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The future of Harley-Davidson
#81
...an opinion
Edit:
"You’re buying a name brand. Harley Davidson owners like being part of a Clique, and if you own one you’re now part of that clique and accepted by other Harley owners. Its all it is. Personally I’m not a fan of that clique, and as far as the bikes, they perform poorly and are outdated (and overpriced). Most are air cooled which means its unconfortably hot most of the summer and you can burn yourself easily on the engine. The horsepower is terrible, and if you want it to even compare with comparable metric cruisers you need to pay Harley $10,000 more for upgrades like their screaming eagle package. Nice racquet they have going. You can pay much less (probably 1/2 or more) for a comparable Honda with more horsepower, better handling, and a cooler (liquid cooled) ride. Finally Harley is notorious for recalls and quality issues. The Metric bikes are not. I had a buddy just buy a new 2016 sportster and he cant keep up because he said his bike gets shakey at 75 mph, and the Harley Dealership told him they know about that and you need to buy an accessory which mounts to the forks to help with that. Thats a safety issue and it doesnt come standard on the bike? Another guy complained when he did a tune up and oil change on his bike and the Harley dealership charged him $500 for it. I told him yeah, nothing is cheap when it comes to Harley. Why? Because there are enough not bright people out there that wont let go of the fact America can make junk. I’ve driven them myself and wasnt impressed. Youre paying for a name brand. Now Polaris makes better quality bikes, or go with the Japanese bikes, unless you’re just one of these people that need to spend 3xs more just because it says Harley Davidson on the side of the bike"
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#82
HD can and has the resources to do better.

They are simply in fear of meaningful change. Granted: They were brave to introduce the Live Wire. But like I said, "fear of meaningful change".
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#83
Well thank gosh I can't burn myself on my Honda engine. Confused The first service on my Bonneville was $600 (if I didn't do it myself) for pretty much an oil change. I don't know what the Honda first service cost because, again, pretty much an oil change. That "opinion" was weak.
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#84
(10-08-2019, 09:57 AM)GoldOxide_imp Wrote: HD can and has the resources to do better.

They are simply in fear of meaningful change. Granted: They were brave to introduce the Live Wire. But like I said, "fear of meaningful change".

Heck, who am I kiddin'?

GM tried to extend itself, and quite successfully in the early 1990's with Saturn in order to compete against the likes of Honda and Toyota. A lot of people took comfort in the Saturn brand, initially out of Springhill, TN. There were many great ideas and applications at fair market prices. Saturn even used a premium Honda engine in their top trim Vue offerings. When GM closed other labels like Pontiac, Hummer, etc. the Saturn division was in-the-black.

The point is, even GM managed to shoot itself in the feet. I don't get it.
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#85
Well I think affordability is a problem throughout the motorcycle industry and we all know that young folk just dont have the coin or the desire to get cold, or wet, or hot or wind blown, and they cant take their group of friends with them on a motorcycle. They'd rather call up an Uber on their cell pnones. Not sure I wouldnt feel the same in their shoes.
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#86
(10-08-2019, 11:08 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: Well I think affordability is a problem throughout the motorcycle industry and we all know that young folk just dont have the coin or the desire to get cold, or wet, or hot or wind blown, and they cant take their group of friends with them on a motorcycle. They'd rather call up an Uber on their cell pnones. Not sure I wouldnt feel the same in their shoes.

Affordability challenges is the norm for most, especially the young [would-be] riders. This has always been an impediment.

In the context of to-ride or not-to-ride, Uber has no soul, where soul is part of the fabric of most m/c riders that I know. So would-be m/c riders who choose the Uber "lifestyle" (which is still not free) probably have a few motives that outweigh experiencing the soul (or spirit?) of riding. If these individuals do have the coin, but still prefer the Uber-way, then they have no reason to be m/c'ing anyway. I mean, you gotta-wanna, eh?
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#87
For those interested, here are the numbers of Australian motorcycle sales January-September 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. https://www.fcai.com.au/library/publicat...-09-01.pdf

Sales by company are https://www.fcai.com.au/library/publicat...09-01.pdf.

While Honda sells the most bikes overall, Harley has sold the most road bikes this year.
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#88
Link didn't work for me Cormanus
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#89
(10-09-2019, 09:42 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: Link didn't work for me Cormanus

The first link appears to present a page:

https://www.fcai.com.au/library/publicat...-09-01.pdf
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#90
Still works for me. Should display a PDF file. Try https://www.fcai.com.au/news/index/view/news/589 and follow the links at the bottom of the page.
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