic until the idiot drivers on California roads made me say "FUGGIT!" and sell it. THREE close calls in one week following YEARS of at least ONE close call a week was enough for me. I called it a HarDly Davidson. Had ZERO issues with the thing, and it cost THOUSANDS less than an HD. I miss that ride...
ReplyDeleteIn the 1960s Harley Davidson's customer base consisted of police departments and one percenters. The company was worried about bankruptcy, and rightly so. The competitors had gone from two or three other companies all of which offered the same thing in a different wrapper to a bunch of limey bikes and sake burners. The real difference could be seen every morning when you tried to start your hog and drive to work - and the damn' thing wouldn't start and was prone to kick back hard enough to send you over the handlebars. Then there was the inevitable oil leak on the garage floor - or the parking lot at work.
ReplyDeleteHonda didn't have those problems. Neither did Suzuki, or Kawasaki, or BMW.
Me, I'm too old to ride these days. Even the people who actually do ride are selling their bikes and telling me not to. The main reason has to do with the idiots on the highway. I suppose if I lived out west where idiots are scarce and most folks are armed and dangerous, I'd ride. Here in civilized Columbus, Ohio - no.
BELIVE ME!!! There is NO shortage of idiots out here in the West! Add to that, California LEGALIZED LANE-SPLITTING. MANY of the idiots are BIKERS!
DeleteFlatheads, Knucks, Pans & Shovels paved the way for EVOs, Twin-Cams & the Milwaukee 8 the same way Radials later became Lycoming, Turboprops, Rotax & jets.
ReplyDeleteElder Brother had a Harley back in the AMC days. That thing was a lemon.
ReplyDeleteNot real , an AI creation
ReplyDeleteI think yer right.
Delete